Honeywell are a little miffed as there has been no example in flight of a DU failing and they feel that the tests were not realistic as the displays do not operate standalone but bolted into the cockpit instrument panels and are not affected in the same way.
But that can't be! The FAA is in the pockets of the manufactures - Al Jazeera said so
The FAA would never act contrary to the manufacturers!
OK, sarcasm off...
In all serious, I've never known the FAA to accept 'service experience' for HIRF/Lightning compliance. For HIRF, the regulations (or in this case Special Conditions) say the system must withstand X volts/meter at Y Hz without upset - either you pass or you don't, no gray area. Claiming that the requirement isn't representative of the actual threat gets you absolutely nowhere.
BTW, this AD is simply mandating what Boeing recommended two years ago.