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 on the highway between 55mph-75mph, hit a rough patch and the truck begins to shimmy out of control. The only way to regain control is to slam on brakes.
The contact owns a 2017 Ford F-350. The contact stated while driving at 65mph, the vehicle front end wobbled out of control. The contact was able to engage the brake pedal slowly and brought the vehicle under control. The failure was experienced several times. The vehicle was taken to jim oneal Ford 516 South Indiana avenue sellersburg, in 47172, (812)-246-4441. The dealer test drove the vehicle and was unable to recreate the failure. As a courtesy the dealer installed a steering damper on the steering wheel and informed the contact that steering damper may correct the failure. The contact was concerned that the failure was not fixed. The manufacturer was contacted. The approximate failure mileage was 42,588.
This is our second complaint filed for the same problem on the same truck. We brought our truck into the dealer back in April 2019 after hitting a bump on the road and going into the death wobble. We filed a complaint and our truck was fixed, or so we thought. Then in November 2019, while driving only 45 mph, the truck went in to a death wobble again while on a country road. The next day while driving into town, going no faster than 45 it happened three more times. None as drastic as the first or second instances, but we still needed to slow the truck down in order to stop the wobble. We called the dealer and got it fixed. The first time the replaced the damper. The second time they fixed the damper and adjuster. We have been driving with the new fix for three months now. There have been numerous times over the last month when you hit a bump, or a even just a crack in the road, where the suspension still doesnt feel right. We are convinced that we will be bringing the truck back into shop again in the next month or two.
53,000 miles on the truck, always has routine maintenance. Started with a shimmy in the front end (you could feel it in the gas pedal and steering wheel). The "wobble" got worse. We were told needed new tires and alignment. So we did that, not fixed. Got the run around from the Ford dealer who finally told us it needed a drag link, steering damper and track bar. We pick it up today so we will see if this fixes the problem. Of course it is not covered under any warranties or recalls so it's costing me upwards of $700 with not one bit of concern or help from Ford. This is obviously an epidemic with Ford and something needs to be done. This is $60,000 + truck there is no excuse for this kind of safety issue at just over 50,000 miles!
Experienced uncontrolled shaking of the front of the truck and inability to control the vehicle well over a dozen times while driving down the road at speeds of 45 to 50 mph. Slight bumps in the road create this situation. It's very dangerous and could cause me to lose control of the vehicle.
- Buxton, ME, USA
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While driving on the interstate I hit an uneven piece of pavement which caused my steering wheel to begin shaking violently. I immediately decelerated in attempt to regain control and maintain lane position. It is a reoccurring problem. Every time I see a bump, pothole, uneven pavement, etc, in my path, I grip the steering wheel as tightly as possible and brace for the worst. I have researched the problem and seems to be a well known and very serious problem among Ford owners. Something need to be done to correct this problem immediately. Sticker price on my truck was 77,250. That's a steep price tag for a truck that is barely driveable. Furthermore, my children ride in that truck. That's unacceptable. Ford needs to be held accountable and made to fix their inferior and dangerous design.
When driving my 2017 Ford F350 pickup truck at a speed over 55 mph and hit a bump in the road, my steering wheel will jerk violently left and right until I apply the brakes and reduce my speed to 30 mph or less. It can occur on a bumpy road, washboard gravel, concrete expansion joints on the highway, dips, or when transitioning on or off a bridge. I've gotten the violent shaking on both straight roads and corners. I have had the death wobble between 14 & 16 times. It first happened when my truck had approximately 19,000 miles. Attempted repairs have been done at Ford under warranty at 27,969 miles...30,680 miles...35,800miles. My truck now has 40,000 miles and is out of warranty.
While driving at freeway speeds I went across an overpass. Coming off the bridge I went over the bridge expansion joint and cased my pickup to immediately start an extremely violent "death wobble". I had to apply brake and slow down to 35 mph before it would come out of it. I have made an appt with the dealer that I purchased the truck from new however they were extremely non-nonchalant about my problem. In doing some research it seem that this is a problem the hundreds of Super Duty owners are having with no recall yet. I feel like if I was not as an experienced driver or in adverse weather conditions I would not have been able to maintain control of my vehicle and would have crashed.
