If a bump is hit around highway speeds there is uncontrollable shaking of the steering wheel and loss of control of the vehicle. Commonly called "death wobble" I am told. This renders the vehicle unusable as it is not safe. Ford says they believe a steering dampener replacement may fix the issue but have no parts in stock, no option for outside parts, and no eta for availability.
2017 Ford F-350 SD suspension complaints
Page 3 of 8: complaints 41 to 70 of 219, newest first, as owners wrote them.
Driving at approx. 65 MPH my f-350 4x4's steering wheel began to shake very hard, enough to have a dps state trooper heading in the opposite direction notice. He made a u-turn, caught up to me, put on his lights and stopped me. What I thought was a traffic stop turned out to be a safety check. He told me that he stopped me because he had noticed my wheels wobbling and thought that I was in danger of crashing. I had told the officer that the wobbling stopped once I reduced my speed to about 40 or so. Tires were close to needing changing, I replaced my tires and the problem stopped until recently. It is starting to wobble now and then only after an additional 15,000 miles. This is clearly not a once in a million event, this is something that I have heard many times among other ford owners to show them we need to be taken care of. My life is worth more than a bad engineering design. Did I buy a $ 73,000.00 coffin?
Death wobble on highway after hitting a bridge seam. Just started after 2 years in january 2021
Massive steering wobble and shaking at highway speeds 60 to 70 MPH. Usually on a rougher highway or a bump for joint expansion. Rattle continues till speed reduction to approximately 40 miles per hour.
Two issues. First issue, cracked rim. Started losing tire pressure, leak between rim and stainless steel valve stem, had valve stem replaced with rubber valve. Lasted about a week and started losing air pressure again. Used green slime and solved the problem for about two weeks. Pressure loss was minimal, 70 psi down to 60 psi over a couple of days, would reinflate to 70 psi and would hold for a couple of days and I would just inflate back to 70 psi. Driving back from fl to nc on the 30th of dec 2020, I experienced a loss of 20 psi in about an hours time. Pulled into rest area, reinflated tire and sprayed with windex and saw bubbles coming from a crack around the tire valve and going about 2 inches toward the inner edge of rim. Changed to spare, and made it home with no other issues. Rim is original factory aluminum rim. Dealership said truck is out of warranty. Purchased aftermarket wheels this week, did not want to replace with same model of rim. Second issue. Truck has approximately 62,000 miles. Noticed death wobble while I was having issues with above mentioned tire/rim issue and figured it was due to the imbalance of front tire that had green slime in it. Wobble happened again today after hitting pothole, was going about 50-55 MPH, hit pot hole, truck started shaking, slowed down to about 30 and shaking stopped. Has happened 2 other times but those times I had the old tire/wheel set up. This latest occurrence happened with different tire/wheel setup. Have not taken to dealership because it is out of warranty and figured they would not do anything about it.
While driving at approximately 55 MPH on the highway the front end and steering wheel started wobbling strongly, it did not subside until I slowed down to about 30 MPH. This is not the first time this has happened, but frequency is increasing. I have oem suspension, wheels, tires, no modifications to the vehicle.
While travelling on the highway at highway speeds (55+ MPH), the truck experiences the "death wobble". The steering wheel will begin to shake violently, compromising steering control. The shaking will typically only subside by reducing speed, of the vehicle.
Tl* the contact owns a 2017 ford f-350. The contact stated while driving 65 MPH, the vehicle experienced the death wobble. The contact stated no warning light was illuminated. The contact reduced the speed to 20 MPH and continued driving to his destination. The vehicle was taken to local dealer lawley's team ford (100 az-90, sierra vista, az 85635; (520) 458-8140), where it was diagnosed with needing several components on the front suspension of the vehicle to be replaced. The vehicle parts were replaced but not repaired and continued to experience the failure. The failure recurred four times. The manufacturer had been informed of failure. The failure mileage was 24,826.*dt consumer stated vehicle has been sold.
While driving on interstate the said vehicle hit a bump or bad spot in the road. The steering wheel and front of vehicle began to shake and vibrate extremely erratic. I immediately held on, looked in mirrors for other vehicles around me and had to hit the brakes. The truck had to slow down and immediately get it off the road without causing an accident. We happened to be on a 65mph highway. With hazard lights flashing we did manage to get off the main road to the shoulder. I new immediately what it was. My wife was with me at the time as well. We have owned this truck since it was brand new. At 9000 miles the same thing happened. Then again at 16,500, 18,900, 24,440 and the most recent time is 27,500. This problem has been addressed 4 prior times. Each time they change the steering damper and I get my vehicle back. Now I am told I need new tires, a caster adjustment and possibly another damper. Surprise the dampers are on back order.I'm very surprised there has not been a recall. Luckily I guess people have not been seriously injured yet. Thank goodness for that. This is my third new truck from ford. I think we have certainly spent our fair share of money with them. Fix our truck so we can feel safe when we pull our camper around the country. That's why we bought this particular truck. Thanks for reading our experience.
