Yes, there's a small part of the blade on the Tropen that's exposed in the compression lock slot but it is NOT as serious a risk as you make out.
Personally, I've never gotten cut closing/holding/manipulating my Tropen (which I have carried daily on occasion) and I've also not had any such problem w/the Ikuchi that is also criticized for a similar reason.
It's all "much ado about nothing" IMO.
Frankly, there's always a risk of getting cut w/any knife regardless of how it is designed and, if you get cut by one, I would attribute that to USER ERROR, not to any design failure provided that the knife will not cut you if held/used in a "normal" matter.
So, if you are getting cut holding/using a Tropen (or the Ikuchi), I'd question how you are holding/using it.
This is a decent viewing of the issue. No its not going to kill you, any cut you get would be minor but this is a design flaw. You could very easily run the back of your hand on that exposed blade area while you are reaching for your chapstick or headphones in the same pocket. Now you will get a bunch of people coming out of the woodwork telling you not to carry anything else in the knife pocket but lets be realistic. You can reach past hundreds of other knife designs without having an exposed blade. This is something that other knives dont have and it is not a feature. This is a bug.