Originally Posted by
JDiver
It's not unlike many electromechanical items people buy - reliability is lowest at entry ("break in") and toward end of "useful life".
Known well in the semiconductor (and semiconductor test) business (among others) as the
Bathtub Curve. Interestingly, though (and I hadn't heard this until reading my link), it appears that complex systems (like aircraft), don't seem to follow that failure paradigm all that well.
Cheers.