Patent ID: 7194997

Claim:
A method for monitoring an internal combustion engine, in which fuel is injected directly into at least one combustion chamber in at least two partial injections, using at least one final controlling element, comprising determining an actual torque of the internal combustion engine based on at least one injected fuel mass or one fuel mass to be injected, comparing this actual torque to a permitted torque of the internal combustion engine, and initiating an error response if the actual torque is at a predefined ratio to the permitted torque, wherein: for each partial injection, a fuel volume acting to generate a torque is determined; a total fuel volume of a combustion cycle is ascertained from a sum of each fuel volume acting to generate the torque; and the total fuel volume of the combustion cycle is taken into account for determining the fuel mass that is to be injected or that has been injected.