It is accepted that incremental advances in technology have made equipment increasingly safer to operate across all industries. Aviation is now considered a safer means of transport than road-based vehicles while deaths on roads continue to decrease. Although safety improvements are commendable, there are instances of where activation of safety systems have caused unnecessary failure of otherwise normally functioning equipment. Through exploration of two case studies, from the automotive and aviation industries, the author details failures, hidden to the operators, that had consequences ranging from the relatively benign to catastrophic. It is possible that the growing complexity of equipment, in an effort to deliver advances in performance, and its correspondingly intricate safety systems is increasing the likelihood of these hidden failures. The failures, while not visible to the operators, may be deliberately present by design though not communicated to the equipment operators hence the ‘hidden’ designation in this paper. The author contends that an improved focus on design, testing, communication and operator training will do much to offset the type of safety system induced equipment failures detailed in the case studies.