I never had any reason to worry about structural problems with my bikes, including the vintage aluminum ones. Even a succession of yard sale bikes of dubious provenance, only once did I discover damage. A Raleigh Record Ace, I decided to strip the paint, and underneath I found a compressed, bulged down tube indicating it had probably crashed into something. A big so what, it was a freebie and they're a dime a dozen anyway.

Now I even have carbon forks & seatposts on a couple of my (steel) bikes, and they make a positive difference. I don't worry that they'll dissolve beneath me, but I don't take them for granted.

Slightly off topic, in archery, with cedar arrows, you hit something too hard, like a rock, the point will break off where it meets the shaft. An aluminum arrow will bend. A carbon arrow, either you won't see any damage, or it will shatter. I've had carbon arrows, seemingly fine, blow up leaving the bow (both compound and recurve). I shoot aluminum with my recurve now.

Further off topic, Cessna stopped single engine production in 1986 because of liability, and didn't restart until product liability tort reform was passed. Airplane manufacturers do indeed factor in the cost of being sued. A family member of my wife's was killed in a crash caused by carborator icing. It was a known problem but they figured it was cheaper to settle with victims families than fix it.