I was driving in town this morning, crossing a slight dip at an intersection, and my spare tire dropped off and was dragging under the car. I stopped immediately, not knowing what the noise was. I thought I had lost the tailpipe. Since the tire and holder were wedged beneath the van, I had to back into the dip to pull it out. There appears to be no damage, and I reinstalled it. But if I had been going highway speed, it could have been a disaster. Has this happened to anyone else? Any idea how it happened? I have never used the spare tire on this vehicle [34,000 miles now], so I imagine it was a factory installation.

 

This is a 2010 Town & Country minivan, stow n go model.