Informit pulls apart and Wii and gives a peek inside:
The Wii is a very tight system. There is little in the way of wasted space, which indicates an excellent design job. I am honestly impressed at how the creators of this device put all these pieces and parts together.
The Australian Consumers Association, Choice, has done a review of the Wii including a test of the original and the free replacement wrist straps, finding:
- The original strap broke at 135 Newtons (N).
- The newer strap didn’t break at up to 180 N. Even strenuous activity is
unlikely to break the new straps.
Looks like it’s definitely worth doing the replacement. If you’re in the US, you can go to this page to find out more about replacing that strap.