Maybe it was the magnitude of the release? Perhaps the center pull quick releases open up the brakes so wide they won't work at all. On the very common side pull brakes on my road bikes (Campy, etc), opening the quick release increases the lever movement necessary to apply the brakes, but doesn't open up the calipers so far that they are completely useless. On my bikes with squealing brakes, the squeal will, over time, open up the lever on its own. They still work, but I have to reach down and close up the lever on the squealing brake every now and again. Just one of those lovable quirks, I guess.

I don't think there was a lot of rhyme or reason to many of the things the CPSC mandated. For example, it's not clear to me that adding that lip on Campy front derailleurs achieved anything other than to foster some compatibility problems down the line. And you still have those scary teeth on chainrings and cogs. Why weren't those on their hit list of "stuff that's too dangerous for people to use without protection"? Did the CPSC do anything about naked straddle wires and knobby tires, or was that the bike manufacturers themselves figuring that one out?

And then there is the law of unintended consequences. Lawyer lips (also a solution to some CPSC mandate about losing a front wheel) came with their own problems, not least of which was that they demanded that people use quick releases as both wing nuts (to get past the lip) and cam-operated wheel locks (to actually secure the wheel to the fork ends). Consequently, we are experiencing a huge recall many years later -- in part -- because (no big surprise, in retrospect), many inexperienced cyclists apparently are either unaware of the cam function, or believe the wing nut aspect of their operation is sufficient, allowing floppy QR levers to get overly amorous with modern disc brake rotors.