2011 FORD F-250 Complaints

DEATH WOBBLE, SHAKING UNCONTROLLABLY WHEN HITTING BUMPS OR UNEVEN ROADS ON HIGHWAY AT 65MPH

FORD F-250 CREWCAB WITH NO AFTERMARKET PARTS & FORD RECOMMENDED RIMS/TIRES: A MONTH AGO I NOTICED WOBBLING/SHAKING SIMILAR TO THE DESCRIBED 'DEATH WOBBLE'. PLACED TRUCK IN FOR SERVICE AND A RECOMMENDATION FOR A SOLUTION. WHILE DRIVING OVER 50 MPH AND THE VEHICLE RUNS OVER BUMP ON THE HIGHWAY, THE STEERING WHEEL AND TRUCK WILL SHAKE VIOLENTLY. AS THIS SO CALLED DEATH WOBBLE OCCURS I WILL COAST OVER TO THE EMERGENCY LANE AND COAST TO A STOP. I HAVE NOTICED VEHICLES BEHIND ME SLOW DOWN QUICKLY AND I AM ASSUMING THEY ARE SEE TRUCK SHAKE VIOLENTLY, TOO. IF OTHER DRIVERS ARE SEEING THIS DEATH WOBBLE OCCURRING I AM WONDERING IF THESE DRIVERS ARE TAKING EMERGENCY AVOIDANCE ACTIONS WHICH COULD CAUSE AN ACCIDENT TO OTHERS. HOW SAFE ARE F-250/F-350 TO BE ON THE ROAD? THE PICKUP HAS BEEN THE SHOP TWICE FOR REPAIRS AND NOW I NEED TO CONTACT THE SHOP AGAIN FOR THIRD RECOMMENDATION. ALL OF THE FORD RECOMMENDATIONS HAVE BEEN COMPLETED BUT THE DEATH WOBBLE RETURNS AGAIN IN LESS THAN 60 MILES. I CANNOT SELL THE PICK-UP BECAUSE I KNOW THE PICK-UP HAS THE DEATH WOBBLE. 'SO NOW I AM STUCK WITH A PICK-UP THAT CANNOT BE DRIVEN ON THE HIGHWAY. PLEASE POST ANY SUGGESTIONS/RECOMMENDATIONS FOR A REPAIR FOR THE DEATH WOBBLE. THANK YOU FOR YOUR HELP

LET ME START BY SAYING THAT MY TRUCK DOES NOT HAVE ANY AFTERMARKET CHANGES - IT IS COMPLETELY STOCK/OEM. AT HIGHWAY SPEEDS (60MPH+), THE FRONT END OF MY TRUCK SOMETIMES SHUDDERS SEVERELY AFTER GOING OVER SMALL ROAD SURFACE CHANGES SUCH AS JOINTS/SEAMS IN THE HIGHWAY. AT FIRST IT ONLY OCCURRED DURING SWEEPING HIGHWAY TURNS, BUT IT HAS PROGRESSED TO HAPPENING ON STRAIGHTS AS WELL. THE SHUDDER IS SO SEVERE THAT THE STEERING WHEEL NEARLY SHAKES OUT OF MY HANDS AND THINGS IN THE STOWAGE SPOTS ON THE DOORS ARE SHAKEN OUT. I NOW HAVE TO SLOW TO <30MPH IN ORDER TO SETTLE THE FRONT END WHICH IS OBVIOUSLY EXTREMELY DANGEROUS TO HAVE TO SUDDENLY DO ON A HIGHWAY. THE INITIAL EVENT OCCURRED AT ROUGHLY 80K MILES AND ONLY HAPPENED A FEW TIMES A YEAR. I NOW HAVE 130K MILES AND THE PROBLEM HAS OCCURRED 3 TIMES WITHIN THE LAST MONTH. I'VE RECENTLY REPLACED ALL SHOCK ABSORBERS AND THE STEERING DAMPENER, HAD AN ALIGNMENT AND THE TIRES BALANCED AND ROTATED - TO NO AVAIL. THE TRUCK IS CURRENTLY IN THE SHOP WHERE THEY ARE TRYING TO IDENTIFY THE SPECIFIC PROBLEM BUT HAVE TOLD ME THIS IS RELATIVELY COMMON AMONG FORD SUPER DUTY TRUCKS. AFTER DOING SOME RESEARCH ONLINE I HAVE FOUND NUMEROUS ONLINE COMMUNITIES DISCUSSING THIS PROBLEM THAT HAS APPARENTLY BEEN OCCURRING WITH FORD SUPER DUTY TRUCKS FOR OVER A DECADE AND IS STILL OCCURRING ON NEW UNITS WITH AS FEW AS 15K MILES.

