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.
While on a ramp to merge onto a highway, slightly downhill, a small ripple in the pavement joint caused the front wheels and steering wheel to shake violently and nearly lost control of the vehicle. Was traveling at approximately 40-50mph and could not steer the truck and the out of control shaking did not stop until I was able to slow to maybe 5-10mph. I was towing a trailer and if I had not been on a wide roadway late at night, going straight with little traffic around me, it's very likely I would have had a serious accident. The truck has 40,000 miles on it and tires etc are in good condition as this is a federal government owned and maintained vehicle. I see no recalls or service bulletins for the vin, but found hundreds of complaints online of the exact situation and referred to as out of control "death wobble". This is a serious issue and people will very likely be in serious and fatal accidents if not already.
The contact owns a 2019 Ford F-350. The contact stated while driving approximately 70 MPH and positioned between two tractor-trailers, the vehicle suddenly experienced the "Death Wobble". The vehicle began to violently shake and vibrate, and the steering wheel became extremely difficult to control, causing the driver to fear for his safety while driving between the two tractor-trailers. The contact stated that the failure had occurred on several occasions after driving over a bump in the road. The manufacturer and local dealer were notified of the failure, but no assistance was offered. The failure mileage was 86,000.
The front tie rod adjusting sleeve pulled apart from the tie rod end. The threads were stripped off so where you can just pull it off and on. It caused me to drive almost into a tree where I lost complete control of the truck. I did not hit any potholes or bumps that would have caused any damage. There is NO WAY that these two parts should have came apart. This is a severe safety hazard. The tow truck driver said he saw the SAME THING the day before on another Ford truck so clearly this is becoming an issue. I only have 90,000 miles on my truck so there isn't a lot of wear and tear on it either. I have photos of the parts after the incident and I've taken it to my repair shop to get it fixed. He also said that this should have never have happened and its very strange that it did. I had no prior warning of it happening - no shaking, thumping, rattling... nothing to tell me that there was an issue.
I own a 2019 Ford F-350 SD. While driving 60 MPH and driving over a pothole, the vehicle started to shake uncontrollably and pulling the vehicle to the left. Luckily I was in the left lane and only went onto the berm, If I had been in the right lane I would have hit the vehicle beside me. I pulled over on the side of the road and once I got below 25 miles and hour the vehicle stopped shaking. The vehicle was not diagnosed. The manufacturer was not contacted. The failure mileage was 28,400. When is Ford going to be forced to fix this known problem, when someone is killed?
Death Wabble Twice all 6 wheels shook as though falling off. Semi truck behind hit airhorn and locked up brakes to avoid hitting me at 75mph..i had to immediately slow to 20mph to stop castrophe
- Seahurst, WA, USA
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Severe uncontrollable shaking of the front wheels. I had to slow down to about 10 miles an hour on the freeway, people has to swerve to avoid me. It has happened 4 times in the last 3,000 miles. The date below is the most recent time it happened. I'll be taking it to the Ford Dealership.
Excessive shake and uncontrolable steering when riding on rough surface or bumps in the road. Effect will not dissapate until vehicle is brought to a stop. This has happened several times recently.
Steering suspension has been failing over and over for months. Several severe incidents while driving 70+ mph down the road. Complete loss of control of the vehicle, uncontrollable death wobbles. One incident put me in a ditch, while the others were near collisions. First incident - was no longer able to drive above 30mph without sever death wobble. After -??repairs-??, recreated the issue at 75 mph and I-??m unable to drive safely above 35 mph. Ford has confirmed many parts needing replacement but will not take ownership in replacing them. First incident -$5,300. Second incident - nearly $2500. There were no warning lamps, messages, or any notification of failure prior to incident. The entire front end of these vehicles need to be recalled. There is a class action lawsuit for a reason. I-??m unable to sell my truck, or drive it do to costly RECURRING repairs. I-??m fearful for my life in my Ford.
We are trying to make it out of the mountains of Colorado and back home to Missouri. We have the most horrific shaking on our truck. I am scared to death. This "death wobble" is TERRIBLE! I want someone to know now in case we die! We have a horse trailer loaded down with 4 horses and 2 dogs. There should be a recall for this!!!! Signed [XXX] INFORMATION Redacted PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6).
When driving over 50 mph, or while driving on a bumpy surface, the entire truck aggressively shakes until you either slow extremely down or stop. This has occurred appropriately 8-10 times.
Driving down i70 in Colorado and hit a section where there is concrete. One of the cracks in the concrete caused the steering wheel to vibrate uncontrollably until the speed dropped below 50 mph. During the incident braking made the vibration worse and it felt as though the front of the truck was bouncing at a rapid rate. Steering in any direction was nearly impossible. I have a service scheduled to look at this in a few weeks but until then I fear driving as it was a complete loss of control. This happened a few more times on the journey home and seems to be tied to bumps in the road when traveling over 55 mph. This incident happened without warning and did not cause any warning lights to appear. This truck has less than 15k miles on it so I was surprised it would behave this way.
Was driving in middle lane eastbound I-84 with cruise control set at 65 mph. Upon a lane bump from paving construction, the truck began a violent shaking, which is consistent with a problem know as "death wobble". slowed down immediately and stopped at side of interstate. Inspected tires, and there was no flat tire. No outward signs of tire damage. Drove at 20-25 mph to next exit. Was able to drive home about 20 miles at slow speed.
I-??ve experienced 3 nearly identical incidents: after driving over bumps in the road or uneven pavement, my F350 went into an uncontrolled wobble, violently shaking, causing total loss of steering control. In each case, the uncontrolled wobble only stopped after I slowed the vehicle to under 15 mph. Because these incidents occurred on major freeways with fast moving traffic, a significant danger was posed to me and my passengers and other drivers. After searching online resources, I read several similar instances of this happening to other F350/250 owners, aka -??the death wobble.-??
08 Apr 2023 vehicle hit a pot hole and we almost went into ditch when it began to wobble uncontrollably. We were traveling on the hwy and almost caused an accident to the vehicles behind us. Very frightening. 16 Apr 2023, hit a small pot hole vehicle began to wobble uncontrollably, took us again almost into the ditch. It occurred four more times trying to get home from airport. We scared traveling in this vehicle now because of these incidents. We are filing an official complaint on Ford.
Experienced the Ford Death Wobble approximately July 1, 2022. After going over a small pothole at 65 mph, vehicle experienced severe wobble and pulled from far right lane to shoulder and veered toward cement wall at 65mph! Braking caused increase in wobble. Was finally able to slow vehicle to exit highway. No prior issues with wobble nor any warning. Shaking and nearly crying, I slowly drove to Big O shop who confirmed wobble and recommended Dealer address problem. Slowly drove to Ford dealer which took two days to confirm issue and inform me that parts were backordered and would call when available. (As of 3/23/23 no call.) Ford told me to not drive over 45mph, essentially making my truck useless. Slowly drove back to Big O and had them repair at my cost ~$1600, Ford reimbursed ~$250. On 3/21/23, driving 65mph over small bump in road, experienced Death Wobble again and pulled to side of highway. Slowly drove to Big O and had additional parts installed ~$330. Scared to drive my truck over 45mph!
I was accelerating to get on the freeway and there was a slight bump or crease in the pavement and my front end started to bounce and warble uncontrollably, fortunately I was able to pull off of the on-ramp and come to a stop with out incident. This was not the first time I noticed this, but it was definitely the worst.
Death Wobble, the steering wheel shook violently. I could not control the vehicle and had to stop in the middle of the road to make it quit. This has happened before. It was serviced for this problem once.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Annapolis, MD, USA