I was driving during moderate rain and wet road conditions. My truck hit a seam in road and the entire front end started to shake and bounce. I had to get on the brake fast and this was early morning lots of seattle traffic at highway speeds in excess of 60mph. The truck actually started a shimmy that put me in the other lane luckily there was no traffic on my left side. It went away when I was on the brake and had slowed way down under 35 MPH. When I got back on accelerator, I again returned to highway speed only to have it return worse after hitting bumps in the road. This time there were more vehicles around and I had to hit brake extremely hard so as not to bounce everywhere. The truck got noticeably light on front end bouncing all over the place and veered off road to the right. This could have resulted in an accident twice in less than 10 minutes. Truck was parked and taking to ford dealership after researching online and finding out this is a known issue. Truck only has 17510 miles on it has been in for all routine maintenance and tire rotation and balances. In fact tires were just rotated at 17000 miles.
At highway speed, - occasionally this issue occurs at about 75 MPH when going over a rough area or "concrete to asphalt" seam in the roadway, the truck will go into a very violent, almost uncontrollable wobble of the steering wheel and front end. Let off on the foot pedal to begin slowing to around 60 MPH for the wobble to stop. Then highway speeds can be achieved only to expect the same thing to occur at any random time when going over a rough area in the road. Really scary situation when this occurs!!!
4 times in the last 3 weeks our truck experienced the "death wobble". In every instance we were travelling at about 65-70 MPH and crossing bridges. Our truck began to shake violently and we lost control, even crossing into the oncoming lane once. After slowing down and pulling to the shoulder the violent shaking stopped. One of the times, my daughter was driving in snow and ice on the expressway and crossed lanes before she could get the truck under control. Now I'm afraid to let my wife or daughter drive the truck..
Starting almost immediately after a used purchase of the vehicle at 48,000 miles and 3 years old, a intense front axle oscillation was intermittently noticed at speeds between 45 and 75mph, often the issue would happen while driving straight directly after driving over bumps in the roadway or bridge expansion joints. After having the ford dealership look at the vehicle 4 separate times to try and figure out the root cause of the problem, the issue still has not been solved. So far the fixes tried by the dealer have been balancing the tires, installing new steering dampener, new tie rod ends, new drag link and two separate alignments.
I've had 4-5 instances of steering oscillation in the past 6 months (aka "death wobble") from either driving over highway expansion joints, potholes, or just from tapping the brakes at speed. This includes an instance on july 2, 2020 while descending the west side of wolf creek pass (hwy 160) while towing a 10,000 fifth wheel trailer. I had tapped the brakes to further engage the engine braking function and the front wheels began shaking violently. The shaking was transmitted through the steering wheel as well (which is typical). The vehicle also transmits oscillation/vibration from the front wheels during normal driving over small bumps. The steering is what I would describe as loose too - lots of play and lack of responsiveness.
Death wobble
2017 ford f-350, truck can hit any bump in the road and the steering wheel goes crazy shaking extremely violently. This happens at speeds from about 45mph and faster. The only way to stop the shaking is to immediately pull over on the side of the road and slow down to about 25-30mph. It's very hard to control the vehicle while it's shaking, as you do not have full control of the steering. A big problem is the fact that you can't tell which bumps will cause the violent shaking. It could be a large unavoidable pothole, or it could be a small concrete joint in an otherwise very smooth flat road. I have also experienced this when there were no bumps in the road. It is very disheartening to know that ford motor company is selling vehicles for upwards of $80,000 that can't be safely driven any faster than 45-50mph, and are putting peoples lives in danger on a daily basis.
I bought this 2017 f350 used with approx. 67000 miles on it. It has a 3000 mi 0r 90 day warranty. When this event occurred I had owned this vehicle 3 weeks. On 9-25-20 my wife and I went to pick up a desk at a residence 20 miles from our house. After leaving the residence I accelerated to highway speed 50-60 MPH on a paved two-lane highway. We hit a rough patch, rippled section of pavement. The steering wheel started shuttering back and forth in my hands and the truck starting steering into the oncoming lane. I had no control over the vehicle, I gripped it as hard as I could with no result to return the truck back to the lane we were in. I also was pushing the brake pedal trying to slow the vehicle at the same time, but was having a difficult time slowing down. After , approximately 200-300 yards the truck slowed and the steering returned, so I could gain control and returned to my lane of traffic.
Ford super duty death wobble issue. I've experienced the death wobble (uncontrolable steering wheel shaking at highway speeds.) over 12 times since I've owned my 2017 f350. Which has less than 17k miles. I've taken it back to the dealership and they have installed new steering dampeners six times including three of their new improved dampeners supposedly to fix the death wobble issue. This problem occurs at highway speeds when he vehicle crosses over uneven or very rough pavement. Usually on freeways. To correct the situation, the vehicle must be slowed down to about 20 miles an hour which is very dangerous on a busy freeway.
