Still, a broken ball joint is something that is entirely foreseeable as long as the the suspension is checked on a regular basis.
I can’t say that I’ve ever heard or seen of a new ball joint failing due to a non-collision caused event.
I’m sure the people who are frequently present here are, as a group, more attentive to their machine’s maintenance needs than the average American consumer. I have no doubt about that. And there are people who do take care of their cars reasonably well, and there are plenty of people who do not. There are people who are mindful of their driving, who try to develop skills to cope with emergencies, who make significant efforts to behave well and to function respectfully. The highways of America carry a lot of traffic, and most of the time that traffic moves well, because most of us are aware that the rules are necessary for us all to survive. But there are people who do not agree, and who act in disruptive ways.
Perhaps the people here who deal with the public in the retail business of auto maintenance can tell us more.
This is what the ball joint looks like on that Benz in the picture.
If the car is located in an area where road salt is used extensively, I can foresee a ball joint failure, independent of any collision
This is what the lower control arm looks like. Plain jane stamped steel. It can most certainly rust out
I don’t disagree. And I agree that’s the most probable cause, the most likely suspect. But without actually looking at the car, it’s only one (albeit the most likely) possibility. I remain open to other possibilities until the diagnosis is done.