Ford F 250 Crew Cab
Problems & Worst Years

One phrase dominates the Ford F-250 Crew Cab's complaint record: owners describing violent front-end shaking at highway speed, often calling it a death wobble. In 2019 — the worst year in the file at 917 reported occurrences and six safety-severity problems — steering wheel shaking with loss of control and death wobble at high speeds account for 744 reports between them, with suspension-related shaking adding over 100 more. 2017 runs on the same track: 586 of its 714 reports are steering wheel shaking at high speeds, backed by suspension complaints. 2018 is lighter at 382 but tells an identical story of suspension shaking, steering oscillation, and death wobble, plus 20 reports of electronic stability control malfunction.

The pattern is consistent enough across 2017–2019 that any truck from those years deserves a highway-speed test drive and a front-end inspection by someone who knows what to look for. This is a steering-and-suspension record first and everything else second.

The 2020 and 2021 files are dramatically smaller — 91 and 85 occurrences — and more varied: transmission shifting problems, a tailgate that opens unexpectedly while towing (2020), engine power loss with limp mode, fuel pump failure (2021), and complaints about recall parts being unavailable. Death wobble reports persist in both years, just at a fraction of the earlier volume.

On paper that makes 2020–2021 the comparatively cleaner buy, but read the numbers for what they are: complaints owners filed with NHTSA, not a measured failure rate, and the newer trucks have had less time to accumulate reports. Whatever the year, the individual truck matters more — insist on a pre-purchase inspection with attention to the front suspension and steering components, and review its service history for prior wobble-related work.