general problems of the 2012 Ford F-350 - part 2

I have been dealing with wobble and vibration on my F-350 for years now and it seems to be getting worse. It has always seems to occur between 45-55 mph. They first replaced ball joint, then I was told it's the tires, got new tires. It was always just a little vibration and play in the wheel. Now when I hit a bump, a frost heave or like a bridge joint I get extreme shake and vibration in the steering wheel that makes the vehicle hard to control. They most recently replaced stabilizer but it still occurs. The effect seems to be worse when I have my truck camper on it. Started to do research today on it and discovered this so call death wobble complaint. I am filing a complaint too because it almost caused me to have an accident today as I had no control and was forced to suddenly slow down today after I hit a bridge joint.

Currently experiencing "death wobble" at various speeds while on both city and highway roads. Front end becomes completely unstable and control is not regained unit speed is reduced greatly. Incidentally, the air bag dash light is now on.

While driving my vehicle to get on to the freeway, the engine started revving and rattling I could smell something burning. When I tried to press on the brakes it wasn't working than the steering locked. I hit my emergency breaks put on my hazard light and turned off the car until a police officer arrived. I purchased the vehicle on 2/28/2020 and when I returned to pick up the truck the next day they could not produce the keys, this took about 2 weeks. On 04/06/2020 approx. 2 weeks after picking up the truck the it wouldn't start, I jumped the truck at which time there was a rattling and knocking sound in the engine, I took it back to the dealership for servicing. I got the truck back again a little over 2 weeks later on 04/23/2020. I feel the truck is so unsafe that it will cause me to get into an accident placing my life that of my family or another driver in a separate vehicle at stake. Upon reviewing all of the documents none of the documents have the same odometer reading and the number is approx. 24000 off.

I can be driving down highway no problem, suddenly hit a small bump and get death wobble, having to immediately try slowing down below 50 and pulling over to side of road. Replaced almost all front end components and continue to have issue.

Death wobble at speeds starting anywhere from 40 mph up. Very difficult to control especially when you are on a highway or overpass and there's nowhere to slow down or try to steer to. Extremely scary. Have had the problem �try� to be fixed greater than 5 times. The last fix was about 4 months ago and has lasted so far but I'm starting to feel vibration again. The fixes aren't cheap either. Always greater than $1000 with parts and labor. I love my truck but this is getting out of hand.

While accelerating up to a cruising speed on a local interstate, the steering wheel and front end began to shake violently, severely limiting my ability to safely control the vehicle (a/k/a a "death wobble") . I had to take my foot off the accelerator in the middle lane of an interstate (with a speed limit of 70 mph) and move carefully over to the right hand shoulder to bring the vehicle to a stop. The issue has persisted despite having my tires balanced and front end aligned. I took my truck to a local Ford dealer for another warranty item on 2/3-4/2020 and requested that this problem be looked into as well. I was advised by the service manager that the truck needed "an entire new front end" at a cost of over $1,800 as it was something covered under the extended warranty we have on the truck (up to 75,000 miles).

�death wobble�: while driving on paved road ways at speeds of 60 mph to 80 mph it suddenly goes into a violent shake. The shake is so violent that objects on the seats and in the box are thrown around, even heavy objects such as 30 pound propane tanks. The only way to stop the violent shake is to slam on the brakes and reduce the speed to under 40 mph. Bumps in the road can induce the shake if the speed is around 60 mph.

Ford death wobble, defect in front steering damping shock causes truck to severely start shaking when 1 wheel hits ripple in road. You cant stop the violent shaking of truck without almost stopping truck. It shakes entire truck. Happens on highways with ripples in pavement or uneven pavement at speeds around 60 mph or higher. Ford will not do anything about it. Dealership puts after market dual steering stabilizer kit on front end at price of $600. 00.

Truck has started the infamous "death wobble" about threw me off the highway going 75 miles per hour with a trailer. Truck feels like a wheel is going to come off after hitting a small bump in the road. It happened 1 time and I talked to a mechanic about it he said to get a new steering stabilizer so I replaced it with an upgrade and it is doing it every time I get on the highway and get over 60 mph.

