Wha
What do you mean soft/hard wareAgree that every piece of equipment should be inspectable, especially a known failure point such as this. In addition I would like to see manufacturer recomendations or ANSI standard (a shall not a should) as to length of service for any given piece. It could be as simple as 5 years for software and 10 year for hardware from the inservice date. Not that many of the lower grade tree slobs would listen, but those trying to be legit would/could have better guildance.
But in the mean time when in dought throw it out ! and Inspect inspect inspect!