At 80 MPH a small bump in the road sent my truck into a death wobble which violently shook my truck and steering wheel. I had to slow my truck down to 35mph before the shaking stopped. It was very dangerous on the highway to have to slow down this much
2019 Ford F-350 SD steering complaints
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4-3-21, traveling on a maryland interstate had the death wobble occur twice it occurred from hitting a bump on the overpass which caused us to almost lose control while amongst traffic. Ever since I bought the truck the front end felt funny every time I hit a bump. What are my options
Vehicle goes into a violent shake when hitting a bump or dip on the road. Most often occurs while on the highway at a speed of about 60 MPH. The shaking will persist until the vehicle's speed is reduced to about 30 MPH. At least 50% of the vehicle's controllability is lost during this event. This is a continues problem that occurs when the above driving conditions are met.
On multiple occasions over the 5 months I have owned the truck, the front wheels of my 2019 f350 have shuddered violently after crossing minor bumps at normal highway speeds. The shuddering was violent enough to pose a serious threat of an accident. Immediate, rapid deceleration was the only way to regain control. My instinct (just my observation) is that the bumps caused a shudder in the front wheels and if the traction control was engaged that the system engaging made the shuddering worse. The last time and the third time this happened was yesterday 2/27/21 my wife and 2 small children were in the truck with me. De-acceleration, dangerous on a busy interstate on its own, did not stop the shuddering this time, but disengaging the traction control seemed to stop it immediately. I often tow a 30' foot travel trailer on family trips and fortunately the shuddering has not yet happened while towing the camper, but I fear what could happen under such circumstances. I have researched this in ford forums and have come to know this defect is common with ford super duty trucks and is know as the f250/350 'death wobble' and I can tell you that is a very accurate description. I also saw that taking these trucks in for service has not helped other owners and that ford has failed to address what is obviously a common, dangerous design flaw across multiple years of the super duty line of trucks. I urge the federal safety agency to pressure ford to address this issue immediately.
While riding at 65mph hit small bump on interstate and truck proceeded to shake violently in steering wheel and front end, could not regain control of vehicle until truck came under 40 MPH. This was described as 'death wobble' upon further research.
My vehicle had approx. 22000 miles on it when it started to develop what is being called the death wobble. This is where the steering wheel shakes terribly when you encounter any bumps on the road. It can shake so violently that it is difficult to control the vehicle. At approx. 27600 miles I took it to power ford in albuquerque, nm for repair. They were aware of the issue and determined that the steering dampener had failed. There is lots of information on this issue on the web. This design issue exists in all 2006 to 2019 ford f-250s and f-350s. This issue makes the vehicle unsafe to drive and decreases the mean time between failure of steering components causing owners to incur the expense of replacing failed components at unreasonably short intervals or installing after-market solutions. While ford may see it as caused by normal wear and tear, the short component lifespan and vehicle control issue indicates a serious design defect which the federal safety agency should address.
I was driving my newly purchased 2019 for f350 super duty which has 22,000 miles, when I hit a small bump on the highway. I was driving at a speed of 55 MPH and going straight with not the slightest of turn and within the flow of heavy traffic, when my front tires and steering wheel began to vibrate uncontrollably as I came over the small bump. I was unable to control the heavy truck and was forced to slam on the brakes to keep from swerving into the median or into another car beside me. The concrete truck behind me had to slam on it's brakes as well to prevent from hitting me. I have driven heavy trucks for 25 years and have never felt so out of control. Had my son or daughter been driving the truck there is no doubt they would have wrecked and most definitely hurt the driver in the kia next to me. I have owned 5 ford trucks and have never had this death wobble occur in those trucks. When I got to my office I looked it up on the internet and saw this is a common problem with ford f250 and 350's between 2009 and 2019. I called the ford dealership and they said this was not covered under my ford factory warranty but that they get 3-4 calls per week about it. I have not modified anything on the vehicle and it remains a stock vehicle. Ford should not allow these trucks to remain on the road. They are a death trap and will cause fatalities if something isn't done about this defect in the steering stabilizer and track bar. I will be selling this vehicle as the repair is over $2,500. Please do something about this. As the enforcer of safety on the roads it is your duty to make ford recall all 250 and 350's that have these inadequate steering stabilizers and track bars. People will be hurt and killed. The blood will be on your hands of the ntsa and ford if something isn't done.