After turning on to a main road and bringing the vehicle up to highway speeds of around 55-60 MPH, the front end of the vehicle started violently shaking to the point where I could feel it through the power steering system and it was shaking me in the driver's seat. I slowed the vehicle down and started pulling over to the side of the road but, after about 5 seconds or so, the vehicle stopped shaking.
While traveling on a 4 lane highway at approximately 50 MPH in traffic, I hit a bump in the roadway and the truck started to shake violently. I had to brake and slow down to approximately 20 MPH for the shaking to stop. I feel that this is a front suspension/steering issue.
At 400 miles driving down the freeway the truck started shaking as if the front wheels were coming off, the dealership told us it must be a bad road, same thing when it happened at 7,000 miles and at 22,000 miles. At 35000 miles we took it to a different dealer and they kept the truck for well over a month, to fix it. Now at 39000 it still has the same problem, it happens randomly, and we are taking it back in tomorrow to be looked at. Now that I bought my wife a truck that is well over $70,000 she no longer feels safe to drive it because it is so scary to drive wile the front tires shake like they are falling off. In southern california traffic, she feels like she could kill someone simply by losing control when that happens. I have purchased countless ford automobiles and paid off many ford credit auto loans, and we have never had any complaints, never had any issues, we maintain our vehicle with the ford maintenance contract, we carry a ford esp warranty on all of our fords and we are very meticulous in taking care of our vehicles... At this point we want a new truck, and we do not feel that we should have to take the depreciation simply based on these problems. We also want our ford esp and maintenance contract to be on the new truck, just as we have on this truck.
Death wobble I have about 24 thousand miles on my truck and when I go over bumps the whole truck shakes uncontrollably. When it happens it's a struggle to keep it in the lane. I am terrified to drive it and ford seems to be blowing me off about it. It's been happening since I got the truck and has been getting worse.
I bought this 2017 f-350 ford and as I was driving the steering wheel and the truck started to shake violently. I was told buy a few ford customers that they call this the death wobble. I just bought this truck to haul heavy items. Why would ford resell this truck knowing it has this problem? I am a 74 year old veteran and when this happens its very hard to control the steering wheel. Why is there not a recall on this truck? And why has the federal safety agency not done anything about this? Now I am afraid to drive this truck with my family anywhere.can a lawsuit be filed? Is ford doing anything to fix this problem?
Tl* the contact owns a 2017 ford f-350. The contact stated that while driving at various speeds, the vehicle experienced the death wobble. The contact released the accelerator pedal and the vehicle slowed and the death wobble ceased. The vehicle was taken to monarch ford (132 n d st, exeter, ca 93221) on three separate occasions where various unknown repairs related to the death wobble were performed on the vehicle however, the failure persisted. The manufacturer was notified of the failure and offered a partial financial assistance. The vehicle was not repaired. The approximate failure mileage was 12,000.
After 70mph the rear end vibrates constantly. This happened on the expressway. It appears to be coming from the back wheels.
My truck has had a "death wobble"since it was about 3 months old. The first time I thought maybe just a road condition. It's been "fixed" 3 times but hasn't been corrected yet. It happens at interstate speeds of 70+ MPH
At 39000 miles developed a massive front wheel shake at highway speeds on rough roads. Rotated tires and balanced. No change. Replace all tires with same as came with. Death wobble was gone for 4000 miles has now returned.
When traveling above 60 MPH and I hit a ridge or pot hole the front of the vehicle shakes violently. It happened the first time around 34,000 miles. Ford replaced the steering stabilizer and drag link, part of a tsb. It happened again at 40,000 miles.
Purchased truck a couple weeks ago and after driving it on roads to work at speeds of 40 MPH and above showed high level of instability when going over bumps and rail road tracks on rough roads especially and vehicle was hard to control in traffic, death wobble in front end causing safety hazards and is very dangerous; vehicle is hard to control and puts safety of my family and others at risk in this huge truck. Reported to dealer and they would not help me said to schedule service, I demanded my truck back or a different truck, manager would never return my calls or emails. Service doesn't respond, managers either, electrical keeps locking up as well in GPS and interior controls as well as voice prompts. This is a lemon and waste of 60 grand. Intend to seek legal action and report this safety hazard of rockwall texas ford selling unsafe vehicles and lying to customers saying their vehicles have been thru 200-point inspections and safe. I replaced all the shocks, tires, and wheels and some suspension parts hoping to help the problem and have spent over 6k and still have not fixed it, dealer doesn't help. This should be illegal selling unsafe vehicles and not providing any warranty as I was charged for it when purchased.
At approx. 20,000 miles my truck developed a issue when ever I reached speeds above 55mpds and hit a rough patch in any road. The steering wheel began to shake violently and you could feel the front end shake. You would drop your speed down to a crawl and it will stop.
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