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.
At steady speeds of 45 mph and over the front end of the truck will violently shake after travelling over a pothole, or expansion joint, or other imperfection in the pavement surface. Ford is aware of this. This condition has come to be known as death wobble. The steering wheel will shake in my hands and becomes very anxiety provoking and eliminates my confidence that I can control the truck. The only cure once this condition starts is to slow down to the point that the steering wheel shake smooths out. I bought this truck new, and this condition has existed since day one. Ford claims there is no fix. This is unacceptable in any vehicle at any price.
When driving at 60 mph or more & hitting a pot hole or ruff bridge embankment the steering wheel starts shaking violently & whole truck shakes. Only way to stop it after it starts is to slow down to around 30-40 mph. Has occurred 10-12 times in last 6 months.
In November 2018 while driving on the freeway my vehicle went into a violent shimmy situation commonly called the death shake. It was a scary and dangerous situation. I had to brake hard to a complete stop to gain control of my vehicle. I took the vehicle to the Ford deaker for repairs. The mileage was 21078. The dealer checked it and replaced the steering dampener. On December 11, 2019 I was towing a 37 foot travel trailer. I was going down a 6% winding downhill grade at about 60 mph when my truck suddenly went into a very violent death shake. I braked hard and my vehicle was bouncing and crossed both lanes headet towoard the mountain side. I was trying hard as I could to keep it in the right lane but had little control. I finally came to a complete stop blocking the entire freeway at about a 30 degree angle. Many vehicles had to take evasive action to avoid a crash. Fortunately there was not a semi behind me as this would have been a disaster. I am amazed no one crashed or was injured. I limped my vehicle down the hill with the trailer brakes and down shifting the transmission. It went into the violent front ebd shake three more times. I took the truck straight to the dealership for repairs. They had it for two days and said they need to replace the steering dampener again with a upgraded version. The problem is the new dampener is on a 6 week national backorder. The vehicle now sits in my driveway as it is unsafe to drive. I now do not have a transpoetation vehicle tobdrive a week later. Ford is trying to provide a loaner. They have so far been unable to do so. They said they normaly only provide a loaner for 10 days.
The contact owns a 2017 Ford F-250. The contact stated that after 22,000 miles, the vehicle experienced the "death wobble" on the highway. While driving 65 mph or more, the entire front end of the vehicle shook. The contact slowly released the accelerator pedal and pulled off the road. The contact continued driving without issue for the remainder of the trip. The vehicle was taken to athens Ford (4260 atlanta hwy, athens, ga 30606, (706) 521-0778) where they replaced a trackbar. The failure recurred multiple times after three to six months. The vehicle was taken back to the same dealer and they replaced the trackbar ball joints. The failure recurred after another four months. The dealer diagnosed that the steering damper needed to be replaced after running specs on all parts of the front end of the vehicle. The most recent death wobbly failure occurred during a 500 mile trip. The manufacturer advised the contact to take the vehicle to another dealer or trade in the vehicle. The failure mileage was 30,000.
Front wheels violently wobble when crossing road deviations like potholes, bridge joints and angled rr crossings. Originally it started at highway speeds but has been happening at city street speeds more and more.
- Chicago, IL, USA
Search CarComplaints.com for these popular complaint phrases...
The truck hit a small bump in the road while driving around 45 mph and then started shaking uncontrollably. Felt almost like the tire fell off. Was very hard to keep on the road. After slowing down the shaking stopped. Very scary situation to be in. Took truck to Ford service and was told this was the "death wobble" that many F250's experience. Parts were replaced per Ford technical bulletin, but from our understanding this problem may re-occur. Very dangerous to drive. Would like to see a more permanent assured fix.
Vehicle will randomly start vibrating and becomes uncontrollable/ unsteerable. Front wheels oscillate/ vibrate to the point where the vehicle is undrivable. Ford has had the vehicle for over 2+ months and cannot fix the issue.
Experienced death wobble on the highway at 70mph, almost crashed due to violent steering shake and loss of control. Had to slam on brakes as I was crossing lanes and ended up on the side of the highway.
My Ford F250, at about 20K miles started death wobble when driving above 65mph and hitting a series of bumps in the road or coming onto or off of a bridge. The truck will start a violent front end shake and will not stop until you slow down below 35 mph. I had the truck repaired under warranty at 28K miles. At that time Ford was pretty nonchalant about it when I inquired. Once it was fixed, the front end never felt the same as it did new. The problem eventually returned. I am having the same problem again at 57K miles. I took it back to my dealership and was told it needs parts that are on backorder and they would call me when the parts were available. I drive 50 miles to work every day and the truck does this at least 3-4 times per week. If you google Ford F250 death wobble you will see this is a big problem that Ford is ignoring. This needs immediate action before someone gets injured or worse.
Have had a wobble in the front wheels when hitting minor pothole two to three times in front wheels when doing 70mph in the two years since purchase. Had to slow down for it to correct. In last three weeks, have had six instance per week when doing 70mph. Since tire rotation last week, cannot go over 60mph without the wobble, must slow down to 50-55 to recover.
