general problems of the 2002 Hyundai Elantra

I was driving at around 40 mph when the vehicle in front of me stopped short to let a police car cross our lane. I had to slam on the brakes to avoid hitting this car. I pulled over to the side of the road because I heard a strange sound, as though I had a flat tire. After being towed to my mechanic, I was told that the passenger side control arm had snapped because it was completely rusted out. I have about 40,000 miles on the car. I was also told that I was very lucky this didn't happen on the highway at high speed.