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.
Driving truck on highway at about 73 mph. Steering wheel started shaking back and fourth badly, wobbling. Applied brakes and it settled down. It has done this several times. Also done at about 50 mph on newly asphalt highway. Apllied brakes and it settled down. I also had my tires balanced at two different tire shops that I deal with all the time. All this is drving straight on smooth asphault highway. Took to dealer and they said steering dampner (I think was the name) was bad. Replaced it and said they drove it and was ok. Truck had around 17,800 when it first did this. Truck still had a very very slight right to left shake.this was done on 9/20/2019, 18,257 miles. Did not have a "death wobble" again until 11/15/2019. It was horrible. On intersate fourty in Arkansas driving on straight road about 78mph around 8:00 at night.. did not feel any bump. Worse wobble I have had on my truck. The wobble did no stop until I got off interstate and stopped the truck. Scared me and my brother to death!!! did not do it again on way home, this is about 350 miles. Still has little shake to steering wheel that I said earlier. I don't know what would have happened if this had been my wife or grand daughter. This is a very very vsry serious problem. I called my dealer when and he said bring it back and try not to drive it over 70mph. This should not have anything to do woth it. I have videos of some of this, but not the last time
While driving on interstate highway at 65 mph, I hit a bridge transition bump and the steering wheel and front end of truck started shaking violently until I was able to get pulled over and slowed down.
Experiencing severe steering oscillation (death wobble) under normal highway operation with my factory stock 2017 Ford F-250 4X4. Vehicle has been taken to my local Ford dealership twice for this steering oscillation issue, under factory warranty, and the problem persists. The dealer now states they are unable to replicate the problem and stated a Ford factory tech instructed them to increase the front tire pressure to 5 psi over what the door sticker indicates as the recommended psi. The dealer road force balanced the front tires and told me the vehicle could be picked up. I picked up the vehicle and experienced the steering oscillation again on the way home from the dealership. The death wobble normally occurs when the vehicle is traveling straight at speeds between 45 and 55 mph when the vehicle encounters bumps (expansion joints in the roadway) and/or roadway to bridge transitions. The vehicle shakes violently and the steering wheel oscillates rapidly. The vehicle returns to normal function when the speed is reduced to speeds under 30 mph.
Several times my truck has gone into a severe shimmy while traveling at freeway speeds. The only way to get it to stop is to stand on the brakes and hope anyone behind me is alert. I have owned a 2009, and a 2013 F-250 and never had this problem with them.
- Scottsdale, AZ, USA
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2017 Ford super-duty F-250 pick-up truck; violent shaking of front end while driving at various highway speeds. My vehicle began to shake violently on 2 separate occasions, for seemingly no reason, while driving at normal operating speeds. Rapid deceleration required immediately to regain control of vehicle. Both occurred while operating on paved roads ( freeway/expressway and 2 lane highway ) - no pot holes or bumps hit, that I am able to recall.
At 70mph vehicle hit a small elevation change in the roadway causing the vehicle go into what the dealership called a "death wobble". steering wheel shook and it felt as if all wheels were bouncing in different directions. I was traveling straight on a highway at the time the "death wobble" started. I was able to slow and pull into the center divide.
I was driving at 75 mph on interstate 10 heading to junction Texas. There was an area of highway construction and as I was coming off of this construction there was some uneven road and bumps. My front left tire started to shake, the steering wjheel started to shake and it progressively got so bad that the entire truck was shaking. I had to gently apply the brakes but unable to steer appropriately we veered into the median of I10. I had both my 3 and 6 year old in the truck. Had there been a median wall or traffic this likely would have been a serious accident. This same scenario happened 2 more times on our trip both at bridge interfaces.
When I hit a small bump in the road while traveling at highway speeds the pickup starts to shake real bad. The only way to stop the shake is to slow down to around 45 mph. It has happened 6 times before I could get to a repair shop. They replaced the steering stabalizer arm. After the repair it happened 2 times again in one day. Some of the times I was in the fast lane when it happened. In heavy traffic I was glad the other people driving around me was able to slow enough to keep from hitting me. From what I have read on the subject it is what has been termed the Ford death wobble. I have 34,000 miles on the pickup. The first time it happened was about one week ago. The last two times it happened was on November 24, 2019. I called the Ford service department this morning and they told me that they would have to get back to me. They needed to check to see if there was anything they could do to fix the problem.