AT 89,000 APPROX. MILES, THE CLOCK SPRING IN THE STEERING FAILED AND ALL BUTTONS BECAME USELESS ON THE WHEEL. THE MECHANIC STATES IT MUST BE REPAIRED ASAP AS THIS WILL CAUSE THE AIRBAG TO EITHER NOT DEPLOY OR RANDOMLY DEPLOY WHILE DRIVING. THIS WAS A RECALL ON F150S AND SHOULD BE A RECALL ON THE F250 AS WELL SINCE THIS IS EXTREMELY DANGEROUS FOR MYSELF AS WELL AS OTHER DRIVERS. DUE TO IT 'NOT' BEING A RECALL, I WAS TOLD BY FORD THEY JUST HAD A BAD RUN OF VEHICLES AROUND THAT TIME AND SINCE IT HASN'T BEEN RECALLED THEN WE WOULD JUST HAVE TO PAY FOR THE REPAIR OVER $500 TO ENSURE MY SAFETY, BUT THE NEW ONES SUPPOSEDLY ARE MUCH BETTER. ED SHERLING FORD CLAIMED THEY JUST BUILT BAD VEHICLES THEN AND HAD LOTS OF ELECTRICAL AND SAFETY ISSUES. SOUNDS LIKE THE OVERSIGHT AUTHORITY FAILED TO DO ITS JOB WITH DOMESTIC VEHICLES. PROBABLY WHY MOST PEOPLE WANT FOREIGN VEHICLES INSTEAD AS THEY'RE HELD TO A HIGHER STANDARD WITH BETTER OVERSIGHT THAT LAID BACK UNION BOSSES IN YACHTS PRETENDING TO HANDLE THEIR BUSINESS HERE IN THE STATES. SAD AMERICA CAN'T BUILD A DECENT VEHICLE ANYMORE. WE WERE ONCE THE GREATEST, BUT NOW... WE GOTTA GET IT CHEAP TO ENSURE AN 8 FIGURE SALARY FOR SOME. ABSOLUTELY PATHETIC THIS WAS MISSED IN SUCH AN EXPENSIVE VEHICLE.

MY TRUCK VIOLENTLY SHAKES AFTER HITTING A BUMP OR GROOVE. I AM BARELY ABLE TO CONTROL IT AND IT WILL NOT STOP UNTIL YOU BRING THE VEHICLE TO A STOP.

