Stainless steel can have surprising failure modes. For instance, crevice corrosion[1].
The shiny stainless steel fittings holding up your sailboat mast can corrode straight through without more than some tiny telltale signs.
You can see an example here: http://forums.sbo.sailboatowners.com/showthread.php?t=107622 The manufacturing likely provided a tiny crack, splash a little salt water and next thing you know your sailboat's mast is in the water next to it trying to bash a hole in the hull.
Stainless steel is also quite hard which means it can be a bit more brittle than milder steels, and probably not appropriate for some applications. Springs come to mind and any time the steel will have to dissipate heat quickly.
The shiny stainless steel fittings holding up your sailboat mast can corrode straight through without more than some tiny telltale signs.
You can see an example here: http://forums.sbo.sailboatowners.com/showthread.php?t=107622 The manufacturing likely provided a tiny crack, splash a little salt water and next thing you know your sailboat's mast is in the water next to it trying to bash a hole in the hull.
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crevice_corrosion