Ball Joint Question
 

Good Afternoon, I have a question for your guys in here if someone can point me in the right direction. Let me give you some background first, Took my 05 Accord ex to Firestone for an alignment, While there I had the PA State Safety inspection completed and 4 new tires as well. 10 Days later not even 200 mile and the right lower ball joint completely separated while driving down the road. My question is this, Would the Balljoint have shown signs of possible failure 200 miles earlier when I got the safety inspection completed? I know they can fail without signs to the average driver but if an inspector was inspecting them, should they not have shown signs of excessive wear? Your thought and knowledge will greatly help. Thanks

welcome to the forum. i do not know what the pa inspection includes, but for the wheel alignment, the tech should have caught any loose or worn items. ball joints are hard to see if worn. normally they are under some pressure from the strut springs. perhaps if the honda dealer worked the alignment they would have found it due to they know what wares on their make of cars.