This data is from the NHTSA — the US gov't agency tasked with vehicle safety. Complaints are spread across multiple & redundant categories, & are not organized by problem.
So how do you find out what problems are occurring? For this NHTSA complaint data, the only way is to read through the comments below. Any duplicates or errors? It's not us.
My truck regular experiences violent shakes when I hit bumps in the road when traveling over 45MPH. I was on a bridge today and had to slow traffic to less than 30mph to control the shakes. The last 4 times I have entered the freeway at a specific entrance I have experienced the violent shakes, requiring me to enter the emergency lane to gain control.
My vehicle violently shakes when hitting even the most minute bump in the road, known to some as the "death wobble." I took it to the dealership to inspect and Ford will not fix it, unless I pay. It is a safety issue and in the last month, I've had four instances where I have stopped traffic behind me while the truck was shaking and it literally bounced its way into another lane. I am a service member and I'm pretty sure if I am injured, the military will sue Ford for the hospital bill. The problem has been reproduced and confirmed by Ford. There are no warning lights or warning before it occurs, other than I know to drive real slow and not hit bumps. It cannot be trusted on the highway, so I avoid it now. The first time it happened was in 2021 and I've talked to Ford since, but there is no safety recall.
On approximately 26 May 2022 I was driving down an entrance ramp to I-77 and the front end of the truck started shaking very severely -- violently. This was without any warning and I had never experienced anything like this before on this vehicle, or any other vehicle I had ever driven. I took my foot off the gas and pretty much coasted to the side of the road to a stop. I caught my breath, suspected there was an issue with the shock absorber, and slowly accelerated again and merged onto the interstate and drove the rest of the way home. There were no more similar instances like this for several days. When I got back to my RV I check the shock and could see no problems. On 5 June I went to a local Firestone Service Center for an alignment check and to see if they could find a problem. They made minor corrections to the alignment; told me they could find not problems, even though they told me the tech said there was a lot of vibration at about 55 MPH when he took it for a test drive; and then advised me to take it to a Ford dealer for review. On my drive back to my RV I experienced about 4 more instances of very severe and violent front end shaking of the truck, typically when I was at 55 MPH or faster. In each case the shaking would not stop until I pulled over and came to a stop. On Monday, 6 June I visited two Ford dealerships and one independent repair shop to try and get an analysis and fix. I have been able to make an appointment for 8 June. During the drive back to my RV on the 6th I experienced 3 more vibration events. One of these was as I was decelerating and exiting the interstate and was traveling at about 45 MPH. This front end vibration shakes the front end of the truck and steering wheels extremely bad. I was able to maintain control but it would not take much to send the truck into a sideways skid. From what the Firestone tech told me I believe they were able to confirm the vibration issue, but they did not communicate the severity very well.
Dealership called it the Death Wabble. Driving 65 and truck started shaking uncontrollably. Slowing down stop the problem. Has happened twice in the last 2 weeks. Ford said its a know problem, but my truck is not covered for repairs."??"
The truck has the death wobble. I had dealer balance driveshaft 2X, as well as, the dealer adjusted the alignment again... the truck is still experiencing sustained steering wheel oscillation and I am again experiencing the death wobble, less than 1,000 miles after the most recent repair. It is very unfortunate that consumers purchase 50K+ dollar trucks and so many people are nervous driving them down the road. Ford keeps the montra up of such as the following: Continuous improvement. Review the data, the data will tell the story. Change points. Root cause and permanent countermeasures. I have reviewed the historical F250 crew cab 4X4 complaint data on this site (NHTSA) and the data does tell a story. That story is very clear that Ford is not continuously improving the death wobble issue on the Super Duty, instead it has gotten worse. There has been a change point with this fourth generation F250. (2017,2018,2019) as of 11/21/19 the fourth generation F250 Super Duty has had more NHTSA suspension and steering complaints for the death wobble than the previous two generations combined. (9 years. Second generation 2008-2010 and third generation 2011-2016) the current repairs (countermeasures) are not effective and are not permanent. This can clearly be seen in the descriptions of the complaints on NHTSA. The repairs either do not fix the problem at all or are only a temporarily band aid for the issue. This is truly a safety concern and to date nothing has been implemented to correct the issue. Please, open an investigation and force Ford to permanently address the issue.
