What 198 owners told NHTSA about the 2018 Ford F-350 Crew

The contact owns a 2018 Ford F-350. The contact stated while driving at various speeds, the vehicle experienced a "death wobble". The contact then received notification for Customer Satisfaction Program: 20N04 (Steering Linkage Damper Extended Coverage). The vehicle was taken to the dealer where the repair was performed; however, the failure recurred approximately 5,000 miles after the repair. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure but offered no assistance. The contact was also referred to the NHTSA Hotline to file a safety complaint. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was 38,320.

NHTSA ODI 11611247

Violent front end shimmy (death wobble) at highway speeds. Seems to be worsening. Happened in Interstate traffic near Atlanta Georgia. Extreme concern as I was among multiple vehicles with many behind me as well, all moving at highway speeds. I could not stop the problem until I had slowed to about 20 miles per hour.

NHTSA ODI 11583892

Twice while driving between 65-70 mph when hitting a bump or groove the front end began shaking violently and I had to pull over to make it stop. Luckily I was in an outside lane and did not hit another car. This sounds like the "death wobble" problem that many others have reported. I have contacted the dealer and am waiting to get a call back. This was terrifying and I don't feel safe driving my truck on the highway now.

NHTSA ODI 11514035

Suspension and or steering goes into a violent shaking and vibrating motion that will stop only when hitting the brakes and or significantly slowing down. Safety of the driver, passengers, and others around may be significantly injured if loss of control should occur. There are numerous complaints to the NHTSA, and lawsuits regarding this exact issue, known as the "death wobble". There are no warnings to when this may occur, and usually starts with a bump in the road. This vehicle is available for inspection upon request.

NHTSA ODI 11507156

Traveling on highway with no load and no passengers at the speed of 53 mph the trucks steering wheel began shaking violently when I hit a rough spot in the road. At this point I had to bring the vehicle to a complete stop in the middle of the highway. Motorists that where behind me were doing all they could do to stay clear of me and one driver actually waited to be sure everything was alright. This was my first experience since purchasing the vehicle new and the truck only has 25,600 miles on it , and now I'm scared to drive it. I am waiting on Ford to respond since calling them. This is very scary and dangerous and I feel lucky that no one was hurt, although I thought it was going brake my hands off while trying to hold on.

NHTSA ODI 11505834

I have a 2018 F350 with about 60k miles, otherwise excellent condition. Problem started about 2 months ago (around Nov 2022) or about 1 month after the last shop maintenance visit. Description: Coming home from work with driving speed around 50-60 mph the front end started shaking strongly. Had to slow down quite a bit to get it under control or stop shaking. The incident has been repeated on other roads. The stimulus that starts it all is when some roughness of the road is encountered. This shaking has become violent at times and have had to take evasive maneuvering to avoid an accident or damage to the truck. No warning lamps have come on nor have any other indicators. The problem has progressed to where it may be unsafe to take it on the freeway for any trips. I do fear for my safety and have to be vigilant at all times. The dealer will be notified on 27 Jan 2023 so a record can be made. Have gone on-line to find out that over a thousand other similar reports are out there and video footage. I have seen this happen on other Ford chassis specifically the 2004 Thor motorhome built on a Ford F53 chassis.

NHTSA ODI 11503891

DEATH WOBBLE IN FRONT SUSPENSION

NHTSA ODI 11498850

Driving at normal highway speed while going over a bridge on highway 290 Worcester, mA the vehicle went over the metal plate that connects the bridge to the road, the front end of the vehicle started to shake. Slowly at first and quickly becoming uncontrollable. The vehicle would not stop violently shaking until I brought the truck to an almost complete stop on an extremely congested highway two days before Christmas at noon time. Many vehicles around me at the time swerved to avoid hitting me, just avoiding accidentally striking my almost completely stopped vehicle in the fast lane of the highway. My confidence in the vehicle has dropped to zero and will not allow my wife or two junior operators to drive that vehicle on the highway anymore until the vehicle problem has been corrected.

NHTSA ODI 11498660

We were traveling on a highway in Arizona (Hwy93 between Wickenburg and I40 JCT), going about 65mph. We hit a rough patch on the road. When we hit some really rough patches, the front end began wobbling and shacking, even after the road smoothed out. This would last an extra 15 to 30 seconds after the last bump. This made it hard to steer, so I had to slow down. This happened many times, even when we were on different roads. It happened again a couple of days later on I15 between Pocatello, ID and Idaho Falls, ID.