I was driving on the highway and was going over an overpass where there was construction and hit a bump in the road. The truck started vibrating and swerving out of control. My fear was that I was going over the bridge! I was afraid to hit the break for fear it would make it worse. So I took my foot off the accelerator and as I slowed, I finally gained control of the vehicle. This is the second time this had happened to me in the last 2 weeks while going over an overpass and hitting a bump in the road. I am unsure what would have caused this to happen. I have never had this happen to me in any vehicle before and I have been driving for 34 years. I will not drive this vehicle!!! it is a death trap!!!
Vehicle shakes violently when traveling 60mph or higher on freeways after hitting a bump in the road. Have to slow down immediately to remain in control of vehicle. Happened 6 times in last 2 weeks.
When traveling at speeds above 55mph, if the truck encounters any rough or uneven pavement such as a bridge expansion joint, the steering wheel will oscillate violently making it impossible to control the vehicle. On two occasions this has caused my vehicle to cross the center line before I was able to reduce speed and stop the oscillation. Had there been oncoming traffic, we would have had a collision. I am told by the local dealer that Ford is working on a known issue with the steering dampener along with other steering components such as the pitman arm. Ford knows they have a major issue here and I am not the only one who has reported the so called "death wobble." I have driven heavy duty pickup trucks for over 20 years and I have never experienced something so dangerous and unpredictable as this. This is by far a greater danger than the two recalls; one for the tailgate opening, and one for the seat belt pretensioner fire risk that I have received so far. If this issue has not caused any fatalities in the past, I would be very surprised.
At approximately 8000 miles on the truck going down the interstate at 65mph towing an enclosed 20ft trailer I hit a bump in the road and the steering wheel began to shake violently. I had to get hard on the brakes to bring it back under control. I took the truck to the dealership, they were helpful and understanding. They replaced the steering stabilizer and checked the alignment. At 14000 miles same thing happened again except I didn't have a trailer in tow. Dealership replaced steering stabilizer with a newer model part per Ford recommendation. Most recently at 27000 miles it happened again while towing. Dealership replace control arm bushings and track bar. The truck still feels sloppy in the steering and I have no trust in it. I plan on selling the vehicle as I'm actually scared to drive it. It should be noted that in every instance the dealer was able to duplicate the condition with no trailer attached.
My truck has been at the dealer 3 times to try and fix the death wobble that continues. If you hit a bump at highway speeds, the wheels vibrate out of control and shake the entire truck violently until slowing to under 40 mph. Ford knows about this, but still has not done anything to fix it. I am paying rental car fees and extended warranty deductibles every time I have to go back, which is too often. This is dangerous and Ford should be forced into a recall to fix this uncontrolled vibration.
The truck does the death wobble (front end bounces side to side) at highway speeds. It's been in 5 times for the same problem, and it continues. I'm scared to have anyone in my family drive the truck.
In Oct. 2019 I was headed to Texas from Minnesota with my 2017 F-350 diesel with only about 28,000 miles on it and was pulling my 43 ft 5th wheel trailer, I hit a bump in the hwy while traveling 70 mph, the truck started to shake violently, I had to apply the breaks hard to get it to stop shaking and all most lost control of the truck and trailer. It was a good thing no one was next to me as I ended up on the shoulder of the road and had to bring the truck down to around 30 mph before it stopped shaking. This happened one more time while on my way to Texas and once again it shook violently till I got it slowed down to 30 mph. I put the truck into a Ford dealer in mineral well's, tx and they replaced the steering stabilizer. I left tx and was going to AZ, I was there for a few months and had to return to mn for 1 month but left my 5th wheel trailer behind and just drove the truck back, then on 1/29/2020 I headed back to AZ with my truck and not pulling anything. On my return trip to AZ I hit a bump on the hwy at 70 mph and the truck started to once again shake violently and had to hit the breaks and get it slowed down to 30 mph before it stopped shaking, there was only about 6,000 miles on the truck since it's repair. Now I'm back in :AZ ( 1/31/2020) and I have a appointment at the Ford dealer here on 2/13/2020 to repair this problem once again. This shaking gets so bad that I don't know if I want to keep the truck, someone is going to get killed if Ford doesn't get this problem corrected.