- Keller, TX, USA
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What has been name -??death wobble -?? that occurs in Ford F 250 trucks and other. Where the front end of vehicle and steering wheel shakes violently making vehicle almost impossible to control until you bring vehicle to a stop
When driving my 2016 Ford F250 Diesel at 70MPH I hit a bridge transition on Interstate 24. It had a bumpy transition between the road and bridge itself. The trucks front end started shaking violently and the steering wheel was difficult to control from shaking side to side. At first I thought that I blew a tire or that one of my front wheels was about to come off. I hit the brakes to try and get the shaking to stop to no avail. I had to slow down to about 20 mph before the shaking stopped. In the meantime there was a semi behind me that almost rear ended me and had to swerve violently to avoid rear ending me because I had braked unexpectedly. The road conditions were wet with moderate rain and 60 degrees F. I continued driving and it happened 3 other times in the same trip. Two of the other times happened at a rough bridge transition and once was when I hit a pothole at highway speed. Because the truck is a heavy duty truck, I often pull a trailer loaded with granite (up to 26000 lbs GVW. That Day I was carrying a 9500 lb forklift on the trailer transferring it to a jobsite which made bringing the truck slowing down even more dangerous. The next day I called the Ford Dealership to tell them of the problem and the service writer said "oh, you got the Death Wobble". That sounds horrifying in and of itself. I asked him if Ford takes care of this and he said "no, I don't see any recalls on it." This is something that Ford absolutely should take care of. I don't know what causes it, but it is terrifying when it happens and I feel lucky that that 80,000 lb semi didn't devour the back of my trailer and truck. I have scheduled a service appointment to look at the problem but I have little confidence after reading about this issue online that Ford will take any responsibility for this issue. I feel that this is something Ford should be FORCED to fix. Sincerely CONCERNED/SCARED
The truck has a furious shake and wobble on the front end suspension after running into a bump, the wobbling is so extreme that the only way that I stopped it was to step on the brakes and bring the truck to a sudden stop, making the traffic behind me to come sudden stop or even possibly causing a rear end collision, it happened to me in the middle of crossing a river bridge, I thought that I was going to loose control and crash into the bridge and fall in the river. I called the Ford dealer and they said that they did not know of a recall or a problem with the suspension of my F250 and to bring into the dealer for inspection, the first it did occurred was around January 15 and twice after that, there were no signs or warnings to warn me about it just started to wobble after I entered the bridge
There is a problem called death wobble with our 2016 F250 truck. Driving down the highway and you hit a dip going over a bridge or a hole in the highway and it starts to wobble and you can hardly control it, you can not apply brakes because it feels like it is going to turn over with you. We use this truck in the roofing business and if we had had the trailer behind it there would have been an accident because there was traffic around us but have been able to stop before an accident. There is always two or three worker riding in the truck and they were scared to death. I do not want someone to be killed because of this problem. I called the dealership were I purchased it and they are telling me I have to pay for the repair. I know there is a class action lawsuit against ford for this problem and don't feel I should have to pay for the repair. I have had two independent service center check it and there is no problem except the wobble they have both driven it and both told me it is the death wobble. It has not been inspected by the manufacturer because they said they would charge me to do that. There is no warning sign that this is going to happen. It happens if your speed is o 65 to 70 miles an hour. I have contracted Ford Motor Co and was advised to write a letter to the office in Dearborn, MI and I will do that when I finish this report. I feel like there should be a recall on this problem before someone is killed or seriously injured from it, if they have not already been. This had happen several time in the last week. I am giving you the last date it happen below.
Driving 65mph on I40 hit a transition area of the pavement and the truck began the shake violently almost unable to control truck due to the shake. Had to come to a complete stop to make it stop. Happened again when I hit the next bump. I have read this is referred to as the death wobble. It is very scary and could cause an accident even loss of life due to an accident.
The front suspension shakes violently after encountering an irregularity in the road commonly referred to by the f250 community as " the death wobble".
I have experienced what is known as the -??DEATH WOBBLE-?? with my 2016 Ford F-250 super-duty pickup. I have taken it back the dealer after the first incident to have it repaired ($291) worth and it done it twice since then, less than 3 weeks after repairs. I-??m out of town now so I hope I can get it home for it to go back to the dealer for more repairs. I don-??t agree with Ford motor co. Decision not to recall all the trucks with this issue. I will not buy another Ford truck unless I know for sure this is resolved.