NHTSA ODI 11488715

Sunday 06/12/2022: Driving south in the center lane on I-65 near Shepherdsville, Kentucky, the front end of my truck began shaking uncontrollably. I had to fight to maintain control of my truck as I attempted to decelerate and steer towards the shoulder. The shaking lasted approximately 15 seconds before I could safely get to the shoulder, and numerous cars has to brake rapidly and swerved to miss me . As I pulled to the side, I exited and looked under the front end to inspect my truck for a broken part or damage. Upon visual inspection, I couldn’t see anything that appeared out of normal. I contacted the auto craft shop on Fort Knox on 06/13/2022, and they inspected the truck for broken or worn parts. They reported there was no excessively worn components.

NHTSA ODI 11470157

In 2019 I had to take the vehicle to the Ford dealership to have it inspected for violent shaking and loss of steering control after hitting a uneven spot in the road around 55 mph on a two lane highway towing a 40' 5th wheel. The dealership added a component which eliminated the issue for a short period of time. The vehicle has low miles and has exhibited the same issue 4 times in the last two months. Once it occurred at a speed of 35 to 40 mph on a city street and the last occurrence happened while on an on-ramp to the freeway. During the latest on-ramp event it occurred while accelerating to match freeway speeds a complete stop on the side of the freeway in order to get the shaking to stop.

NHTSA ODI 11468549

my 2018 f350, has a very violent shake when driving 60 mph and above, I was driving when i hit a dip in the highway and the steering wheel started shaking real hard, I felt like i was gonna lose control it was wobbling violently. I took it into the repair shop where they to where able to mimic the issue. this issue just happened out of know where, with no warning.. i can see easily how this will be a safety issue to any one having this same problem wile driving, and a safety issue for others driving next to me..ford has told me they are aware of this issue but have done nothing to fix this safety issue..

NHTSA ODI 11459874

While driving on the interstate at approximately 65 miles an hour the steering wheel began to violently shake back-and-forth and causing me to lose control of the vehicle. The first time this occurred it was relatively short-lived and lasted maybe 15 seconds as a slowed. At that time I was unsure what I had just experienced and then noted it a second time up at which I had to pull the car to this over to the side of the road and stop. The last event occurred and was prolonged with really an inability to steer the vehicle I was able to stop it. I went home and started to find someone who would repair this. When describing it to the service center I was told that this is become known as the death wobble and he recommended I get it in for repair. I looked online at videos describing the death wobble this was exactly what happened to my vehicle. This is a horrendous safety issue that will likely take several lives until this gets reported and these vehicles repaired.

NHTSA ODI 11453826

Ford starts to shake and lose control going over uneven pavement… causing me to have to slam on brakes to keep the violent shaking from persisting

NHTSA ODI 11450595

The contact owns a 2018 Ford F-350. The contact stated that while driving at undisclosed speeds on two separate occasions, the vehicle was shaking violently and experienced the death wobble. The local dealer was not contacted. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 35,426.

NHTSA ODI 11447155

I lost control of my F350 when I was at 50 MPH. It started to shake uncontrollably when I hit a bump in the road… I tried to break and it got worse.. so I took my foot off the gas, ended up of the side of the road. I called back to our mechanic and he said it was safe to drive under 40 MPH. (He looked up the problem and found all the related incidents with the f series trucks…) Since then the have replaced the parts that Ford said to replace… and the truck is still up drivable.

NHTSA ODI 11444235

The contact owns a 2018 Ford F-350. The contact stated while driving 73 MPH, the vehicle experienced the death wobble. The contact stated no warning light was illuminated. The contact took the vehicle to the local dealer, where it was diagnosed with needing the steering damper to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired but continued to experience a failure. The contact took the vehicle back to the local dealer however, the mechanic was unable to duplicate the failure. The contact stated she had experienced the failure three times. The manufacturer had been informed of the failure. The failure mileage was unknown.

NHTSA ODI 11441249

While traveling approximately 60 MPH on a divided four lane road the truck drove over a small bump (crack/pothole) in the road, immediately following the truck started to develop a suspension wobble that resonated through the steering wheel and increased in amplitude quickly. I quickly identified what was happening and applied a liberal amount of braking which caused the wobble to subside immediately. I spoke to my dealer and they are going to replace the steering (redesigned per the dealer) damper as a starting point. The road condition at the time of issue was cool and dry. My biggest concern is what would have been the outcome if a less experienced person was driving.

NHTSA ODI 11441079

Above 50 Miles Per hour...hitting any irregularity on the pavement such as expansion joints, potholes, road joints causes the front end to vibrate violently making the truck very difficult to handle. I took it to the dealership once,(Phil Long Ford in Colorado Springs) and they replaced the steering stabilizer. It seemed that just masked the problem. 10k miles later the problem has come back and is getting worse and worse making me not even want to drive the truck anymore as it feels unsafe on the highway. Also going around bends in the highway, as low as 40MPH the truck skips across expansion joints, bucking sideways.

