I wear my motorcycle helmet when on my ebike. I get weird looks, but I'd rather that than permanent brain damage. It really upsets me when I see people riding electric scooters or ebikes without a helmet on.
Within the past 2-3 years drive manufacturers have been swapping to USB PCBs directly attached to the drive controller, instead of using a SATA -> USB interface.
I've never had that happen with my 8 Pro. I'd assume that means it's not air tight, so you might want to at least open a ticket with Google for it.