On Sat, 02 Dec 2006 01:40:24 -0500, Larry wrote:

the PLASTIC in this little 4-pin plastic plug,
was so stressed, chemically, by the combination of atmosphere and 12VDC
it DISINTEGRATED into powder! I'd never seen anything like it in 42
years in electronics. The plastic between the disconnected data pins was
hardened, but not disintegrated.

Possibly UV damage? There are a lot of plastics that don't do well in
sunlight because of that.