They may be aware of the problem, but in many instances, the discussion goes, "What percentage of users will be affected by this?" and the answer to that question dictates whether they'll solve it in this release.
"Are you saying these are 13 second exposures? If so, I don't think there are that many people using digital cameras at long exposures like this."
Amir, why do you think that? I've seen lots of long exposure samples on the net, made quite a few myself too with my D60. Thank heaven I never encountered this type of horrible banding and for me it absolutely is a reason not to buy a 20D.