I have the same problem, same thing the lug that held one of the camera straps broke off suddenly, and now that the camera is broken I can hear inside the missing wingnut floating around.
I'm just so disappointed with Panasonic. Esp the fact that its considered a consumer camera I'm sure they'll try to give me the runaround. Lack of native m4/3 lenses, broken lugs, GH2 short supply...when I ship this out to them I'll see if I can do a straight swap with a GH2 if I plead my case (my company uses lots of Panasonic gears...worth a shot, lol). Otherwise, expect to see a lot of m4/3 lenses and accesories coming up in the Marketplace. That includes my one week old 20mm pancake lens that I paid double price on.
The 'lug' issue is known defect - and one that Panasonic addressed by a modification applied to cameras made from August 2009.
The fault was caused by a lack of/insufficient application of thread locking compound to the threaded shank of the lug bolt that is located inside the camera.
Because of this, the nut attached to the threaded bolt works loose and eventuallly drops off - resulting in the lug parting company with the camera body.
Apart from the obvious risk of impact damage from a falling camera the other risk arises from the detatched nut itself..
If it falls onto the mainboard it will short out the circuitry.
The modification was a square plastic collar that fits over the lug nut inside the camera. This allows a few degrees of movement either way - but then the collar hits the plastic camera case and prevents continued unscrewing of the nut.
No cases of post-mod lug failure have been reported.
So, in summary, Panasonic were aware of the problem and took steps to correct it. They did not (being Panasonic) initiate a recall of affected cameras.
I would suggest that you have a good legal case for pursuing them about this well documented fault.
