If my burner works fine right now, what are the benefits of updating it’s firmware??
I think I broke my last burner when I tried to flash it because it wouldn’t work after the flashing… So I’m now a little scared of breaking my 4163 for something I don’t really need.
A question you need to answer for a reasons to up date.
Does it like the media I’m using and how are the quality of your burns?
Thats the main reason why I would say you have to up date.
If I you don’t have a problem with that then I would say you don’t need to up-date. 
If you buy some DVDs and they don’t work too well, your first thought should be “where can I get new firmware ?” not “I’ve got some duff discs”.
As long as you don’t have any major software running in the background during a firmware upgrade, and the process completes successfully, the most common result is improved performance and media compatibility.
If there are known benefits on installing certain firmware then i usually upgrade and also if FW is really old(maybe like 2 or more newer ones available).
For the safest firmware updating always do it under Windows XP safe mode.