Ford Explorer owners may be surprised to learn that the auto part responsible for a series of recalls isn’t related to the SUV’s engine, but a $5 plastic clip that can be easily replaced.

The motor giant has issued three recalls for the fifth-generation Ford Explorer for plastic retention pins that can detach, allowing various parts to come loose, including the A- and B-pillar trim, and roof rail covers, CarBuzz reported.

FORD IN DEEP WATER AFTER SWEEPING RECALLS HIT EVERY MODEL SINCE 2020 – WITH ONE EXCEPTION

Despite being cheap to replace, the defective pins have been responsible for more than two million Ford recall notices issued by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).

In more than 500,000 late fifth-generation Explorers, the retention pins “could loosen and allow the roof rail covers to detach from the vehicle,” resulting in pieces falling off the car and creating a road hazard, the report states.

FORD RECALLS MORE THAN 615,000 VEHICLES OVER WIPER AND DRIVESHAFT DEFECTS

A January 2024 recall said the vehicle’s A-pillar could pop loose and detach. Ford chose to inspect the impacted vehicles and issue a replacement.

In a previous statement to FOX Business, back when the A-pillar trim recall was first issued in early 2024, Ford said it expected “only 5% of the vehicle population to be affected.”

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The B-pillar recall impacted hundreds of thousands of Explorers in a May 2023 recall in which the exterior door trim could be lost while driving.

Ford’s fix in this instance involved a simple inspection and replacement of the part.

FOX Business has reached out to Ford.

Throughout the July 4th 250 weekend, President Trump’s speeches, especially at Mount Rushmore and the National Mall, really made two key points. One was the greatness of America, the home of Freedom, the land of liberty, a country whose founding creed was that its citizens receive their rights from God our creator. 

Hence some of the greatest words in history: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

Here’s the president at the National Mall on Saturday: “This country is the home of freedom. This is the land of liberty.” He added: “we’re celebrating freedom’s triumph over tyranny. Liberty’s conquest over oppression, and the enduring victory of the American spirit.”

Another of his key themes this weekend is that we will never let socialism or communism take over this country. Here’s the president on that: “The entire world has been on notice that Americans will never let anyone take our freedom away. Won’t happen. And all these talks from the communists, they haven’t got a chance.” Mr. Trump added that “communism is a loser, and it always will be, calling it “a mortal threat to American liberty. It is the greatest threat to our country, including World War I, World War II, Pearl Harbor, or even 9/11. We’re not going to let this happen to us.”

These are universal themes that span from the American founding all the way to the present 250th anniversary. Yet I would bet that these would also be important campaign themes for the upcoming midterm elections.

The Democratic party has badly boxed itself in by accepting this wave of antisemitic socialism and communism launched by the anti-American mayor of New York, Zohran Mamdani, and AOC and her growing contingent of radicals. The Democrats are going to be stuck with this come November.  

The party leaders have caved into antisemitism and socialism and perhaps communism which knows no bounds, whatever you want to call it, it is surely not freedom and free enterprise. If you need any proof of that besides the collapse of the old Soviet Union, and the current collapse of communist Cuba, here’s one of my favorite stats: per-person gross domestic product in America is slightly over $90,000. Per person GDP in authoritarian statist Communist China, it’s slightly less than $14,000.

America has grown over the past several 100 years by nearly 3.5 percent adjusted for inflation. No country can possibly match that record. And meanwhile, just reading some of our leading economists and what they are saying, people like Kevin Hassett in the White House, or Ed Yardeni, Ed Hyman, Jason Trennert on Wall Street and many others, think of this: real GDP will hit an all-time record high this year. Not even the Covid lockdown could stop it.

Stocks are soaring. Profits and productivity are breaking records, business is booming, consumers are spending, household net worth is a staggering $170 trillion and on and on. Communism is a complete failure. Just look at the numbers. Free enterprise is the greatest prosperity machine raising living standards to unbelievable heights that history has ever seen. And that’s why America keeps on winning.

YOUNTVILLE, Calif. — Paul Pelosi, the husband of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, could face misdemeanor charges and a possible suspension of his driver’s license following a hit-and-run collision in California’s Napa County wine country last week, according to local authorities.

The Napa County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release Saturday that Pelosi, 86, was driving his brown convertible Friday afternoon in Yountville, a small town roughly an hour north of San Francisco, when he struck a legally parked, unoccupied vehicle on the side of the road. According to the sheriff’s office, Pelosi briefly stopped after the collision before driving away from the scene. A witness saw the crash and called 911.

