1. A method for determining deadlock-critical relations between networked components of a vehicle system, in which a graph is used that at least partially represents the deadlock-critical relations defined in the vehicle system and has nodes and edges, the method comprising: classifying at least a portion of the edges based on properties of the edges and the nodes that are connected by the edges; prioritizing the edges based on the classification; and determining a shortest one of deadlock-critical cycles for all nodes and at least a few edges based on the prioritization.