Here is a tech sheet that may come in handy in the future.
http://www.servicematters.com/d...0Sheet%20-%202255374.pdf

The unit you have is fairly reliable, you have just been unlucky. It is actually a Whirlpool.
If you want to see problem units take a look in this forum at the number of GE's which use a control board. Then if your fan had blown you may have also had to replace the control board.

Fan motor was replaced with a replacement unit that looked different from the original part.

He said reason first fan motor failed was because government mandate required manufacturer to use a smaller motor with a lower current draw.
Quite frankly I think he is full of it. The reason it failed was Whirlpool may have tried to save a couple cents and used a cheapo fan. Or the fan's manufactured gave them false reliability data. They then saw a high failure rate and replaced it with a better fan. In a perfect world they would have at least paid for the fan as it was their mistake.

We got to pay for the fan motor because failure was out of warranty. In my opinion this failure is a case of unwarranted government tinkering in my life.
It is not only the government, many people look at the Energy Star rating and use it as part of their decision on what to buy so manufacturers are trying for the best ratings.
I do agree with you that in some cases it is total bull as many of the units that have better ratings will have more service calls and will end up in a land fill sooner. So the real carbon footprint over the units life is much higher than that stated on the sticker as it does not include the resources used to manufacture it. It all comes down to buyer beware.

If I replace this refrigerator the next time it breaks, will I even be able to get a more dependable unit?
I doubt it. You have a nice, simple unit and in my book simple correlates to reliability and life expectancy.