Hi! Exactly one month ago, at 58,000 miles on a 2001 Mazda Protege, I had the timing belt/water pump replaced as preventative maintenance along with 4 new tires and an oil change. The repair personnel seemed confindent that this was all I needed to keep the car in good shape at the time.

This morning, the car started to make an awful noise, and as I headed to the same repair shop, it simply died. The diagnosis was the pulley bolt had come loose, shreading the belt (among other things). I escaped with an $800 bill , a perfectly working car, and (luckily) no head damage.

My question is, could this have been prevented? If not, could this have been due to faulty repair?

Thanks in advance for any knowledge!