Are slideout lock bars important?

I had several problems with one of my slides (hydraulic) where one of the gears in the room mechanism kept breaking teeth and the slide wouldn't work. After several 'fixes' by local dealers, I went back to the factory and they had a manufacturers rep come and fix it. It had been fine but while traveling with my family my son and his wife were seated at the dinette and said they saw the slides flexing in and out at the top as we traveled. I started using the slide locks after that because I didn't want to put more stress on the slide mechanism and possibly have it fail again. JMHO.