Znapschatz, I should clarify that I'm not soured on Leatherman, just this particular model. I have another Squirt that has the scissors instead of the pliers, and i'm happy with it.
Colog, Squirt sized pliers have had mixed reports. Some users have praised them highly as more capable than they had expected, while others have had them break on routine easy tasks. I'm thinking that the whole concept of tiny pliers could be the problem. Mine don't get used hard; just to turn sticky valves, grab on stuff stuck down deep, tightening small fasteners, stuff like that, and I haven't attempted to use them for "serious" projects. Others, with full justification, might think these mini-pliers could be cranked down for serious gripping, to which they would hold up or not. Yours broke under light pressure and was likely flawed, but it's possible many of the others were put to uses above their pay grade. The smallest LT pliers I trust for actual pliering are Juice sized, and even those just barely make the cut.
Over time, I experienced almost identical instances of roadside emergencies with three different cars. Each time, caught while driving on a busy freeway during a blinding rainstorm, my driver side windshield wipers stopped working. With visibility close to zero, I pulled off the road but had to get underway quickly or risk being rear-ended. There was a tool kit in the trunk, but would have required too much time to retrieve and also put me in danger of a direct hit. On the first two occasions, I jumped out of the car and with my Super Tool, tightened down the nut holding the wiper arm, hopped back in and got on my way, all in under a minute. When it happened the third time, I was carrying a Juice CS4. Same story, except I could only manage to get the nut somewhat tight, good enough to find the next exit and some shelter, where I tightened it down the rest of the way with my tool kit wrench. Those that had got the Super Tool treatment didn't require a followup.
So I guess what I am saying is there is no real substitute for mass. Personally, I have come around to believe scissors are a more practical option in a keychain tool. My wife, who has little interest in pocket tools but has fine instincts on practical matters, loves her S4 scissors and cuts some pretty tough stuff with it (toenails
). However, she has no interest whatever in small pliers. In keychainers, scissors could be the natural order of things.
. From 1996 to the present, I have bought an even 50 (not 36, not 67) Leathermans in all size categories, most of them as gifts for family and friends or for resale, but keeping more than a dozen, winnowed down to 7 that I now own for personal use. Every one came out of the box perfect, none broke in normal use (a couple of failures under serious abuse, no fault of the tool), and none that I gave away or sold were ever reported to me as defective. 
