A powered surgical stapling and cutting instrument, comprising: a staple cartridge, comprising: a housing; a plurality of staple cavities; a plurality of staples deployable from said staple cavities during a firing stroke; a firing member movable during said firing stroke to deploy said staples from said staple cavities; and a motor operably coupled to said firing member, wherein said motor is configured to generate at least one rotational motion to motivate said firing member to cause said staples to be deployed from said staple cavities during said firing stroke; and characterized by a failure response system, comprising: a first circuit configured to detect a first operational error of said powered surgical stapling and cutting instrument if said movement of said firing member and said rotational motion of said motor are beyond a predetermined correlation during said firing stroke; a second circuit configured to detect a second operational error of said powered surgical stapling and cutting instrument if a failure is detected in at least one of a beginning-of-stroke switch and an end-of-stroke switch; and a control circuit configured to activate a first failure response mode if said first operational error is detected, wherein said control circuit is configured to activate a second failure response mode which is different than said first failure response mode if said second operational error is detected in addition to said detection of said first operational error. a staple cartridge, comprising: a housing; a plurality of staple cavities; a plurality of staples deployable from said staple cavities during a firing stroke; a firing member movable during said firing stroke to deploy said staples from said staple cavities; and a motor operably coupled to said firing member, wherein said motor is configured to generate at least one rotational motion to motivate said firing member to cause said staples to be deployed from said staple cavities during said firing stroke; and characterized by a housing; a plurality of staple cavities; a plurality of staples deployable from said staple cavities during a firing stroke; a firing member movable during said firing stroke to deploy said staples from said staple cavities; and a motor operably coupled to said firing member, wherein said motor is configured to generate at least one rotational motion to motivate said firing member to cause said staples to be deployed from said staple cavities during said firing stroke; and characterized by a failure response system, comprising: a first circuit configured to detect a first operational error of said powered surgical stapling and cutting instrument if said movement of said firing member and said rotational motion of said motor are beyond a predetermined correlation during said firing stroke; a second circuit configured to detect a second operational error of said powered surgical stapling and cutting instrument if a failure is detected in at least one of a beginning-of-stroke switch and an end-of-stroke switch; and a control circuit configured to activate a first failure response mode if said first operational error is detected, wherein said control circuit is configured to activate a second failure response mode which is different than said first failure response mode if said second operational error is detected in addition to said detection of said first operational error. a first circuit configured to detect a first operational error of said powered surgical stapling and cutting instrument if said movement of said firing member and said rotational motion of said motor are beyond a predetermined correlation during said firing stroke; a second circuit configured to detect a second operational error of said powered surgical stapling and cutting instrument if a failure is detected in at least one of a beginning-of-stroke switch and an end-of-stroke switch; and a control circuit configured to activate a first failure response mode if said first operational error is detected, wherein said control circuit is configured to activate a second failure response mode which is different than said first failure response mode if said second operational error is detected in addition to said detection of said first operational error.