Well, I think that mine are rotted out as well, just not by using, she's 35 year old, and only has about 10342 real miles on the odo, this is damage due to stockage, or better; not using it.
No, I don't like many government arranged things, but with these road-safety tests I'm happy, even when it costs me money, I cannot say directly, but there could be a moment that due to not knowing what the technical state of some parts (steering, brakes) is, it could cause that I ended up in loosing control over my truck, or for that matter someone else could have happening such a thing.
so in this case I'm happy with these tests.
I'm NOT happy with the sheer volume of all sort of (unnecessary in my eyes) documents they ask me to produce ( buy at tax bureaus, ford dealers etc.) before they issue you the carte grise (legal document, proof of ownership)