Ok, I'll take another shot then. When they replace the hinges, are they only replacing the sides that attach to the fiberglass, both halves on just that side, or both halves on both sides? I'm wondering if the two hinges might not be exactly parallel to each other, so that as the cushion is raised and lowered, it's binding and pulling sideways on that half that keeps breaking. If this is the case and they just replace the broken piece without making sure both hinges are aligned, that piece will continue to break as many times as they care to replace it.
Said another way - if you take the two halves of a knife hinge (essentially what these are), and put them flush up against each other the way they're supposed to be, they'll pivot against each other smoothly. But if you move one of the halves to a slight angle to the other half, one of those halves will bind and pull - hard - each time the hinge is operated. Since there's a lever action at work, the stress could be much worse than how it feels. To you it may just make the cushion feel slightly heavier than it really is.
I would raise the cushion, and use a tape measure to *carefully* measure the distance between the hinges at the front and at the rear, first on the fiberglass side and then the same on the cushion side. What you're trying to find here is a possible binding in that hinge as the cushion is raised and lowered. If the hinges aren't straight and parallel to each other, hopefully you can just loosen some screws and have enough "wiggle room" to make them parallel and then re-tighten. If this isn't the case you may have to convince your dealer of what the problem is and talk them into doing a little more work.
This theory would easily explain the crack's pattern, AND why the metal is fatiguing rather than the fiberglass (it's a shear force on the 'glass, and not a tension force like my first theory suggested; if that much tension were repeatedly exerted on the 'glass, the screws probably would have broken completely out by now).
Man, it's hard to type and gesture wildly at the same time.
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