4 months ago I was traveling at 50 mph. While driving my Ford f350 superduty at that speed the truck had an extremely bad and violent shake in the steering wheel. During this time I had no steering control, braking was at a very minimal, and pulled the truck into oncoming traffic. This has happened 6 other times in the past 4 months. During this time Ford mechanics have told me that this doesnt appear to be a common issue since it doesnt happen all the time. I replaced shocks, tires, and even had the suspension looked at by certified mechanics and nobody has an answer for this problem. This problem is a known issue by NHTSA and Ford and nobody seems to be doing anything to fix this issue. It's getting to the point where I cannot drive my only mode of transportation for fear of causing a serious accident injuring or killing myself, my family, or someone else in the road. If an investigation is not done very soon I will seek legal action against Ford and against the NHTSA for overlooking the severity of this problem. You can read all the other reports on what the internet is calling the death wabble. This is not an isolated situation and if I need to bring this to the attention of the news so it's more public I will do this.

Driving at highway speed (55-75 mph) the front wheels will start to shimmy and shudder causing steering wheel and front tires to oscillate severely (death wobble) when driving over rough surfaces. This causes entire vehicle to shake uncontrollably. This has caused loss of steering control and can only be be stopped by stopping or slowing vehicle. (unsafe at highway speeds with traffic following).

When I am driving my truck on the freeway between 65-75 mph, and I hit a bump in the road, maybe at a bridge or rough patch, the truck goes into this violent shaking motion, where I have to hold on very tight to the wheel and allow the vehicle to slow down to about 25 mph. I have had people pull up next to me pointing at my front wheels thinking my lugs are loose or something. After pulling over to the side of the road and gathering my senses, because this is terrifying, I am able to accelerate with caution as to not go more than 55 mph. Thank god everyone around me when this happens is paying attention to my vehicle, but if I ever loose complete control when this shaking happens, someone can be seriously injured. This violent shaking only happens when I am on the freeway at high speeds. I have had truck in the shop several times on this with Ford and they continue to deny this is a problem. They said alignment issues and tire balancing. However, when they aligned my truck, and ensured tires were balanced, it continues to do this. I told them before they return it to me, to please take it out on the freeway and possible try to find some rough road to see how it handles. They claim to have done this, but the problem continues. My truck has 44k miles on it and it is very dangerous to drive on the freeway. I will only drive it around my local streets because its the only vehicle that I have. There are law suits pending with Ford for this very issue that I speak of. The consumers calls it the "death wobble". For some reason, no one at Ford, at least at the dealership that I have deal with seem to know what this is. This is a know defect in their steering suspension, that will if it hasn't already, hurt someone badly or worst, it could kill them.

I have serious shimmying and wobbling in the front end of my pickup. When traveling 60 plus mph.

Death wobble!!!!!! will almost shake you off the road very dangerous. Going straight down the road. Hit a bump it will start going about 60-70 mph.

At speeds of 65-70 mph on the highway, after hitting a small bump in the road, the steering shook violently to the point of loosing control. It would only stop by slowing to approximately 20 mph. This had to be done on the highway in traffic to regain control of the vehicle. This has happened multiple times.

This truck has a death wobble,it's a nice truck,but going down the road the front end shakes so violently that it is almost impossible to keep it under control it does it with or without a trailer. I contacted Ford headquarters and was given a case number and took it to a Ford dealer where they aligned it after I had new tires,track bar ball joint,steering stabilizer,u-joints,and front shocks installed. It cost me$2000. 00 for this to be completed. Well sorry to say it was a band-aid fix. After 2500 miles it is back and worse than ever I have once again contacted Ford where I have received yet another case number,I am to take it back in on 3/19/19 so they can look at once again. This is an ongoing issue and has been for years. Google death wobble there are alot of videos on this subject. This is a safty issue I don't understand why this is not being taken more seriously. Ford says they must determine if it is a maintenance before they can move forward. This is a $50,000. 00 truck that isn't worth a plug nickel in it's current condition. I use this vehicle for my business so as of now I am shut down. This wobble happens anywhere from 35-70mph and is very scary to drive. It is currently out of service. Please help me.

