Abstract: A system and method for detecting trends in time-managed lifetime data for products shipped in distinct vintages within a time window. Data is consolidated from several sources and represented in a form amenable to detection of trends using a criterion for measuring failure. A weight is applied to the failure measures, the weight increasing over the time the products are in the time window. A function of weighted failures is used to define a severity index for proximity to an unacceptable level of failures, and an alarm signal is triggered at a threshold level that allows the level of false alarms to be pre-set.