Corolla E11 Wiper Mechanism - Has Anyone Had The Ball Joints Fail?

[Gerg]

We have in the family a 2001 Corolla E11 with 140,000 miles covered. 

I have noticed that both wiper arms have noticeable backlash in them.  I have seen stainless clips, available cheaply, which help prevent a wiper mechanism ball joint coming apart, I think this is meant as a temporary repair, but they do seem to last. 

Like these:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Windscreen-Linkage-Repair-Popping-Fixing/dp/B09YD5TK5C/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8

But has anyone actually ever suffered this failure on their Toyota?

I notice that some others (e.g. Nissan Qashqai) have mechanism failure relatively early on, plenty of the reviews for these clips are from Qashqai owners!  Is our car running on borrowed time?

Thanks in advance.

[flash22]

Yes they do fail, a metal ball in a plastic cup add in 20 years of wear iirc they changed the design a few times as well, be aware LHD and RHD linkages are different

[Parts-King]

Quite common on older cars, usually a heavy frost and not clearing the screen will finish the ball joint off as the wipers stick to the screen