You are right. An actual crash in kext causes kernel panic. I think I read that this is was possible, but I can't find how, and when, right now. The common thin

You are right. An actual crash in kext causes kernel panic. I think I read that this is was possible, but I can't find how, and when, right now. The common thing that I'm thinking of is just voluntary error (exception) handling in kexts and reloading of kext on their own. There is some isolation and benefit to it. Edit: ok, I just figured out my source of confusion. IOKit allows userspace drivers, which can crash without resulting in panic.