Four well-placed crosslinked UHMPWE acetabular liners of distinct design were retrieved subsequent to fracture failure of the rim. In each case, electron microscopy of the fracture surface revealed fatigue initiation markings associated with a stress concentrating feature in the rim. Fracture surface investigation demonstrated that crack propagation in all cases followed contours of tensile stresses. FEA simulations were performed to examine whether direct rim loading could be the cause of the observed failures.