NHTSA ODI 11439284

Problem known as the death wobble. I had my local Ford dealership “fix”this problem problem once when the vehicle was still under warranty. That was 10 months ago. Now the problem is back. 1 month ago The Ford dealership charged me $250 to “fix” the problem again. The new part(s) did not help. Now they want to charge me another $500+ to “fix” the problem again. If you search for the “death wobble” on the Internet there is lots of information and even news stories regarding this. My vehicle shakes so violently that I have have to pull off the road many times.

NHTSA ODI 11431573

FRONT END GOES UNSTABLE. UNCONTROLLABLE SHAKING AFTER SMALL BUMP AFTER BRIDGE ON HIGHWAY. DAMPENER REPLACED AT DEALER, HAPPENED AGAIN AFTER TWO DAYS. 34,900 MILES.VERY DANGEROUS CONDITION.

NHTSA ODI 11413153

MY TRUCK HAS BEGUN EXPERIENCE UNCONTROLLABLE SHAKING IN FRONT SUSPENSION WHEN AT HIGHWAY SPEEDS OF 60+ MPH IF I HIT POT HOLE OR BIG BUMP ON HIGHWAY OR INTERSTATE. I LOSE STEERING CONTROL IT HAS HAPPENED 3 DIFFERENT TIMES AND TOOK 10 TO 30 SECONDS TO STOP AND GET IT UNDER CONTROL AND ONLY WAY WAS TO SLOW TO LESS THAN 50 MPH ON HIGHWAY.

NHTSA ODI 11408567

TL* THE CONTACT OWNS A 2018 FORD F-350. THE CONTACT STATED THAT WHILE DRIVING AT HIGHWAY SPEEDS, THE VEHICLE VIOLENTLY SHOOK AND VIBRATED AFTER DRIVING OVER A BUMP IN THE ROAD. THE VEHICLE WAS TAKEN TO THE LOCAL DEALER SHEEHY FORD LOCATED AT 5000 AUTH RD, MARLOW HEIGHTS, MD 20746 WHO REPLACED THE FRONT SUSPENSION DAMPENERS HOWEVER, THE FAILURE RECURRED. THE VEHICLE WAS TAKEN BACK TO THE DEALER WHO THEN INDICATED THAT THE FRONT SUSPENSION DRAG LINKS NEEDED TO BE REPLACED. THE VEHICLE WAS NOT YET REPAIRED. THE MANUFACTURER WAS NOTIFIED OF THE FAILURE. THE APPROXIMATE FAILURE MILEAGE WAS 36,000.

NHTSA ODI 11403441

WHILE DRIVING AT A SUSTAINED SPEED OF 50 MILES PER HOUR I HIT A BUMP IN THE ROAD THEN EXPERIENCED VIOLENT SHAKING IN THE STEERING WHEEL "THE DEATH WOBBLE " AS OTHERS DESCRIBE IT. I APPLIED THE BRAKE AND STEERED IT OFF THE ROAD. I GOT OUT CHECKED ALL THE WHEELS AND SUSPENSION BUT EVERYTHING SEEMED NORMAL. I PROCEEDED TO DRIVE AGAIN BUT NEVER WENT OVER 45 AFTER THAT.

NHTSA ODI 11403517

WAS GOING DOWN THE HIGHWAY AT 75MPH TOWING A 7,000LB TRAILER, WENT ACROSS AN OVERPASS THAT HAD SOME BUMPS AT THE TRANSITION BACK TO THE REGULAR ROADWAY (NORMAL ROAD BUMPS, NOT BIG AT ALL). AFTER HITTING THE BUMPS, MY TRUCKS FRONT END AND STEERING WHEEL STARTED TO SHAKE BADLY AND CAUSED THE TRUCK TO GO INTO THE LEFT LANE UNCONTROLLABLY WHICH CAUSED AN 18 WHEELER TO HAVE TO MOVE LEFT AND ALMOST LEAVE THE PAYMENT TO AVOID ME HITTING HIM. AFTER READING OTHER COMPLAINTS ABOUT A "DEATH WOBBLE" AND MY CLOSE IN COUNTER OF ALMOST BEING KILLED OR KILLING THE 18 WHEELER DRIVER, I DECIDED I HAD TO MAKE A COMPLAINT. THIS NEEDS TO BE RECALLED, ADDRESSED, AND FIXED BY FORD. MY TRUCK ONLY HAS 40,000 MILES ON IT. THIS EVENTUALLY WILL KILL SOMEONE, IF IT HASN'T ALREADY.

NHTSA ODI 11377099