Bullshit. I worked there too. My internal bug reports were completely ignored just as much. Not a single reply.
Google map webapp always resets the unit selection to "automatic" which means miles in the US. It should retain the setting in a cookie at the very least.
I have been sending a bug report to Google yearly since 2012. That's 13 years, including 4 years as a Google employee with the ability to create internal bug reports.
Of course it depends on the team, and so on, but the difference in severity between "can't delete a calendar event" and "doesn't remember the value of a toggle" is pretty vast.
FWIW, maps on the web does seem to remember the units setting for me.