On the highway at about 55 miles per hour, I hit a rough patch on the road and the truck started shaking violently. The shaking was so violent I thought the front wheels would tear off and I would be involved in a catastrophic accident. I feel very lucky I didn't lose complete control of the truck and be involved in a multi-vehicle accident endangering myself and others. I slowed down and pulled over and the shaking stopped. It happened again a few minutes later. This was/is an extremely dangerous situation.
While driving east on hwy 18 in washington state, we went over a bridge joint in the highway traveling approximately 60 MPH. The truck started to violently shake causing me to have to significantly slow down in the middle of the highway while others vehicles tried to swerve around to avoid a collision. The shaking did not stop until I was almost completely stopped on the highway. Were we where at there is not a shoulder to pull off the road. Thank god the other drivers around me were able to avoid hitting us or anything else while I was trying to get the truck back under control. This truck is almost brand new with less than 13000 miles. It has never been in a accident or had any other damage. I am not willing to put my or my family's life in danger so this 70000 truck will now sit until it is fixed.
On friday jan 8th at approximately 10:20 in the am I was driving eastbound at 65 MPH (speed limit) on the I-215 in las vegas on the "curve" between wigwam and eastern parkway. Nearing the eastern exit I hit an expansion joint of the concrete cement and instantly the front end steering started vibrating violently. The wheels as appeared to me to want to violently shake off. I lost complete control of the steering. I have never experienced "bump steer" or "death wobble" until now. I remember taking my foot off the gas and then frantically trying to see who is on the sides of me. It wasn't getting better. So what must have been only a couple of seconds later I started breaking while trying to hang on to the steering wheel. I slowly applied breaks as the f350 front end seemed to be a bucking rodeo horse. It seems to me that it took 20 seconds to bring the speed down down to 42-25 MPH when the violent shaking of the suspension, wheels, and steering wheel ended. Upon control I looked around and saw that nobody was around me and a truck with a trailer was way behind me. I was lucky as traffic was light because I do not believe I was able to stay in my lane. I am sure I would have been in mult-car wreck if it was during normal las vegas traffic. I drove home at 55 MPH wondering what the heck happened. I had no longer confidence that my vehicle is safe to drive for myself or others. For the record on 9 december I took my vehicle to ford country for ford customer satisfaction program (20n04). This is for a "redesigned steering linkage damper"; it was out of stock and I received my vehicle back without repair on 10 december. I took the vehicle in because of the notice and that I experienced a three second steering control event when I did hit a pot-hole in september. I did not report it as it was just heavy vibration. Upgrade to recall.
Tl* the contact owns a 2019 ford f-350. The contact stated that the vehicle experienced the death wobble. The contact stated that when the vehicle rode over a pothole, the steering wheel shook violently. The contact stated after approximately five to ten second the shaking to stopped. No warning light was illuminated. The contact stated that the vehicle was taken to burns ford (2001 charlotte hwy, lancaster, sc 29720) three times. The steering damper, the drag link and track bar ball joint, the passenger's side upper tie rod were replaced. The contact stated that the repairs failed to fix the failure. The failure persisted. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 70,000.*ln
I am experiencing the "death wobble". It started about a year ago when I would get minor shaking in the steering after hitting a bump at high speed . The truck would shake bad for a short period and then slowing down it would stop. I took it in and they could not find anything wrong with it. Then it got worse, the shaking became more violent and more frequent. I took it in again and they still could not find anything wrong with it. Now it has gotten to the point that I am really afraid of it. The other day I was on the interstate, in construction with barrier rails and no shoulder and it started. I could not get it to stop. I got down to around 20 MPH and it was still shaking and I could not pull over. Finally, speeding up got it to stop. I began to extensively research the problem and found that it is quite common and no specific repair to stop it. I am going to a tire shop today and demand that several repairs are made in hopes that one of them fixes the problem. I have been told that replacing the track bar, steering stabilizer, front brakes, tires, and having it aligned with a greater caster can fix it.
