Has the ear tear off the sheet metal band in an a998 twice behind a 360. Finally got the earlier style forged band and that fixed that.
Seen flex bands rip the welds before in both small and large box trans. Not dependent on which engine it’s behind.
It’s all a matter of quality control at the band manufacturer.
Improper design developed for a certain purpose usually results in a design change later because of frequent failures.
We used flex bands for years and years with no issues in production. A bad design wouldn’t have lasted that long.