What's up with the water pump?!

I've read several reports here about failed water pumps. Well, Pearl stated leaving drops of pink coolant on the garage floor a few weeks ago. I thought perhaps I had overfilled the overflow tank so I just ignored it. Finally warmed up so this morning had a look. Water pump! Pulley had lots of pink decoration all over it. Went to the nearby dealer and they set an appointment for next Tuesday to replace it (warranty - yes!).

These things are not supposed to fail! This isn't new technology, it's old and very tried and known. What happened? Bad batch of seals?

Oh, and those Disney inspired clips that hold the front cover on (they're Mickey Mouse!), I trashed all but two trying to remove them. They were at freezing temp. Dealer wants $2.35 each for them. I'll replace them with -real- fasteners!

 

I keep forgetting to look at the mileage but it's around 50,000 km.

Yup, I used the "correct" procedure to remove the clips. It doesn't work when the temp is at freezing, and I just destroyed them, pretty much on purpose. The heads shattered into three or more pieces. As I posted above, I'll replace them with -real- fasteners that are easy to remove, regardless of temp. Maybe stainless screws.