The old plastic black card used to look bad after several swipes. But the titanium still looks the same as ever after a great many swipes.

I've never had a problem anywhere with my card. I use it often at gas pumps, but I can't think of anyplace that I've use a machine that sucks the card in. The parking garages I go to don't accept Amex anyways. I also recall using the titanium card at a Von's Market automated checkout in California recently. It worked fine there.