When we bought the new fridge (this was about a year ago), we were
told by the salesman (so take this for what it's worth ;-) ), that
fridges had recently gone through a redesign to make them much more
efficient, but lower reliability. He said manufacturers had reduced
their compressor warranty periods from 5 years to 1 year.

Ken

IMO, the warranty was reduced not because of the trade-offs of efficiency at
the expense of reliability, but just plain costs. Some years ago,
compressors were made in the USA by people like Copeland or Tecumseh. Now
most are imported and made by the lowest bidder. The price of a basic
refrigerator or room air conditioner has gone down in terms of real dollars
because they are made cheaper by better manufacturing processes and cheaper
materials. Consumers don't expect appliances to last as long as they used
to either.