I'm starting a new project using version 1.7, and when an asset file does not exist, I'm getting a generic fatal error instead of a "asset not found"-exception:
Fatal Error!
ErrorException [ Fatal Error ]: Method Fuel\Core\View::__toString() must not throw an exception
That unfortunately can't be avoided, PHP doesn't allow exceptions in the __toString() method, and there is no way to figure out you've got an error until the View is rendered.