Ford F 250 Regular Cab
Problems & Worst Years

Shopping a Ford F-250 Regular Cab means reckoning with one complaint above all — front-end shake at speed — and 2017 is the year to treat with the most caution: 1,004 reported occurrences, far more than any other year, nearly all of them steering and suspension. Loss of steering control at highway speeds accounts for 328 reports, uncontrollable steering 265, violent suspension shaking 217, and death wobble 172. 2019 is second at 732, again led by suspension shaking and uncontrollable vibration (435) and steering wheel shake with loss of control (206). The same complaints run through 2015, 2016, and 2018 at lower volume, with steering damper failure named specifically in the 2015 file. Every year from 2015 to 2019 carries safety-severity steering or suspension problems.

Secondary items are comparatively minor: engine roughness during regeneration cycles in 2015, air bag sensor failures in 2016, and a small number of high-pressure fuel pump reports in 2018.

2020 and 2021 look different. Totals drop to 83 and 80, and the complaints scatter across many small problems — transmission jerking, high-pressure fuel pump failure, recall repair delays — with death wobble still present but in single digits. Notably, 2020's 83 occurrences spread across 31 distinct problems, the widest variety in the file, suggesting no single dominant fault.

If you're considering a 2015–2019 truck, drive it at highway speed over imperfect pavement before you talk price, and have the steering and front suspension inspected. And keep perspective: these are owner complaints filed with NHTSA, not measured failure rates — newer model years have simply had less time to accumulate reports, and a documented service history plus a pre-purchase inspection will tell you more about any individual truck than its model year will.