Front Suspension Lower Ball Joint problems of the 2001 Toyota 4Runner

The contact owns a 2001 Toyota 4runner. The contact stated that while driving approximately 15 mph, there was a thumping and clicking sound coming from the front of the vehicle before the front passenger’s side of the vehicle unintendedly lowered. The vehicle was stopped and inspected, and the ball joint was touching the ground. The vehicle was towed to the residence. The vehicle was then towed to an independent mechanic, where it was diagnosed that the lower ball joint had failed and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 275,000.

The suspension recall on my 2001 Toyota 4runner was done at around 60k miles. It now has 116k miles and the problem is back,I can turn my steering wheel about 1/2" in either direction and not have the wheels move,when driving the steering wanders and occasionally grabs in what feels like a flat spot. . The campaign no is 05v225000.

I purchased a used 2001 Toyota 4 runner 4 wheel drive last year with approx 88 k mile. Prior to giving it to my daughter I replaced the tires ( goodyear) and took the vehicle to my local Toyota dealership on 6-2-2007 requesting a full check of the vehicle to verify road worthiness prior to giving it to my 16 year old daughter. They suggested and performed 90 k maintenance package including suspension inspection and front end alignment. She returned to virginia and has been driving it daily on paved roads to high school. She has not taken it off road or used the 4 wheel drive. Last weekend she was slowly turning into her friends driveway and the right front wheel broke off the axle collapsing the wheel and ripping out the front axel. A state trooper passing by indicated at highway speeds this likely would of flipped the vehicle. Thank heavens she was going less than 10 mph. The vehicle was towed and at a local repair shop it was noted that the lower ball joint "dropped down" triggering the catastrophic front end failure. Toyota recalled 210,000 axles on the prados vehicle ( not distributed in USA) which is on a similar platform as the 4 runner. Blog entries describe similar failures with the wheels snapping off. I contacted my Toyota service manager and described the failure. I requested he evaluate and asked if they missed this on their inspection in June. I also request that they cover the repair costs of approx. $600. 00 to include a detailed inspection and l ball joint replacement. He indicated they would not cover the repair expenses. My concern is this failure should not have occurred if the joint was assessed as road worthy June 2007 and only approx. 9 k miles have been added since then with no pothole or off road trauma noted. How can I be assured that this won't happen again maybe at highway speeds with life threatening outcomes? have similar complaints been filed? does this warrant further investigation by your agency and or Toyota?.