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The tab only ends up like that after severe impact. Since you say the strut had zero damping prior to your first inspection, any sort of bump would risk doing physical damage and as a result, in the eyes of the examiner they assumed you bottomed out big time and smashed the locator tab. The locator tab in that condition is like the moisture pads inside a lot of portable electronics which tells the warranty inspector the item has been subject to immersion or high humidity at the very least.
That tab sits flush against the top of the pinch clamp of the knuckle. I've only seen the tab smashed like that after a major impact like mounting a kerb at speed or the usual 'big pothole' story.
However, that is usually accompanied by the clamped section of the strut showing signs of vertical scrapes from the strut slipping past the pinch clamp (loose pinch bolt or severe vertical impact) and/or the bottom section of the strut bent (sideways impact or severe vertical impact).
It's a crap situation to be in but it appears the bullshit filter at Bilstein has killed the benefit of the doubt. They just assumed a chain of events
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