There are pages out there on the failure of Spademan...the concept was mechanically sound, measuring the loads closest to the thing you want to protect. I seem to recall some research that they 'recogonised' dangerous loads [or dangerous chains of events] so that what was sometimes pervieved as pre release was actually a required release but before the skier knew it was required, but....but...
- The plate... iced up, pulled out, wore out, was slippy on ice when you walked
- The boot sole standards did not refence the plate area so you couldn't guarentee a plate would fit without major boot carpentry
- Version 1 latch in - horrible to get into, especially if there was snow or ice on the plate [there always was], version 2 step in, see version 1. never used version 3
- Other people started making better and more convenient toe-heel bindings
I think what finally did for them, notwithstanding the above was that they outsourced production and for some reason deliveries were
months late. More here
ISHA Plate bindings
if you want a trip into a plate binding rabbit hole