The truck violently shakes and bounces in the front end and steering wheel shakes almost unable to control steering direction. This has happened 2 times in the past month both while driving on 2 different highways after hitting a bump on the highway going straight forward and the other after driving over the metal end dam after the approach slab before a bridge on a gradual left turn in the road sent me in the shoulder. Had to slow to 35mph +\- to regain control and normal operation.
Driving over 45 miles per hour and hitting pot hole, extremely rough roads and crossing a bridge joins the front end shakes so violently that I almost lost control of the truck, it keep shaking and getting worse until I was able to slow down below 45 miles per hour. I called dealer he said to replace the steering stabilizer, because parts from Ford are on back order, I did replace with a new stabilizer, but the condition still exists, a 2017 F 350 with 48,00miles O should not have this dangerous problem. This shaking happens on any road over 45 miles per hour
I was driving on I-91 last week at 70 mph. I went over a rough expansion joint and the vehicle went into a full blown death wobble. It carried on for several seconds while I was able to slow down until 45mph where the vehicle returned to normal. During the death wobble the steering wheel oscillated violently and the truck vibrated rapidly. I was able to get it under control and pulled over to the side of the road where I did a walk about expecting to see a blown tire but there was nothing. I decided to drive home at 55mph where I had no problems. I took the truck to my mechanic the next day where they said the drag link and passenger tie rod had play and should be replaced. I knew the truck was under warranty still so I took it to the local Ford dealer where they said the tie rod and drag link was in a safe operating tolerance and the steering stabilizer needed to be replaced. However it is on back order. They then said once they fixed the steering stabilizer they would then check the tie rod and drag links again and if there was play in the steering wheel Ford would then replace those free of cost. All of this happened with my kids and the car. We are going on vacation at the end of April and I am concerened about this happening again even with parts being replaced.
Driving down highway around 75 mph and ran over a rough patch in road and my steering wheel started shaking violently. Whole truck shook. Slowed down to 60 and it stopped. Pulled over to inspect under front end and rear. Couldn't find anything out of place. Got back on H.w. and got back up to 75 and no shaking. Hit another spot on a bridge where pavement connects bridge and it happened again. Took to dealership and they told me it that I needed new tires. Which I did. Replaced with factory michelins. They also put a new steering damper on. Got truck back several days later and while driving under 60 there are no problems. Above 60 the steering starts shaking a bit, but not like the death wobble. At 75 mph it is the same, along with what seems to be a rear end vibration. Called dealership and they said a part was on back order and would call. Haven't heard back in months. So, I called and they said the part is on back order. Having to borrow a car from mother in law to get around. I purchased a warranty that will expire at 60,000 and was told that if I go over, it will still be under the original claim and I would not have to pay the $75 deductible. I will get that in writing hopefully this week. With these vibrations, it know it will wear out other front end parts like ball joints and tie rods that hopefully will be replaced at no cost. Doubtful! this is my 4th Ford truck and have not had any of these problems with other trucks. I have only 57,000 miles and this should be a recall and Ford is running from it. Very disappointed. Please help!
Sustained steering wheel oscillation (aka death wobble) while driving down a road at approximately 55 mph I encountered a slightly rough patch of pavement. The steering wheel started to violently shake back and forth until I slowed to approximately 10mph and the oscillations ceased. Ford does have a tsb out on the issue but they are only replacing the steering damper and not looking into the root cause. This has happened several times and the damper has been replaced once as well.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Layton, UT, USA