There is a huge public outcry over the PS3, there just aren't nearly as many old-style PS3s as their are old-style XBox 360s. SONY does not give a single **** about their customers (and Microsoft voluntarily did the 3 year warranty - not that they are any better than SONY) - SONY even charges a $50 diagnostic fee just for you to send them your console, and if you don't pay it within 15 days THEY KEEP YOUR CONSOLE.
You'll never find official failure rates, because no one releases information like that, but on a percentage-wise basis, the failures rates are certainly extremely close - again, there aren't nearly as many "Phat" PS3s as there pre-Jasper XBox 360s.
Also, if you ever did send a console to SONY, they specifically tell you to remove the hard drive, just like Microsoft does, so you shouldn't lose anything (unless SONY sends you a different console, in which case, depending on which model PS3 you have, you might lose everything anyway).