How "likely" is a thing to break when the durability tool says it is in danger if a collision occurs?

[Womble]

So I'm playing silly beggars in the designer, building things with unfeasibly high WC. Sometimes, I see an orange box on a component which yields the message:

"Warning: part likely to fail if a collision occurs near it."

First off I'm wondering how serious this is, in terms of the level of collision needed to cause the failure.
Second, I'm wondering how it's determined. It's not the lowest WC Part in the shipframe, that's a different message.

Third, I'm puzzled as to what affects it. As an example, one pod I put together had 2 bits of trunking which were symmetrically sited and both had the error message. Adding extra bolts, replacing the autobolt short bolt with bolt tool long bolts, neither made the message go away. If I delete either, the other retains its potential for failure, but if I delete both, no components in the frame have that message. The weird thing is that if I add in a couple of duct angles in their place (just to regularise the ends of a cable run), two different Parts (maneuver thrusters) acquire the problem message. Before being weakened so, though, they have a Warp Class of (and this is not a typo) 705.38 (yes, seven hundred). They're still not the lowest, that's the engine nozzle at a measly 65.57.

 

[Eagle]

The only way I found to solve that warning is adding more bolts. It is written nowhere how the designer decides what is an orange square.

I have the hypothesis that the designer is always creating orange boxes to show you the weakest points of your ship. If you solve one, it could create another one in another point to show you the next weakest point. That is why it is only a warning and not an error, it is only pointing weak points compared to the rest of your ship, even when they are not really weak.

Let us know if you find something interesting related to this topic.

Good luck!

 

[Womble]

I did try adding bolts. An extra 3 in a 48cm duct didn't shift it.

I'm sure the designer does just highlight the worst offenses (and there will usually be several) and you can never get rid of them all, but when attached Parts Warp Class can be displayed, and the overloading of beams as a percentage of their sturdiness, it seems odd that the message is so vague.