Been starting to think just that... forgetting and leaving them on it in the garage, that maybe that is what led to change in length of time before failure happening on more than one pair of Salomon Quest 4 GTX's Soles.
Cause first pair I had went thru 3 yrs. Any cushioning to the sole of the rubber was all sacked out by then, but it hadn't Failed with a rip or tear like these have.
And for me? It seems to be wanting to tear their sole right about where the swell as you go around the outside of your toes twoards heel, starts to turn back in there? by the arch? More than 1 has torn there. Grumbling I chalked it up to production quality most likely being different then til now or something.
But seeing your post here? Got me thinking maybe it's the Ah-HA! Moment. In terms of that Sole issue happening.
On the other side of that coin, nowadays I'd been tromping thru steep raw terrain a lot more though. So I guess there's that for the higher failure rate? Hrmm.
Won't stop me from using the drier. But now I'm very cautious to make sure to set alarms to remind me to go back and fetch em off the drier. And even move it over closer to washing machine so ya see more often.