My problem is with Steering and or Suspension. A common issue with these trucks known as "The Death wobble" steering wheel and truck shake so violently that it will rip the wheel out of you hand. it is one of the scariest things especially if towing a trailer! It is even more scary if you have no idea what it is, IE my wife will no longer be able to use my truck unless I know it won't happen because if it happens to her I'd be afraid she would get scared and could crash, hurt herself, and or hurt others or possibly worse.... I have had many ford trucks and grew up with fords. This has been known about by friends and family since I was a kid and I am now 43. I had a 2002 f250 do this to me, a 2006 f350, and now my 2016 f250 is doing it! On my older trucks I just figured it was because they had high mileage and parts ware some so I just repaired the front ends and basically replaced any and all components... Everything ball joint, tie rods, steering dampers on my 2002 I had installed an aftermarket, axles and ujoints, steering linkage and even went as far as replacing the steering box on the 2002. This costs a couple thousand dollars if you use high end parts and do it yourself. I can't imagine the cost of having a shop do it, which is exactly the situation I am in now. a 2016 f250 with not even 80k on it with no plow should not be having frontend issues like this. and upon searching for a fix on the 2016s. welp seems to be a huge issue, these trucks are wicked expensive and I would expect Ford to be of better quality. This is a very scary and very dangerous problem and I have seen it on my own vehicles, on work trucks I have driven and on friends trucks. I have heard it is an alignment issue. Also, replace the steering damper and will replace the shocks 4 or 5 hundred bucks. It is the cheapest route for now so I am going to try that first. if that doesn't fix it then it will have to have the front end done and that is gonna be not cheap!
2016 Ford F-250 death wobble. this has happened multiple times drive at speeds of around 50 to 60. Just hitting groves in road cause my truck to shake uncontrolably have to back down to 20 to get control almost caused accedent yesterday.
I was driving at 70mph, and the truck went into the death wobble. Violently shaking and bouncing as I drove and slowed down to 25mph on the highway until it finally stopped. I was on a section of highway were I could not get off the road for about another half mile. It happened this morning at 7:15am, and I have not had the opportunity to take it in for service. There were no warning lights that came on. I fear for my safety if it were to happen again. If there was traffic behind me, I may not have been able to slow down as quickly as I did without being hit.
I was driving at a speed of 55 mph and hit a bump in the road and the front in shook violently. I thought the whole front end was gonna fall out. It happened 3 more times in the same day. I read up on it and they call it the death wobble.
Steering wheel shakes violently after hitting bump on highway. Vehicle is extremely difficult to control until reducing speed significantly. Have seen many other reports referring to this as death wobble. No warning or unusual conditions. Has happened numerous times, beginning about a year after purchasing the truck. It is getting progressively worse.
I was driving the truck on the highway and out of nowhere the front end and steering wheel began violently shaking with me nearly losing control in traffic. I had just purchased the vehicle used 1 month ago. It has 76k miles and is out of warranty. In doing some research it seems Ford is well aware of this issue and has not issued a recall. The issue is exactly what is shown in you tube videos being called the death wobble
This vehicle is part of a fleet vehicle that I received new. I originally complained to the dealer that the vehicle has a front-end wobble. I was told originally that it was either the tires or a bad rim. I recently received new tires and the wobble has become unbearable. It is called the death wobble from the reviews I have seen online. When you are driving, the entire truck vibrates so hard that you feel as if you are on a roller coaster. The faster you go, 60-65, the steering wheel shakes with difficulty holding onto the wheel. I searched recalls and there have been none. My concern is that this can lead to an accident and either I or an innocent driver/passenger in another vehicle can be harmed due to the lack of repair or concern of Ford Motor. I called the owner of the Fleet and haven't heard back from the equipment manager. I did contact Ford customer service and reported this. This issue has been present but recently it has become difficult to hold onto the steering wheel. The weather is nice now but if it were in bad weather, this is a DANGEROUS situation. I initially thought it was a flat tire or a broken ball joint or stablizer arm, but it isn't.
At 34,000 miles truck started to shake and shudder while driving at 70mph on interstate. Vehicle became hard to control due to vehicle violently shaking. At 58,000 miles truck started making a clunking noise in front suspension. Vehicle steered rough. For the second time truck was taken to Ford dealer and repaired. The second time at my expense. Vehicle is unsafe to drive when parts in suspension wear out over this short amount of time. Each time vehicle was in motion on the highway.
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- San Diego, CA, USA