I'm a small business owner in tulsa, ok and I was wondering if your agency has received complaints regarding the 2019 ford trucks with the front end issue called the 'death wobble'? This has occurred multiple times this year and we take it directly to the dealership when it occurs. The last time the truck was in the dealership for two weeks. Fowler ford called and said out truck was finally ready for pickup. We immediately went and picked it up, and within 50-60 miles the death wobble occurred and blew out the front driver side tire nearly causing us to hit a guard rail with a huge embankment. When the truck tire blew out it tore out the wiring harness, damaged the fender, the door causing over $10k in damage. Please google 'death wobble'. It is all over the internet and I'm surprised ford has not done a recall. My insurance is going to pay for the damages to the truck. We still won't have a work truck because ford does not have a fix fix for it. Our driver came within a inch or two from hitting a guard rail and going down a huge embankment. Thank you for your time. Nathan butterfield
I was driving at 65 miles per hour and hit a bump, the steering wheel started to shake uncontrollably and I had no control of the vehicle till I slowed down to about 40 milers per hour and the shaking went away. The same event happened two times. I had it fixed, and the problem still happened. I was pulling a horse trailer with three horses in it the first time it happened.
Have experienced violent steering wheel and front end shaking about 8 to 10 times (3 of which my wife informed me of recently when she was driving truck by herself) since I purchased truck october 31st 2019. The violent shaking occurs when traveling over railroad tracks, expansion joints and slight dips in roadways usually over 50 MPH. In order to make truck stop shaking we have to slow down to around 15 -20 MPH. Very dangerous! Violent shaking does not occur when hauling 5th wheel trailer or cab over camper.
Was driving my new 2019 ford f-350 and rolled over a rough section of road. Truck started to wobble really bad and had to slow to 20mph to get out of this situation.
When driving the vehicle at highway speed any bumps in the road cause the steering wheel to shake and the front wheels to hop. Feels like the truck is out of control until I slow down. Truck is brand new and this happened several times driving it home from virginia to connecticut.
After hitting a bump on the freeway (i215 in utah) at 75mph the front end/steering started shaking violently. Had to brake/slow down to about 45mph to get the shaking to stop. Was difficult to keep the truck in the lane and avoid other traffic around the truck. Truck is completely stock- no modifications with approx 31k miles. All miles are highways miles. After doing some internet research there is a service bulletin from ford to have the steering dampener/suspension checked. This appears to be a common problem that ford has been very slow to rectify.
While driving about 60-65 MPH the steering wheel started shaking violently as the whole front end felt like it was shaking apart. I had to maneuver to the shoulder and stop before it stopped. Very difficult to keep the vehicle under control.
My 2019 ford f350 has repeatedly entered a "death wobble" after hitting a bump at highway speeds over the last several weeks. I have to slow down to less than 20 MPH to get it to stop. This truck has less than 38k miles. Fortunately, I have not been in an accident. While doing research on this, I discovered that ford has issued a field service advisory (20n04) to replace the steering linkage dampener, however, research indicates that this is a temporary fix. I will have it repaired, but this should be documented for future recall efforts.
My 2019 f350 has a death wobble which is uncontrollable. Durning the past 2 weeks has made us almost crash. Fit leaves the truck uncontrollable which almost hit two tractor trailers and caused a major traffic accident when the death wobble started with a small bump in the road. We were in the left lane when it started we went all the way to the right without any notice with the entire truck shaking out of control.we bright it to the dealership which stated there's a recall blamed the tires and alignment. The recall is back ordered and not available. They refunded us a suitable rental car. When I complained and asked if I should bring my truck to a different dealership he asked me when will I be picking up my truck. My truck is under factory warranty
On three separate occasions during a recent road trip, we experienced sudden violent shuddering of the steering wheel while traveling at highway speeds (40-70 MPH) and immediately after hitting an uneven spot in the road. On all 3 occasions, the steering wheel shuddered, the vehicle started wobbling side to side, and it was extremely difficult to control the vehicle. The shudder lasted for approximately 20 seconds each time, it was terrifying! This vehicle had only 35k miles on it at the time of our trip and has been very well maintained.
