[bioemerl]

Bad contact shouldn't be an issue. You should have to be hilariously and obviously bad with the contact in order for it to be a problem. If slightly bent cables are the problem, it's clear that your cable is rated far too high for what it is and you need to mandate larger conductors or more conductors carrying less current so that there is no chance it burns unless the cable is very badly damaged or misused.

[arghwhat]

Bad contact shouldn't be an issue, but as the connector is overheating it is an issue. The only challenge in making a power connector is guaranteeing strong enough contact on every use. It could be caused by all sorts of things like manufacturing tolerance or exact springiness of the material of the pins.

The issue bending the cable near the connector is that it causes the connector pins to deflect, making the flimsy contact worse.

More conductor is unnecessary, it just needs to make a more reliable contact.