Back in August, or 5200 miles ago, I had the dealer replace rotors and pads on the rear brakes of our 98 V70 AWD wagon. This Friday I heard a teeth-crunching grind coming from the right rear tire. Checking the wheel, I found the rotor scratched badly and the brake pad pretty much gone. I took the car to the dealer this morning. The service rep said that the caliper for that wheel had failed and hence the problem. He will be happy to replace the caliper, and of course put on new brakes and rotors... He said that because the calipers were not changed during the service last time, they cannot cover the new set of brakes and rotors under any kind of warranty. Now, I was not told there was a problem with the calipers, nor was it required by the maintenance schedule.

Questions: Can a faulty brake caliper really cause a brand new set of pads and rotors to fail in a little over 5000 miles? Is this something that could have been prevented? Do I have any argument to get the dealer to cover some/all of the costs for this (brakes and rotors)?

As you can tell, I am a bit upset that having spent nearly $500.00 three months ago on brakes and pads, that somehow it is OK to do this again without complaining about it...

Thanks for any help you can provide.