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Ford's cars being held up in Chinese ports in trade tensions with U.S.

BEIJING — Ford Motor Co's imported vehicles are being held up at Chinese ports, three people with knowledge of the matter told Reuters, underscoring how U.S. goods are facing increased customs scrutiny in China amid a tense trade standoff. The three people said Ford and Lincoln vehicles were facing unusual delays at customs, with officials asking for extra technical checks. Two of the people said U.S.-made models of some German carmakers, mainly SUVs, being brought into China, were also affected. Ford was being asked to do extra checks on emission components, said a China-based Ford executive familiar with the matter, asking not be named because of the sensitivity of the issue. China's customs agency did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The holdups add to a growing list of American products facing issues at China's borders, as officials try to avert a full-blown trade war. Some trade experts said they believe Beijing is sending a defiant warning to Washington in response to sweeping U.S. trade demands made on China last week. Reuters reported Tuesday that China had ramped up inspections of pork shipped from the United States, after the country's customs agency said it would step up quarantine checks on American apples and logs. The second person, a China-based industry official with knowledge of the matter, said the delays for Ford — as well as some U.S.-made cars from BMW and Mercedes-Benz — had been going on for the last two weeks. "Customs pretends there are technical non-conformities of some nature that won't allow them to clear these U.S.-made cars through customs, but the U.S.-China trade frictions must be the background to this," he said. "Although no one will officially admit it." Responding to a request for comment from Reuters, a BMW spokesman said that "U.S.-made BMW cars have not been delayed at the ports as of last week and before." A Daimler spokeswoman said it was "monitoring the situation closely" regarding ongoing trade talks between China and the United States, but that she could not speculate further on other matters. The third person said the Ford issue, which had been noted by the United States government, and other holdups facing American goods, were clearly related to the trade dispute. A Ford spokeswoman in Shanghai when asked about the matter said: "We are closely monitoring our situation at the port." She declined to comment further.

Lincoln bringing in MKZ Hybrid over rollaway risk

Federal safety standards require that every new car needs to have the brake depressed in order to shift it out of Park. But the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has found fault in the transmission range sensor on certain examples of the Lincoln MKZ Hybrid, allowing the car to be shifted out of Park without first depressing the brake. The fear is that with this condition, affected vehicles may be unintentionally pulled out of Park, resulting in a possible rollaway. That safety concern has prompted parent Ford Motor Company to issue a recall.
The issue pertains to 7,153 examples of the MKZ Hybrid built between April 26, 2012 and September 24, 2013, covering the 2013 and 2014 model years. As a result, Ford will notify owners to bring their MKZs into their local Lincoln dealer to have the Powertrain Control Module software updated in order to rectify the problem. See the full recall notice below for details.

World's dumbest carjackers livestream themselves committing crime

Warrants were issued Monday for a trio of Cleveland carjackers who, after beating up a limo driver and stealing his car, livestreamed themselves joyriding around the city in the stolen limo. According to Cleveland.com, Brandon Lynch, a limo driver and National Guardsman, drove a couple in a hired limo from New Philadelphia, Ohio to Cleveland for game one of the Indians/Red Sox AL Divisional Series last Thursday. After dropping off his passengers at Progressive Field, he drove the stretched 2001 Lincoln to a McDonalds at Carnegie Avenue and East 30th to grab a bite and wait for the game to end. After finishing his dinner in the car, Lynch stepped out for a breath of fresh air in the parking lot when he was approached by three young men on bicycles. One of them asked Lynch if he could take them through the drive-through in the limo. "I laughed at first because I thought they were kidding," Lynch told the website. "I can't just drive someone in the limo." Lynch said no, and that's when the trio jumped him. During the scuffle the three youths choked Lynch out, punched and kicked him in the head. They then rifled through his pockets and made off in the limo. The next day, a young Cleveland resident named Jessee Varner fired up Facebook live and filmed himself and his two accomplices–Ty'Juan Philpot and Norman Henry–reenacting every 90's hip-hop video ever made from inside the stolen Lincoln. During the video they drove around town, smoke some weed, drank some 40 ounce beers, stuck their heads out of the sunroof, and generally made a nuisance of themselves while posting the evidence online. Eventually they crashed the car and fled the scene. Using evidence from the video and from DNA samples collected from a bicycle at the scene of the crime, Cleveland Police issued warrants for their arrest. The three criminal masterminds, who are well known to Cleveland's law enforcement community, remain at large. Despite a bad concussion and the loss of his car, Lynch is looking on the bright side of things. "The Indians won, so it wasn't all bad!" he said. Recent Video: News Source: Cleveland.com Auto News Humor Weird Car News Lincoln Commercial Vehicles limo carjacking cleveland