ELTs have a close on 100% failure record which the industry seems to have willingly accepted."
This statement is regurgitated occasionally, but is it technically correct?
For starters they will only be successful when activated above a non conductive medium (not submerged in water).
And what about some examples? Are the cases that they supposedly didn't work, accidents where they met the technical requirements for the ELT to activate? Another words did the ELT perform to the technical standards, its just that the standards trigger points aren't correct?
If the ELT perform to the standards, then its not their fault.