Since others are not making complaints about belts disintegrating, I feel Cobrajet's theory may be a good one. A number of people bring up a squeaky belt (@ morning start up), but belts do need adjustments at times.
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My Mirage's belt was making a buch of noise at 15,000 miles. I brought it in under warranty to be adjusted and they simply replaced the whole belt. My Mirage is a 2017 FWIW.
I have a 2017 Mirage with 36,000+ miles. My factory belt may make a slight squeal first thing in the morning (only on cold damp mornings). Other than that, I haven't had any issues or adjustments done. I probably shouldn't have said this. My belt will probably blow up tomorrow! :)
I may replace mine @ 60,000 miles and keep the original as a backup spare (unless it looks totally shot) for longer trips.
Mark, try tightening your accessory drive belt. That squeal indicates a slipping alternator. An alternator is loaded trying to recharge the SLI battery after engine startup, especially during shorter days & longer nights where the headlamps are likely to be used more. This can explain the slippage. The load on the alternator declines as the battery charges back up. Explainable, but also easily fixable.
Guess how I know this (not my Mirage, by the way.) :)
There is a belt tension How To in this forum!
Mitsubishi says to tighten the belt until it "twangs" to a certain pitch, much like tightening the string of a guitar.
It's simple and very easy to do, and you can be sure the result is 100% correct.
See topic:
https://mirageforum.com/forum/showthread.php/4028