I mostly agree with your post. I take exception to the barely works part. Either the code works or it doesn’t. If it doesn’t work, fix it. If it works, don’t fix it.
If you “fix” working code, you are spending time adding no value to the project. You could even argue you’re adding negative value because the people who are used to the code working the way it was now have a surprise.
Yes, then they shouldn’t say it is “safe” because it isn’t. They should say “more safe”, or be more specific.