Isn't it simple?
Let's say you have 10:1 users total between two products. (10:1 to keep it simple, might be more like 80:1)

Product A gets a lot of attention (10000 users) because it is cheaper, and a lot more affordable to consumers. A lot of people use "A" and the holes in the armour are a lot more obvious since a lot of people like to complain.
Product B gets less attention (1000 users) because it is cost prohibitive, but still consumers with money will buy it. Less people use "B", less people to complain, harder to find crack in armour.

(I give 3% because that's what most manufacturers have for defective products that slipped through Q.A.)
Now when 3% of each group comes out and complains about their product, you'll get 300 people complaining about how poor their experience about "A". This compared to 30 people who complain about "B".
The catch being... that product "B" must be a really good product, because of the price consumers are asked to pay for and it did really good in reviews by magazines, not to mention product "B" was the 2nd best the company had to offer. So it must be good! Most people will brush off that 3% defect rate as a "freak incident".

So the story is...
The larger your base users, the larger potential it has for people to end up with defective items. The more popularity you get, the more people will complain. Unpopular items (due to price or previous bad ratings, etc.) get a smaller base and less people total will end up with the defective one.

How many mavic wheels/rims are out there compared to the competition? That will answer your question