A switching mechanism which when fails should fail open to cut off the power to the load
In high-reliability (like automotive) applications the Central Processing Unit usually employs checks on critical circuitry, which requires additional GPIOs, to watch if the command to a sensor or some action circuit gets executed properly. In this case if M1 fails with short, and CPU commands it to be OFF, the GPIO input will remain low, indicating fault condition. Then the CPU can turn corresponding power rail off (for which it should have another power gate to control). Likewise, if the M1 fails with OPEN, the same watch mechanism will detect the "open" fault.