Have experienced a severe wobble at approximately 55 - 60 mph several times on a freeway and again on two lane highway. Steering wheel suddenly begins wobbling severely and have to almost come to a complete stop to get the wobble to stop. Extremely dangerous as the wobble can take you out of your lane of traffic and you need to slow quickly to get control of the vehicle again. This has happened several times over the last year and a half.

Summary: we purchased a brand new 60000 dollar truck in 2012 or 2013 and was assured by the dealer that it had a warranty to cover any issues until either 100,000 miles or 5-6 years, whichever came first. After 4 years of ownership and around 67,000 miles, the truck started experiencing problems with a high idle and then abruptly shutting off. When taken to the dealer, they couldn't replicate the issues during a brief evaluation. However, a week later, while on the way to the bank, to get cash out for are stay at the hospital to give birth to are 6th child the truck shut off and wouldn't start again. The dealer diagnosed the problem as a faulty high-pressure fuel pump due to water in the fuel and tried to charge the author $15,000 for repairs. The author questioned why the diesel fuel water separator and the second fuel filter system on the truck didn't catch the issue earlier and criticized the dealer for their negligence in ensuring safe and reliable transportation.

This truck while driving downtown the interstate after crossing a bridge did a violent shaking of the steering wheel and nearly cause me to hit another car and wreck. I had to slow down almost to a complete stop to get it to stop. I have since taken it to different Ford dealerships and also family owned shops to fix the problem and nobody can fix it.

Ford super duty truck developed a severe vibration at 70mph on interstate highway. It was a dangerous situation that caused the vehicle to swerve to the left instantly. I was in heavy traffic, I had to slow the vehicle drastically which caused other traffic to have to avoid me. Investigated online, they even have a nick name "death wabble" I found hundreds and hundreds of cases in 15 minutes, what are you doing there? this has to be a recall or something, I'm afraid to drive my truck. Help us.

Death wobble. This has been going on for several years and is becoming increasingly dangerous. We have replaced tires, shocks, steering dampener and track bar. If we hit a bump in the road at highway speeds while in a curve the death wobble is so severe it is lucky that I have not lost control. But the only way to stop it is to stop the truck - on the highway in traffic. I have nearly been killed with people barely able to avoid hitting me. It seems to be a known issue that is, as yet, unacknowledged. Commonly attributed to the 'faulty parts' that do not fix the issue for more than a very short time. Take it to the dealer and they pretend to have never heard of it before as thousands of others have stated in complaints across the internet. It has become even more severe and will happen even when driving at highway speed without the steering in a curve. The issue first began at about 90,000 miles. Typically at 60-65 miles per hour. Today it was at 60 mph, 30-40 mph repeatedly.

At highway speeds, imperfections in pavement, to include changes in road grade or expansion joints, cause severe oscillation in both front tires. The condition is unpredictable, and uncontrollable. In this condition, the driver cannot steer the vehicle. My vehicle is 4 years old, but only has 39,800 miles. It is equipped with factory wheels, tires and suspension components. It has never been wrecked, or otherwise damaged. Hundreds of videos/documents/and owner testimonials can be found by searching super duty death wobble on the internet.

“death wobble” vehicle shakes uncontrollably when hitting bumps/grooves in pavement or going at speeds above 50 mph putting driver at extreme risks. Repaired steering dampener, shocks, and tires, but nothing has offered a solution to the issue.

Death wobble: driving over a rough patch of freeway or over an overpass cross joint between 50 - 65 miles per hour, I experience violent shaking due to oscillation of the front wheels and axel. Must reduce speed to ~30 miles per hour to make the shaking stop. I have replaced/upgraded front shock absorbers and steering damper with little effect. I will next replace tires, align the front end and have the track bar (panhard bar) replaced. This first happened in August 2015, the dealer told me it was normal. My truck is now out of warranty, and this happens regularly. I know a spot that the oscillation will occur, and drive to avoid it, however it happens regularly without warning.