Shortly afterward, sheriff’s deputies located Pelosi’s convertible with significant damage to its front end on a nearby road approximately a quarter of a mile from the collision site, according to authorities. Pelosi reportedly told officers he was aware he had hit something but was uncertain when or what had caused the damage to his vehicle. No injuries were reported in connection with the crash, and authorities said Pelosi did not have alcohol in his system at the time.

Deputies determined that Pelosi was at fault in the collision, according to the sheriff’s office. He was not arrested at the scene, which authorities described as standard procedure for a misdemeanor property-damage crash of this nature. The Napa County District Attorney’s Office will now review the case and decide whether to move forward with formal charges.

In addition to the potential criminal case, the sheriff’s office said it would submit a driver re-evaluation referral to the California Department of Motor Vehicles, a process officials described as common when older drivers are involved in traffic collisions. That review could result in restrictions being placed on Pelosi’s driving privileges or a full suspension of his license, depending on the outcome of the DMV’s evaluation.

A spokesperson for the Pelosi family said Paul Pelosi has personally apologized to the owner of the damaged vehicle and has assured them that he would take responsibility for the cost of the repairs.

The incident marks the latest in a series of legal and personal difficulties involving Pelosi in recent years. In 2022, he pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges of driving under the influence stemming from a separate crash, also in Napa County. He was sentenced to five days in jail and three years of probation in that case, though he ultimately served only one day in a work program after receiving credit for two days already served and additional credit for good conduct. As part of the terms of his probation, Pelosi was required to complete a three-month drinking driver class and install an ignition interlock device in his vehicle, a system that requires a driver to provide a breath sample proving sobriety before the engine will start. He was also ordered to pay approximately $5,000 in restitution to the victim of that crash for medical bills and lost wages, along with nearly $2,000 in fines.

Later in 2022, Pelosi was the victim of a separate, unrelated incident in which he was attacked and severely beaten with a hammer inside the Pelosis’ San Francisco home. His attacker, David DePape, was convicted and sentenced in 2024 to 30 years in prison for the assault.

Nancy Pelosi, who served as speaker of the House from 2007 to 2011 and again from 2019 to 2023, continues to represent a San Francisco-based congressional district, a seat she has held for decades. She has not publicly commented on Friday’s incident as of this report.

Under California law, a misdemeanor hit-and-run involving property damage, rather than injury, typically carries potential penalties that can include fines and up to six months in county jail, though sentencing outcomes vary widely based on the specifics of a case and a defendant’s prior record. Prosecutors in Napa County have not indicated a timeline for their charging decision.

The California DMV’s re-evaluation process for older drivers typically involves a review of a driver’s recent record, and in some cases a request for additional medical or vision documentation, or a retest of driving skills, before determining whether a license should be renewed without restriction, limited to certain conditions, or revoked. The process can take weeks to complete depending on the volume of cases under review and the specific circumstances involved.

Friday’s collision has drawn renewed public attention to Pelosi’s driving history, given that this marks the second incident involving a vehicle he was driving in Napa County within the past several years. Local authorities have not indicated whether Friday’s crash will have any bearing on the terms of his earlier probation from the 2022 case, which has since concluded.

As of this report, the Napa County District Attorney’s Office had not announced a formal charging decision, and the California DMV had not indicated the outcome of any driver re-evaluation referral submitted in connection with the case. Paul Pelosi has not made a detailed public statement beyond the apology conveyed through a family spokesperson following the incident.

Sales of electric and plug-in hybrid cars have overtaken petrol-only registrations for the first time, in a month that also saw China’s big three exporters capture one in seven of all new cars sold in the UK.

June’s figures mark a watershed for the British motor trade. After a spring of record pump prices and with electric car prices falling in an increasingly crowded marketplace, registrations of zero-emission electric vehicles rose 35 per cent to almost 63,950, giving battery-powered cars 30 per cent of the market.

Plug-in hybrids, which run primarily on battery power with a petrol engine in reserve, added a further 26,702 sales, up 25 per cent year on year, for a 12.5 per cent share. Between them, the two plug-in categories comfortably outsold pure petrol cars, whose 84,541 registrations pushed their market share below 40 per cent for the first time, to 39.7 per cent.

The balance was made up of self-charging hybrids, on 14 per cent, and diesel, which continues its chronic decline in the wake of environmental and regulatory clampdowns, at just 3.8 per cent of new sales, according to industry figures compiled by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders.

