It's an extremely competitive marketplace, where manufacturers are under extreme pressure for market share. This is especially true for a company like EBC, given their size, with so many huge players in the brake segment. While I don't deny every manufacturer is going to have their own share of problems, not doing anything about it will do nothing but land them in all sorts of trouble.
Brake pads, like all wear items, have a set lifespan depending on use. Wear can be further accelerated when problems like partially seized calipers or corroded caliper pins are present, not necessarily related to the pads or rotors themselves. A simple search will reveal many folks have experienced issues with disintegrating pads, with brands ranging from Volvo OE to Textar pads on a Porsche.
I've had Bendix CT-3 pads crack and disintegrate on me 2 years after installation, and when I contacted Bendix about it, I was sent a replacement set - no questions asked - which I never had any problems with over the course of its lifespan (4 years/34,000 miles). Perhaps they had a bad batch, but they absolutely did the right thing and that's exactly what instills confidence, when a manufacturer backs their product.
While it's understandable some folks will be left with a bad taste in their mouths, that didn't put me off Bendix products, considering various OE brake parts on my vehicles, like the master cylinders, are supplied by them. Quite the opposite in fact, especially given the problem occured 2 years and roughly 15,000 miles after installation with 75% life left in them, when they quite well could have told me to go pound sand.
EBC has an
article on their website dedicated to cracking rotors, as well as an
article on choosing the right pads for your application. While OEM pads/rotors tends to cover the needs of most drivers, as Edyvw pointed out, they don't cover everyone. From experience, I'm not a fan of most OE brake setups on Japanese SUVs; primarily Toyota, Nissan and Mitsubishi with pads supplied by Sumitomo (FF edge codes in most cases). In my case, the EBC Yellow Stuff pads have been the answer, covering a niche where other manufacturers haven't really offered an alternative to OE spec. Good luck finding Brembo or Otto Zimmermann for those. At the end of the day, it's your money, your time, your vehicle.