On I-81 thru harrisonburg, va crossing a bridge with several bumps in it. The steering went into uncontrolled vibration like it was coming apart. I had to slow down to 20 mph to get it to stop. 20 mph at night on an interstate is hardly safe. Another time it occurred while entering an on-ramp to an interstate. Again, I had to slow down to 20 mph to get it to stop. The guy behind me, also trying to merge, almost hit me. The vibrations have occurred since the truck was almost new. The Ford dealer says this is normal. I think it represents an accident waiting to happen. It only occurs under specific conditions at speeds of 50-60 mph, a slight turn and road bumps of a certain frequency to initiate the shaking. Under those conditions, a mechanical resonance with positive feedback seems to create the uncontrollable shudder.

The contact owns a 2012 Ford F-350. While driving approximately 75 mph, the front end of the vehicle and steering wheel began to violently vibrate. The contact had to apply the brakes to force the vehicle to decrease in speed. The vehicle was eventually turned off to stop the vibration. The contact took the vehicle to the dealer who informed the contact that this was common among Ford vehicles and was known as the "death wobble. " the vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The failure recurred. The approximate failure mileage was 141,000.

At speeds between 50 and 62 mph the vehicle will begin a violent uncontrollable shaking in the steering requiring the driver to decrease speed below 45 mph to stop the oscillations. At the time this is happening there is little control over steering and front wheel traction is reduced to almost nothing when it happens on a curve resulting in the inability to remain on the roadway. This is commonly referred to as the "for death wobble" and can be seen on youtube. The earliest incidence I've seen dates to 2007. The dealer tells me that Ford has prescribed a number of things to remedy this situation which the dealer has done and it still hasn't resolved the situation. The repairs have be covered under warranty thus far, but now they have no further solutions to fix the issue. Wet or slick conditions renders this vehicle unusable because of the loss of the ability to steer the vehicle.

At 55 miles an hour on rough pavement, the truck begin to violently shake back and forth. This shaking and jerking caused me to enter into the oncoming lane of traffic. In order to regain I had to slam on the brake pedal control thereby getting the speed down to 40 miles an hour. Ford suggested I checking the ball joints and the steering stabilizers. After spending over $600 in parts (not covered by warranty)and replacing the whole front end linkage, the vehicle then drove fine until I reached another 45 thousand miles or approximately 90 thousand miles total on truck. Now it has repeated the same process all over again throwing me into the opposite lane of traffic. The reason for purchasing a new truck is to have a save vehicle to use for preform ing my job. This truck has all original equipment and has not been altered in any way prior to this experience. This is definitely a safety issue that needs to be addressed by Ford. I have found an aftermarket stabalizer bar that corrected the problem, however I feel that Ford should recall and repair this problem with the proper equipment before someone looses their life of it.

This is probably about the 30th time my Ford F-350 has had a death wobble. This time I was driving on highway 69 between prescott valley and prescott when it started. It was shaking so bad that I almost lost control and hit the median. The other vehicles must have noticed the vehicle shaking because all of the traffic around me backed way off. Once again I reported it to Ford and took it in right away. They told me again that if it did not do it for them there was nothing they could do for me and sent me home with my vehicle. This seems to be a problem with the Ford F-350 but Ford refuses to recall or fix it. I found tons of information online about the issue as well as youtube videos taken of the events happening.

