That was just the tip of the iceberg…
The warranty bill for replacing duff avionics was 50-100k.
Give me a clue!
Are you referring to the fact that the avionics was manufactured in 1997 for an aircraft sold 5 years later? I don’t think that would bother me too much so long as it was the equipment that it was supposed to be, and didn’t contain a battery (that would have lost capacity due to age).
Or is there something there that I need an electronics degree to understand?
You got it 
Right paperwork = perfect product 
But on a new plane?
" Cash in the attic " – imagine you buy a 1940 house on the countryside and find a 1640 Rembrandt in the attic …
Well, maybe Socata got a quantity discount on its avionics and stockpiled several years’ worth.
That is possible but I suspect, from the various failures, especially the intermittent ones, that the plane was built with a lot of avionics which were returned from the field, bench tested and found “ok”.
There is a lot of this going on. For example if you buy an extended warranty, and get some replacement avionics under it, the stuff you get is often 10-20 years old. A Honeywell rep confirmed this to me.
Peter wrote:
get some replacement avionics under it, the stuff you get is often 10-20 years old
Under all exchange programms this is the case. You send in a broken unit, and will get an working exchange unit. When your unit is 10 years old, you could get a 20 year unit back. When the next one comes with an item 20 year old, he might get your repaired / overhauled units, which is only 10 years old.
Many therefore also offer to repair or overhaul your own unit (downtime) or they can supply an advanced exchange, which is basically a repaired or overhauled unit from someone else. Your return unit will be repaired or overhauled and would be available for the next customer. The advantage of the last methode is that you don’t have downtime.
