cracked side cover

I noticed that the left side cover on the 2007 ST1300 in the area of the front bolt was broken (with a few pieces missing) so I decided to get a new one. After putting to new on on and riding around for a week or so I noticed a crack near the rear most bolt. I repaired the crack by gluing a backer piece but I do not understand why the crack occurred in such a short time frame. I used the correct shoulder screws and torqued the screws to spec.

Has anyone else had this problem?

No problems with my 07 with over 118,000 miles on the original side cover. Do you have a picture of the damage?

There must be something out of alignment for it to crack like that. With the three bikes I have ridden (174.3K, 18K & 24K miles), I have yet to see one crack on any of the side covers.

There's a torque setting for panel bolts?