Local

More people tell Action 9 they also had Ford ‘death wobble’

Action 9′s Jason Stoogenke ran his initial report on the Ford “death wobble” last Thursday.

Many viewers saw that story and contacted Stoogenke to say they had the same problem with their F-250s or F-350s. Twenty-eight people had contacted to him by the middle of the day Thursday.

Bob Havle told Stoogenke he had dreams of retiring, buying a camper, hooking it to his F-250, and traveling with his wife. In fact, he said that’s the reason he got the truck in the first place. But, then, he said, he went through the death wobble.

“The steering wheel was doing half turns. The vehicle was jumping up and down. I put both feet on the brake, trying to stop it. I couldn’t let go of the steering wheel because it was just shaking so bad,” he said. “I looked over at my wife and she was in her seat belt, but she was bouncing against the door and all over the place. The stuff in the back seat was coming around and smacking us and stuff.”

“[Ford has] to recognize they’re putting people’s lives in danger,” Havle said. And, he means Ford customers as well as other people on the road.

Even though people call this the death wobble, in fairness, Action 9 doesn’t know of anyone who’s been killed because of this. But there are reports of people getting hurt.

Ford told dealers to replace the steering damper in certain models, but some feel this is just a Band-Aid.

“The root cause of the problem was not addressed,” said Adam Richmond, a mechanic who said he sees death wobble cases often.

“Ford has known about this problem for a long time,” David Wright, a lawyer, said. “If Ford can’t fix the problem, it certainly needs to tell the potential buyers of its vehicle that this problem exists.”

Wright filed a class-action lawsuit against Ford. He said more than 1,200 people filed complaints with the federal government and that 12 had “accidents and injuries.” But Ford hasn’t issued a recall. The lawsuit involves 2005-2019 F-250s and F-350s.

Ford told Stoogenke it won't comment on pending litigation.

In the meantime, if you have the death wobble:

  • Take the truck to the dealer -- if for no other reason than to document the problem.
  • If you spend any money because of the vibration, save your receipts just in case there’s a recall, lawsuit or some other way for you to get reimbursed later.

Read more top trending stories on wsoctv.com: