Department of State was much faster with having the equipment to issue the documents with RFID chips than DHS has been with deploying the equipment to read the RFID chips. Once the Ports of Entry's have the equipment installed in enough numbers that it effects the operation (likely to be years) I would not be surprised if the non-functioning E-Passports end up being cancelled and re-issued on a case by case basis. Keep in mind the Passport belongs to the Federal Government and not the user. Tampering with the Passport can still be a crime and if the RFID chip repeatedly fails due to being physically damaged the user may have to explain why that keeps happening. However, for the foreseeable future I don't think anybody will even notice.

As a side note, those of you who have E-passports and are taking a hammer to it, are you also taking a hammer to the RFID chip in your Passport card and NEXUS cards? Though to be fair the information on the chip in the Passport card and NEXUS cards is different than the information on chip in the passport book and is read at much different distances.