While traveling at approximately 70 MPH on the freeway, I suddenly experienced a violent shaking in the front end after hitting an ordinary bump in the freeway. The shakoing was so violent that I temporarily lost control of the vehicle. The shaking ceased as the truck slowed to about 30 MPH. I initially suspected a wheel or tire problem, but upon inspection I could not find any tire issues. This vehicle only has 20k miles, and has been completely dealer maintained since purchase.
10-27-2020 I was driving my 2019 ford f350 at highway speed (70-75mph) when the steering started to violently shake, I had to suddenly reduce speed (brake hard) to get the shaking to stop. I had to reduce speed to 30mph before the shaking stopped. This issue happened on 3 different occasions as I was driving from colorado to indiana. Initially, it was shaking so bad I thought I blew a tire. I understand ford is aware of this issue & does nothing to inform owners of the problem.
I have been experiencing increased instances of "death wobble" over the last 2-3,000 miles. My truck currently has almost 24,000 miles now.
With the truck empty, while towing a small enclosed trailer on interstate 84 east of boise, idaho at exactly 80 MPH (cruise control), my wife and I experienced "death wobble". The front end started to shake violently. I was unable to steer the truck and had to slam on the breaks and pull over. Traffic behind me had to react quickly - including several semi's. Extremely dangerous and frightening experience. I thought we were going to get rear-ended by one semi truck and trailer. This happened 3 times that evening - even though I had slowed down. To make it home safely, I slowed way down.
Experienced death wabble on a 2019 ford f350 after hitting a small bump while traveling in a straight line at 40 MPH on a paved major city street. Able to stop the wabble after slowing to 25 MPH. Truck has less than 5000 miles on the odometer. Drive-train and suspension are stock and truck purchased from a new vehicle dealership less than one year ago. Symptoms are the same as I would expect to experience with worn suspension parts on a jeep cherokee or wrangler, not a new truck. Given the newness of the vehicle and low mileage, it is highly unlikely to be worn parts, which means it is possible there is a design defect where the frame at the steering box or a suspension interface flexes creating the same symptoms as worn components
I was driving my 2019 f350 with just over 18000 miles to a family residence via 130th avenue a two lane road in iowa, traveling 55mph. I went over a bridge and had violent shaking of the truck from the front end (death wobble). I had to quickly slow down to under 30mph for it to stop. Then again -same day- traveling on I-80 at 70mph, I went over another bridge and the truck did the exact same thing. The truck violently shook at the front end (death wobble). I had to again quickly slow down to under 30mph on a interstate for it to stop. Both time I had a pregnant wife and son in the vehicle. I was lucky that I was able to slow down and get over to the far right. I was also lucky that I did not have one of my trailers with livestock attached. This is a very unsafe truck right now, I happy that I was driving and not my wife. She will not be driving this truck anymore.
I drove across railroad track at about 50 MPH and experienced severe wobble of steering wheel and violent vibration that made vehicle uncontrollable. I had to decelerate down to about 15-20 MPH before wobble went away. This is the 2nd time this has happened since vehicle was new. First time was less severe. Vehicle is factory stock with 8000 miles on it.
On sept 4,2020 with mileage at 20980 and again on sept 3, 2020 at 21560 at around 65 to 70 MPH the front end wobbled for 6 to 8 seconds in a uncontrolled manor. This made control very difficult and dangerous. I checked the air pressure which was at the recommend level. Both times I was traveling on well maintained state hwy. I find this unacceptable and highly dangerous. This was on a straight road.
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