Scot's point was that the engineers who design the components are working with a LOT more information than Joe Customer who simply buys the tire, rides on it, and forms an opinion. That is indisputably true.
Regarding the bottom dollar being more important than safety... what do you think happens to the bottom dollar when safety is not there? People stop buying those products and profits suffer or the company goes under. History is littered with such cases. You're on the service side of a products lifecycle; my hat's off for being Master Certified. But if you spend time on the design side you would quickly realize that safety is in fact a very high priority. Ask me how I know
If we believe vehicle manufacturers are driven solely by the dollar, why would we not believe insurers do the same. Discovering a car tire on a bike would be a pristine reason to refuse a claim.
Your powder coater friend could very well have turned the table and asked if you ever had a claim paid after crashing on the darkside. I assume the answer is no. I know very little about insurance but I do understand there's some discretion given to the adjuster. *Some*, not a lot. I tend to believe the insurance argument is not clear cut one way or the other... but the risk of a refusal exists and should be considered.