Multiple times, in the last few months, I have experienced the "death wobble " in my truck. The truck has less than 45000 miles. The death wobble usually happens after a bump in the road, which causes the truck to shake violently. It is extremely scary, losing control of the truck.
Crashno fireno injuries0 deaths0 while driving between 65 and 75 mph I hit a rough crossing a freeway bridge. Front left tire. The steering wheel started to vibrate violently almost losing control. Slowed down to 25 mph to stop steering wheel shaking. This is probably the 3rd time happening. 2017 Ford F250. 4X4. Must have read 50-60 incidents on internet. Even had a name. "shake of death".
"death wobble" was experienced in January of 2019. Truck was taken to Ford, and per there invoice, tsb 18-2268 was performed to fix problem. On December 12 of 2019 truck experienced the exact same issue that was previously "fixed". both times this happened, I was driving on the highway and the truck involuntarily went out of my driving lane and made truck unable to control until speeds reached around 35 mph.
It's apparently called the death wobble, you are driving at freeway speeds hit a pothole, bump on bridge overpass, ect. Wheels start shaking violently, steering wheel shakes back and forth violently. It's very hard to keep control of the truck. Very scary and dangerous. I had my dealership work on the problem after the first time I noticed it probably about 19 months ago. Didn't have trouble for awhile. Recently coming home after thanksgivinig it occurred 3 times on the 2 hour ride home. Called my dealership, they're aware of the problem with these models. Them supposeded part fix is back ordered and has been for awhile.my truck was new from the factory, $75,000 truck, all stock, I sure hope Ford is made to fix these right. I try to avoid driving vehicle on freeway, can't let my girls drive it.was't aware it was such a wide spread problem till I googled it on the internet. There is thousands of complaints on there. This needs to be fixed asap or people are going to get killed.
This problem started at 17,000 miles, hitting a bump at highway speeds of 55-70 mph, experienced violet shaking of steering wheel, the truck has 42,000 miles on it now with no resolve to the problem. Has been back to the dealer at least 4 times and still has the problem, I have been lucky that I was able to keep truck on highway without causing an accident.
2017 Ford F-250 stx FX4. Every time I hit a sharp bump or bridge section the front end of the truck shakes violently at highway speeds and have to slow down to 30mph before it settles. On the highway! in traffic!. this happened to me 30+ times coming from a jobsite in the Chicago area. I live in Florida. I've been reading up on this and it appears to be the death wobble. 100's of people are having this problem with the Super Duty trucks that Ford is producing. When will it stop" will it take a death to recitify this issue" I don't even want to drive the truck anymore. From what I've read, owners have taken the trucks into the Ford dealers, getting them fixed and still having the issue several thousand miles down the road. And these trucks are not cheap. Averaging $45-80K. Please help before someone gets hurt or loses a life.
Catastrophic front end suspension failure again. Death wobble every 13K miles. Ford have attempted to fix this 3 times. Just hit 48 K and death wobble is back for the 4th time. Why has there been no recall on such a serious defect? when death wobble happened this time at 65 mph, I could not keep the truck in my lane due to a curve in the road. I forced another car onto the hard shoulder. Luckily, they had a hard shoulder to go in. Traffic behind me had to unexpectedly jam on their brakes as I had to slow to 25mph. This is a serious issue that the government must get involved with. I offer my truck to anybody working in NHTSA to test for themselves to experience how terrifying this is. (please don't take your children with you). Get Ford to fix this now. Please do something immediately. Just read all the complaints.
At random times while traveling at highway speeds over 50mph and hitting a road bump or expansion joint in a bridge transition. The vehicle will start to violently and uncontrollably shake until speed is dropped to about 30 mph. I have taken it into the dealership and they changed the steering linkage dampener and sent me on my way. It subsequently happened again under the same circumstances as before I took it back to the dealership and they say nothing is wrong but it needs an alignment which I need to pay for. This is not a fix as the alignment out would be a constant issue and since they changed the part the alignment should be part of the process. They did not know about or follow tsb 18-2268. This is a huge safety issue and could cause injuries or even death due to accident when this happens. I am getting ptsd from dealing with this
The contact owns a 2017 Ford F-250. While attempting to accelerate to merge onto a highway at approximately 55 mph, the vehicle started to shake violently. There were no warning indicators illuminated. The contact had to slow down to approximately 30 mph in order for the shaking to stop. The vehicle was previously taken to rockwall Ford (990 E interstate 30, rockwall, tx 75087) for the same failure and they replaced the steering stabilizer shock in February of 2019. The vehicle was not taken back to the dealer for the recent failure. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The approximate failure mileage was 39,000.
While driving about 65 miles an hour the steering wheel started to vibrate violently almost losing control. I pulled over and inspected tires and rims thinking one of the front tires was about to come off. Everything looked normal. Scared the crap out of me! I had the tires rotated at 15K and had the shop inspect everything and found nothing. Internet is calling this the "death wobble". Ford going to inspect and poss replace steering stabilizer. This has happened before but not as severe. Thought it was road vibration. Now I know better. This is a serious issue that needs attention before someone is killed! then there is the issue of increased front end wear. Reports say Ford is not covering damage, says its the buyer's lack of maintenance. This is a truck with under 15K miles and is having problems. Please investigate.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Avon, CT, USA