There have been alleged reports of rudder anomolies on A-300/310s operated by Air France, Interflug (formerly East German), and recently, Air Transat.
Maybe none of these incidents happened.
But if they did, not only Airbus, the US FAA and the NTSB had an excellent scapegoat for the accident, if there is a chance that the same AA 587 aircraft experienced uncommanded rudder deflections. Is it true that after a certain degree of rudder pedal travel, the effect on the actual rudder movement is disproportionate?
Blaming the dead pilot, as always, creates a perfect scapegoat and saves various agencies from public embarassment and huge costs involving testing and training throughout the US fleet(s).