Barkbusters- risk of causing injury

My Honda AT hand guard bracket needs replacing after a little mishap- guard itself is still intact. My immediate reaction was to order some Barkbusters. A colleague told me of a guy that severely damaged his fingers when he went over the handle bars on a bike fitted with Barkbusters. Has anybody has any similar experience with Barkbusters or guard that has a solid metal/aluminium brace?