I'm still trying to decide what shocks to use, but a friend of mine running an ITB Golf had two failures last season. This, in addition to rumours of decreasing quality, is scaring me away.
I have heard no reports of Koni failures. All of my cars (road and track)are Koni equpped. If you are really worried call Koni's tech dept in Kentucky. The shocks are easily repaired there as well.