WHEN TRAVELING OVER 50 MPH WHEN MY VEHICLE HITS A BUMP, I GET A "DEATH WOBBLE" WHERE THE FRONT END SHAKES UNCONTROLLABLY. THE ONLY OPTION THAT I HAVE IS TO SLOW THE VEHICLE DOWN TO 35 OR BELOW TO GET IT TO STOP. I'VE COME CLOSE TO EITHER LOSING CONTROL OR GETTING HIT FROM BEHIND ON SEVERAL OCCASIONS. I CAN REPLICATE THIS EVENT BY GOING OVER DIFFERENT BUMPS IN THE ROAD. I HAVE RE-ALIGNED MY VEHICLE, REPLACED THE BRAKE SYSTEM, INSTALLED A NEW STEERING DAMPNER, ROTORS, ETC, TO NO AVAIL. FORD DEALERSHIPS PLAY STUPID AND ACT AS IF THERE'S NO PROBLEM, I'VE TAKEN IT TO MULTIPLE MECHANICS AND THEY INSIST THAT IT'S FAULTY PARTS WITHIN THE STEERING AND SUSPENSION. WOULD LIKE TO HAVE IT REPAIRED IF POSSIBLE, BUT DON'T HAVE A LOT OF OPTIONS AS TO WHAT THE TRUE CAUSE IS. PLEASE ADVISE AS TO WHETHER OR NOT YOU HAVE ANY OTHER COMPLAINTS . THIS HAS BEEN AN ONGOING ISSUE SINCE I PURCHASED THE VEHICLE NEW IN 2011. IT HAS ONLY GOTTEN WORSE AS IT GETS OLDER.

FORD DEATH WOBBLE WHEN THE TRUCK HITS A ROUGH SPOT IN THE ROAD, UNCONTROLLABLE WOBBLE THAT REQUIRES A FULL STOP.

VEHICLE IS EXPERIENCING "DEATH WOBBLE". DEALERSHIP INSTALLED KC3Z 3E651 B:DAMPER ASSY TO FIX THE ISSUE. PROBLEM RE-OCCURRED WITHIN WEEKS. TOOK IT BACK TO THE DEALER AND THEY COULD NOT EXPLAIN. THIS TIME THEY SAID THE TRAC BAR BALL JOINT NEEDED TO BE REPLACED. REPLACED IT AND HAD THE SAME PROBLEM RE-OCCURRING WITHIN DAYS. THIS PROBLEM OCCURS RANDOMLY WHEN DRIVING OVER MINOR BUMPS, ROAD SEAMS IN BRIDGES, ETC. WITH AND WITHOUT CARRYING A LOAD. INDICATIONS ARE HEAVY VIBRATIONS IN THE FRONT END/STEERING THAT WILL NOT STOP UNTIL YOU LET THE VEHICLE DE-ACCELERATE ON IT'S OWN WITHOUT USING THE BRAKE.

TL* THE CONTACT OWNS A 2011 FORD F-250. THE CONTACT STATED WHILE DRIVING APPROXIMATELY 50 MPH AND DRIVING OVER A BUMP IN THE ROADWAY, THE FRONT END OF THE VEHICLE SUDDENLY STARTED TO VIOLENTLY SHAKE AND VIBRATE. THE VEHICLE WAS TAKEN TO THE LOCAL DEALER AUTONATION FORD LOCATED AT 4355 JONESBORO RD, UNION CITY, GA 30291, WHO DIAGNOSED THAT THE SUSPENSION NEEDED TO BE REPAIRED. THE DAMPER ASSEMBLY, FRONT SUSPENSION, BALL JOINTS, AND TIE ROD CONNECTIONS WERE REPLACED. THE MANUFACTURER WAS NOTIFIED OF THE FAILURE. THE FAILURE MILEAGE WAS 94,000.

MY 2011 F-250 KING RANCH DIESEL HAS A 'DEATH WOBBLE'. I BOUGHT IT ABOUT 8 MONTHS AGO AND IT HAPPENED TO ME THREE TIME AND MY STEP SON ONCE. IT DOESN'T HAVE TO BE A VERY BIG BUMP FOR THE WOBBLE TO START. I HAVE TRIED TO 'DRIVE THROUGH' THE WOBBLE BUT IT JUST GETS WORSE. NONE OF THE MECHANICS I HAVE TALKED TO CAN TELL ME HOW TO FIX IT. I LOVE MY TRUCK BUT I CAN NOT TAKE A CHANCE ON HAVING A WRECK AND SOMEONE GETS HURT OR WORSE. [XXX] INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6). *TR