The L9958 is an SPI controlled H-Bridge, designed for the control of DC and stepper motors in safety critical applications and under extreme environmental conditions. The H-Bridge is protected against over-temperature, short circuits and has an undervoltage lockout for Vs and Vdd, and for overvoltage on Vdd. All malfunctions cause the output stages to go to a tristate condition. Detailed failure diagnostics on each channel is provided via SPI: short circuit to battery, short circuit to ground, short circuit overload, over the full temperature range. Open-load can be detected in the ON condition. Current regulation threshold is programmable via SPI and is guaranteed accurate to ±10% from -40°C to 150°C. For additional protection in fault conditions the current limitation threshold is linearly reduced for temperatures over 165°C, and a thermal warning bit is set by SPI. The L9958 and L9959 also contain integrated freewheeling diodes. In freewheeling mode, the low side transistor is switched on in parallel with its diode to reduce power dissipation. For maximum flexibility and cost considerations the L9958 and L9959 are also available in three power packages.