Hi every manufacturer of components builds in obsolescence on that component the idea is the car producer makes money out of changing it at a later date, ECU testing identify the problematic chips on the control PCB and replace them with upgraded chips so they are more robust, the manufacturers ignore the weakness of such things as it generates money by them supplying the dealers with new units £££££.
The clever bit is they replace the offending items on your unit whilst preserving its coding value, the main dealer won't do that as they can earn more money by re coding a new unit, anyone can code new units provided they have the correct software/diagnostic program to do it VCDS or OBD ELEVEN, please watch the video on youtube the engineers stations where the repairs are carried out are kitted out like the bridge of a starship, the units on our cars are a revolution in so much as they have a mechanical boost system built in to them as a failsafe if the electronic unit lets go, the units are solid state in so much as you can't separate the valve block from the control module, on older modules you could separate the two and just get a second hand control unit and just change it and recode, no where near enough profit from the dealers perspective.
Steve.