so they must be failing short.....that's interesting, LEDs don't usually fail short unless they suffer significant overcurrents.......if leds die from general wear and tear, then they usualy fail open (almost always)........the fact that these leds are failing short points to serious mis-design in the led driver.
I find it interesting that you would assume that, since a product is not working the way you think it should, that it is poorly designed.
Isn't it more likely, since the 'design flaw' you see actually means that it is working better for it's intended purpose, that it is actually well designed?