Kharon...
Who cares if life vests don't work properly, it's a unique domestic issue and anyway, we have registered our differences with ICAO. FFS.
Did you forget that the fact that life vests did or didn't work properly may not even be considered IAW the differences filed with respect to Annex 13, because, according to the ATSB under Dolan's (mis)management:
Decisions on whether a particular domestic accident will be investigated depend on resources, and the likely benefit to future safety, particularly in the general aviation sector.
Refer AIP Appendix 2 to SUP H18/14.
So, Kharon, if your scenario involved GA, then it looks as though you may as well assume that an investigation of the life vests probably WASN'T included, because it would have involved a cost.
FFS.
