Was there a specific point in time...

[Flick of the Elbow]

Putting aside crash damage, one thing about breakages in steel frames is that they can often be repaired, unlike titanium/Al/and worse of all, carbon.

 

[Flick of the Elbow]

. Peugeot went through a spell about 25 years back where the weld at the RH rear dropout on their road frames (Decent ones, not BSOs) used to fracture, my then LBS stopped stocking them because of that.
.

I don't recall Peugeot ever making any decent steel frames. The ones the pro's used to ride were made by others.
I had a Dawes frame break once, the dropout cracked. They replaced the dropout and provided a nice new respray

 

[Vapin' Joe]

Putting aside crash damage, one thing about breakages in steel frames is that they can often be repaired, unlike titanium/Al/and worse of all, carbon.

All frames can be repaired no matter what they're made of. But 99% of those that break go in the skip because the cost of repair plus repaint makes a new one more attractive.

 

[Drago]

To be fair to Peugeot, they seemed to make better gas pipe frames than anyone else could be bothered to.

 

[GrumpyGregry]

I don't recall Peugeot ever making any decent steel frames. The ones the pro's used to ride were made by others.
I had a Dawes frame break once, the dropout cracked. They replaced the dropout and provided a nice new respray

PX-10E? PY-10? Outsourcing has been around a long time thobut.

 

[MichaelW2]

Frames break a lot more than they used to. In one week last year I came across 3 unfortunates who had suffered the rear mech breaking off for no apparent reason.

Was that a breakage of the repleacable derailleur hanger?

 

[Flick of the Elbow]

Was that a breakage of the repleacable derailleur hanger?

Yes, all broke of their own accord, no crash. 2 of the incidents caused the rear mech to wrap itself into the rear wheel wrecking both that and the frame. One of the victims was a work pal, he sought redress from Specialised but they didn't want to know.