When hitting a irregularity in the pavement, especially bridge approaches at 60-75 mph, at times the steering wheel will shake violently. I have a video of this.
I was driving approximately 70 mph and drove over a bridge expansion joint. The steering wheel and front end started to shake violently. I immediately let off the accelerator and held the steering wheel tightly. I did not attempt to steer the vehicle in fear of losing control. It was about 35 degrees Fahrenheit with damp roads. This was the first time it happened. Several hours later I was driving over another bridge and experienced it again. My truck has 10,600 miles and the tires are in great shape.
Three cracks developed in the aluminum cab around three different doors all in similar areas (sharp 90 degree bends). Truck has 13.5K miles on it and is only two years old. All cracks appeared after it experienced 'death wobble'. guessing the violent shaking it experienced is the root cause for these cracks. Of course Ford doesn't want to buy it back and will repair these cracks. No way to tell what other damage occurred behind any panels or welds. Death wobble in these trucks needs to be engineered out. Not only did it almost push us into a wall on the highway when it occurred but it induced cracks into the cab. Now I'm stuck with a $63K truck that my family is scared to ride in and I'm concerned structurally was compromised.
Death wobble at speeds of 60-70. Uncontrollable tell vehicle is brought to a complete stop. Happens on highways. Hard to control truck. This is dangerous.
2017 F250 when traveling at speed of 65 on major hwy the steering went into a death wobble where there was a slight imperfection in hwy very difficult to control.
My truck has experienced the death wobble two times at normal highway speeds. It is a very scary feeling when it happens I have contacted Ford and they seem to not care enough to issue a safety recall on this known issue that has a technical bulletin issued for this very problem. So I wrote a letter to the manger of customer relation hoping they would acknowledge this. My local Ford dealer has fixed numerous trucks with this issue in the past year
My 2017 Ford F-250 has been experiencing what is referred to as 'death wobble'. while traveling down highway my steering wheel shook uncontrollably and I almost went into oncoming traffic. Had to quickly stop on side of road. Took the truck to dealer and they replaced something but not sure what. After a short time, it is occurring again. This problem is very dangerous and appears to be widespread. Please help with this before people are killed. The dealer said they have a fix but it is on back order. I don't think it's a fix at all and simply a bandaid.
The contact owns a 2017 Ford F-250. While driving approximately 70 mph over a bump in the road, the vehicle vibrated abnormally and became uncontrollable. When the brake pedal was depressed, the vibration became more pronounced. The vehicle was taken to portsmouth Ford (400 spaulding turnpike, portsmouth, nh 03801, (603) 433-1221) where it was diagnosed that the vehicle experienced a phenomenon known as the "death wobble". the contact was informed that the steering dampener needed to be replaced; however, the part was on backorder. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 25,600.
At approximately 40,000 miles this vehicle began exhibiting symptoms of "death wobble". at speeds above approximately 45mph, when the vehicle would strike a pothole or some other deviation in the road surface, it would begin shaking. The shaking would intensify until the vehicle would be slowed down to approximately 30mph. Because the vehicle was out of warranty the vehicle was taken to a trusted local mechanic February 14, 2019. This mechanic found that the steering dampener was so wore out that when put in his vise he could slide the Ram up and down with no resistance. The death wobble was temporarily fixed after replacing the steering dampener. It began again approximately 2 months later. On September 17, 2019 the truck was taken to the dealer where it was purchased new, mark moats Ford in defiance, oh. At this time the steering dampener was replaced a second time. It was told to me that this dampener was an upgraded component that would solve the death wobble issue. Within a short time, the vehicle began once again with a death wobble. This time it was taken to a third mechanic. This mechanic found a service bulletin that was meant to fix the death wobble. That service bulletin # is 18-2268: 4WD sustained steering wheel oscillation above 45 mph, veh built on or before 7/31/18). It should be noted that the dealership service department at mark moats Ford never informed me of this service bulletin when the truck was there in September of 2019. On November 16, 2019 the death wobble occurred again. This is an extremely dangerous situation. When it occurs the truck can shake so violently that I've had problems controlling the vehicle and in one instance I could not see the road for several seconds because of the violence of the shaking. Quickly slowing at high speeds on busy roads to stop the death wobble is also highly dangerous
While driving at highway speeds 65mph plus, when truck encounters bump in road or irregularity at bridge crossing, it causes steering to violently oscillate (death wobble) which forces reduction in speed to around 40 mph before oscillation subsides.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Boyle, MS, USA