Did you see those pics and read that story of what happened to one guy on that link I posted on reply #158???...If not here it is again...lol.
Don't take the warning lightly!!!!!! My son in law is in the hospital in critical condition cause of the fender getting into the tire and rolling around till it locked the front wheel and threw him over the bars. Of course he wasn't wearing a helmet:helmet: This just happened Wednesday. Here's...
motoredbikes.com
Of course removing them would be best....that's why emphasized "IF"
I don't know what the exact failure mode of that persons fender was to say exactly why it failed, but I do know there are things you can do to minimize it IF you must keep them.
Obviously, you can beef them up to the point where there would be essentially zero issue at all. There have been many many many bikes of various types and similar, yet perfectly safe and usable fenders over the decades. They are of course made to handle the abuse, which can be achieved with these stock bike fenders also.
The point again is IF you must keep them, beef them up, and use more appropriate fasteners that will not come loose. Using them in stock form is asking for trouble.
And yes, the bar struts are less likely to break and get caught than the thin sheet metal ones like on the cranbrook which break just looking at them.
You must also do your due diligence in doing your pre-flights. Check the stuff out before you go on a ride and make sure nothing is loose.
Looked at his pics again. The struts did not fail. They are intact, and still attached to the dropouts.... just wrapped around the hub. Looks like the rear of his fender got snagged on the tire and got pulled around. Appears to have had nothing to do with the struts.
The exact reasons these things fail matters. You cant simply say they do, in some way, so don't use them.