SASless,
The old adage that if you can't count it you can't manage it holds true.
With respect to the first part of your post: yes, but as soon as it was flagged that usage and failure data had to be collected, the system became more and more effective.
Category A and the Performance Classes (and controlled exposure) are applicable only to Passenger Carriage - although reliability figures are dependent upon the collection of data over the whole spectrum of operations. However, the manufacturer has some discretion over the inclusion of failures where failure results from "unsuitable or non-representative use (operation or maintenance)".
JimL