While driving my 2002 chevy silverado 3500, with approx 41000 miles on the odometer, the spare tire fell off from under the truck bed and went skidding down the highway. the steel cable that was holding the spare tire was observed to be shredded. i was driving at approx. 35 miles an hour on a flat highway, under normal road conditions when this occurred. the spare tire has never been serviced or moved and was put in place at the factory. this failure of the steel cable that holds the spare tire almost resulted in a serious accident. i contacted the chevy dealer (bill koenig chevrolet in port angels wa) and the service department indicated that this failure was not a recall issue and declined to repair under warranty. clearly, this failure poses a serious traffic safety issue and needs to be investigated and addressed. *nm