I am experiencing what they call the "death wobble". After hitting a series of bumps / pot holes, the front wheels start to shimmy and shake the truck violently, very hard to control the vehicle. As the mileage increases on my truck, the incidents are becoming more frequent and intense. Today, 04/09/2014, I almost got killed . . . Literally ! on I-65 south of lafayette indiana, hit a serious of road patch bumps and holes . . . The truck began to shimmy and shake and it went into a frenzy, the whole truck shaking violently. Cars around me were diverting away, and a semi was pushing hard from behind and hit his air brakes, I could not control the vehicle. Applying the brakes only made it worse. I am a 6' 3" strong muscular man, and could not control the steering wheel or direction of the vehicle. I started in the right lane, but wound up in the median, and almost took out (2) cars to my left and of course the impending semi behind me. I told the dealer of the issue, they did their inspections and found nothing. The truck is oem, I have not added or modified a single thing, it is as it was from the factory. Nothing has been changed or modified from the original factory condition !! a Ford certified dealership has serviced this vehicle since the day I bought it new in February of 2013. There have been lawsuits filed, I have not had the time to do more research. But it seems pretty incredible to me, that with this recurring issue that goes back 15 years or more, that this agency or Ford has done nothing to address or correct the situation. Guess we need at least 12 deaths to make it worth someone's attention to understand that this is a severe safety problem, not only to the driver and his occupants, but to other drivers on the road around one of these trucks when the "death wobble" does it's thing, taking over the truck. Why is this being ignored ??.

Front wheel wobble after hitting bump.

When crossing over some minor pavement irregularity, bridge expansion joint etc - the front end of the truck shakes violently. I must hit the brakes and slow down to try and keep from losing control. . Read more...

The first time it happened to me I was on a trip in canada from texas. The road was a little bumpy (farm road) I was driving 30 m/h accelerating to get to 60 m/h when all of sudden the truck started shaking so badly my head hit the side window. I couldn't steer the truck at all I slowed down to 0m/h put it on park then started rolling slowly and it was gone. It did it to me 3 times on a 3 weeks period. Since the roads are bad up there I kinda left it as that and told my husband about it when I came back to texas. We had the tires rotated and they couldn't see anything else wrong under the truck. I was months without having anything similar happening to me and yesterday I am on I-10 rolling about 65m/h and there it goes again and it was worst then the other times I fell my truck was about to explode from under me shaking to no end and no steering control at all even when letting go the gas it kept going and shaking and my truck shake its way from one lane to another one and finally stopped 3 inches from the retaining wall of the overpass. I could have killed myself. I had no more control at all on this truck which is a (2012 F-350 king ranch with about 40,000 miles on it) luckely for me I was almost alone on the highway. I called my dealer and they told me to bring in the truck next Tuesday to see what is wrong with it. I ask if there was a recall and they did not say yes or no just to bring the truck in. I got another 2012 F-350 lariat and my husband said his truck did it to him once a while back. I write up the outcome after the visit at the dealer.

First incident at 20k miles: as I was driving down an interstate highway I crossed a bridge joint and the front end started to shake violently. The horizontal steering stabilizing shock absorber failed. Second incident at 49k miles. As I was driving down an interstate highway the front end started to shake violently. The horizontal steering stabilizing shock absorber failed. 99. 9 percent of the miles on this vehicle are on highways. This vehicle does not go off-road. The failure of the horizontal steering stabilizing shock absorber is a serious safety hazard. Had I been on slippery roads or towing a trailer when the shock failed, loss of control and serious injury could have occurred.

I am experiencing wobble and shaking from the front end after any variation of the road, turning without any bumps in the road, turning with bumps is worse, straight line wobble after slight bumps etc. It is getting increasingly worse and is cupping the front tires considerably, ( when I took it to a Ford dealership for rotation I was told that they recommend that I purchase a new set of tires instead of rotation for a dually) I have had the tires rotated anyway. The truck has low mileage, far to low to be experiencing this severe of shake. When I took it recently ( 3/18/2014) to the dealer he said they found nothing worn. Either they have a poorly engineered design or inferior parts or both. I will be using this vehicle for towing a trailer in the future and I am upset to think what possible scenarios I might incur. Also I am a dot 1104 mechanical/technical inspector as a profession and I know when machinery is working correctly and when it is not, Ford is in denial that there is issues with which I described, and I know when I am getting a smoke screen to put it politely.