Uh yeah, turns out parts on cars that are 23-30 years old fail occasionally.
Hell, even an aluminum part could have corroded and failed in that time. I’m sure the failure would have looked more like a leak than an explosion, but you’d still have to replace it.
As for the engineer bashing, it sounds like most of you have no clue what you’re talking about. Engineers have to listen to the bean counters all the time and change designs to make the cheaper (vs better). No doubt there are engineers and designers that would benefit from more hands on work, but engineering something that’s mass produced for a profit has as much or more to do with making it cheap as it does with making any one part more durable.