The month’s other defining trend was the pace at which Chinese manufacturers are winning British buyers across every fuel type, with pricing that undercuts the legacy carmakers. In a market of more than 213,000 registrations, up 11.4 per cent, the three biggest Chinese exporters sold over 30,000 vehicles between them, taking more than 14 per cent of the market.

MG, the heritage British marque now owned by Shanghai Automotive, claimed 4.9 per cent, outselling Toyota, the world’s biggest carmaker, as well as Korean rivals Kia and Hyundai. Chery, which recently signed a deal to build some of its models at Nissan’s Sunderland plant, took 6.4 per cent across its Jaecoo and Omoda brands. BYD, China’s largest carmaker, accounted for just shy of 3 per cent.

Many in the trade believe a tipping point has been reached, with electrified vehicles now mainstream and increasingly available on the used market, even if plug-in motoring remains less convenient for the two in five motorists unable to charge cheaply at home. Public charging costs and infrastructure, tracked by Zapmap, remain the key barrier for households without a driveway.

Nick Williams, managing director of the transport business at Lloyds Banking Group, said the affordability picture had shifted markedly over the past year.

“Used electric cars are now generally cheaper than their petrol equivalents and the second-hand market grew by around a third in the first quarter,” he said. “For households that can’t justify a new electric car at list price, the growing pool of used stock is a route in.”

That echoes record used electric car sales in the first quarter, when second-hand EV transactions rose by nearly a third.

“The other visible shift is on running costs,” Williams added, “with pump prices having swung by more than 20p a litre and home charging tariffs having stayed broadly stable.”

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The S&P 500 ​and Nasdaq ended sharply higher on Monday, with Broadcom and other chip stocks rallying as investors bought shares in companies related to artificial intelligence that are expected to drive a strong second-quarter earnings season.

Broadcom jumped after the chipmaker and Apple agreed to extend a deal through 2031 to develop and supply ‌a range of ⁠custom chips.

The ⁠S&P 500 information technology sector index climbed, while the Philadelphia SE Semiconductor index gained after two straight sessions of losses.

“This is a market that’s leaving a ​lot of people out. If you’re not in certain tech names, if you’re not in semiconductors, then you’re basically missing the entire rally,” said ​Jake Dollarhide, chief executive officer of Longbow Asset Management in Tulsa, Oklahoma. “I think it’s a very tenuous rally. There is a risk, particularly if the Fed continues to see higher interest rates for longer.”

Taking advantage of massive investor demand for AI-related chip stocks, ​South Korea’s SK Hynix was set to debut on the Nasdaq later this ⁠week.

Microsoft shares ‌fell after the tech heavyweight said it was cutting about 2.1% of its workforce, or roughly ​4,800 jobs.
“What the market ​is saying is Microsoft can’t afford all of its CapEx and there’s not a clear ⁠return on invested capital yet. Therefore, laying off people in lieu of moderating ​CapEx spend is perceived as a negative,” said Thomas Hayes, chairman at Great Hill Capital LLC.In ​economic data, the Institute for Supply Management said its non-manufacturing purchasing managers index edged down to 54.0 last month, matching expectations.

According to preliminary data, the S&P 500 gained 55.10 points, or 0.74%, to end at 7,538.34 points, while the Nasdaq Composite gained 288.49 points, or 1.12%, to 26,121.16. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 159.68 points, or 0.29%, to 53,053.59.

With Monday’s gains, the S&P 500 is up about 10% in 2026, and the Nasdaq has added about 12%.

With major U.S. companies set to ‌begin reporting quarterly earnings in the next few days, investors have high expectations.

Analysts expect S&P 500 companies to increase their earnings by an aggregate 24% year-over-year in the second quarter, according to LSEG I/B/E/S. Tech ​sector earnings are ​projected to jump around 65%.

Delta Air ⁠Lines and PepsiCo are set to report results later in the week. Following a cooler-than-expected jobs report last week, traders see a 25% chance of a 25-basis-point rate hike at the central bank’s July 29 meeting, according to CME’s FedWatch tool.

Hawkish bets had ​risen after last month’s Fed meeting, the first under new Chair Kevin Warsh. The minutes are due on Wednesday.

Fed Governor Christopher Waller said on Monday that forward guidance can be a “valuable tool” that speeds up the impact of monetary policy under the right circumstances, but can become problematic when used inflexibly.

Shares of O’Reilly Automotive tumbled after Bloomberg News reported on Thursday that the auto parts retailer sent a cash offer to buy Genuine Parts. Genuine Parts also fell.