In a method for determining deadlock-critical relations between networked components of a vehicle system, a graph, which at least partially represents the inhibit relations defined in the vehicle system and which has nodes and edges, is used, in which a classification takes place of at least a portion of the edges on the basis of the properties of the edges and the nodes connected by the edges, a prioritization of the edges on the basis of the classification takes place, and a determination of shortest deadlock-critical cycles for all nodes and at least some of the edges on the basis of the prioritization is implemented.