Star Trek: No Subtitle

[Nate the Great]

"Fundamental design flaws" =/= "obsolete technology"

The first is "the ship will explode if we keep using this tech." The second is "this ship is old and rickety, will slowly fall apart, and will be increasingly resource-intensive to repair."

The article implies that although the neo-E had flashy new tech in it, it (surprise, surprise) still had bugs in it that rendered the whole thing a deathtrap. A refit was necessary.

The pre-STTMP refit (if you want to follow non-canon like I do, from Constitution class to Enterprise class) was not to make the ship safe. The tech might have been obsolete, but it still WORKED. The refit was to update the specs, not make the ship safer.