So...its been a long long battle with my 10 month old truck....23000 kms.

Essentially I have a high speed vibration at 75-80 MPH (120-130 km/h) which is ever present, completely recreatable and the dealer and Ford engineers cannot locate or fix. The entire truck begins to shimmy and shake like its going to fall apart. The passenger seat shakes so bad sometimes it hits the center console....My daughter asks whats wrong with the seat.....

To date the truck has been in 15 times for the same issue and has been out of service for over 35 days. The last time it was 14 days and engineers came up to look at it....My extended warranty covered me for a loaner those days so I had a vehicle at least.

Ford has replaced the following so far in an attempt:

Engine mounts
Transmission (complete)
Driveshaft Complete (3 times)
Drive shaft yoke relubed (2 times)
Leaf springs
Rear shocks
Rear axle
Rims (20" all 4)
Tires (all 4)

As of now Ford has told the dealer to stop attempting repairs until it can be researched / investigated. One tech line rep said this is NORMAL for these trucks!!!! I laughed so hard when i heard that. Normal?? it shakes so bad it wakes my kids up in their car seats.....unbelievable. They actaully tested a new 2012 FX4 SC 6'5 and it did the same thing....so maybe they should add that to the brochure............

The service manager came to me after driving my truck after the last repair and told me the vibration is still there and they cannot fix it - and informed me that at a national service managers meeting recently the topic of vibration issues in the F150 platform was a big topic and that Ford is aware of the issue and is trying to create a fix, however there is no TSB or fix available. He told me to contact Ford to have my truck replaced, which I have and am in the process of having my truck replaced. I threatened Arbitration through CAMVAP (Canadian Motor Vehicle Arbitration Plan). CAMVAP is the only real way we have to deal with lemon issues in Canada besides a lawsuit. If they do not replace this truck I will be going that route and seeking a full buy back of the vehicle (where you get every penny back including accessories etc you added after).

If you are having these issues with vibration etc at highway speeds there is a problem....and they cant fix it. I will continue to fight this battle....its total crap we pay this kind of money for a product that is, I believe, knowingly defective in some capacity.

If you are having these issues please contact me with your model, year, mileage and problem.....I'm collecting vehicle data to use in arbitration against the Ford rep in case I need it, along with video, vibration analysis from a private company etc......

chris3058@gmail.com

Cheers,

Chris

 

The solution to vibration may not be an easy thing to find. As a metallurgist I have been involved with a few very challenging vibration problems .One large truck had rapidly wearing clutch forks something most mechanics said wasn't possible .That one we found finally ! It involved six different variables and if any any one was not there it didn't happen .It included cargo, type of driving ,clutch, engine etc . Engineering can be fun.

There are a number of airliners that had fatal crashes due to the same type of multiple factors. Things like air speed , RPM, prop pitch etc contributing .Each had to be within a very narrow range.If you asked the statistics guys the odds they would say extremely high odds that it wouldn't happen. Statistics are wonderful !

 

I see nothing about the transfer case, have they messed with that at all?

Hopefully they'll buy it back if they can't fix it. good luck

 

Curious to see where this goes. I have the same symptoms and setup, except the 5.0L instead of EB. I received the "This is a normal characteristic for this vehicle" explanation from two separate dealers. Whats interesting is that each dealer agreed there was a problem and wanted to address, but quickly changed their opinion after talking to the Ford hotline. Almost seemed like Ford strongarm'd the dealer into saying the problem didn't exist.

 

I have the same vibration issue (starts at 75mph) on my 2012 5.0 extended cab. The vibration does not always occur and seems to be day to day.

 

Never had mine going that fast yet, I'll have to try it out on the way home from work today...

 

if I buy one, i sure would measure two things on a thorough pre-delivery test drive:
1) fuel mileage on a flat piece of road at 65mph... make sure it's above 20mpg.
2) vibration all the way up to 80mph.

The vibration could be one of those rare mechanical resonances that only happen with specific loads, speeds, and whole slew of other 2nd order factors. Maybe. So hard to tell. Seems like some Ford design engineer would be at least a little professionally interested in the debugging challenge.

 

This morning the temp was 60 degree's with low humidity and was as smooth as glass down the highway 75-80 mph (have not had vibration in the morning since purchase in April and almost 4,000 miles). I'm starting to think it is a program issue.

 

Subscribed.

 

I see they tried new 20" wheels and tires did they try any other size tires to see if it tire related. I know it seems weird but if the compound of the tire was changed in the 20" tire maybe harder couldn't that cause the vibration. I also remember the last vibration issue came down to needing a road force balance done to all 4 wheels which stopped most vibrations. I think it was my 06 that had that problem. I hope they get it squared away for you soon.

 

subscribed
Man...that's a lot of downtime.....
Tires/wheels and drive-shaft are the usual problems. I would ask them if they ever checked the body mounts torques.
I never had my truck up to that speed, but certainly will try this out.

 

I have the 20's w/ no vibration up to the governor. I set my cruise at 80 (which seems to be the sweet spot for vibration) on the interstate for my drive between dallas and houston and have never noticed anything in my 23k miles i've put on the truck.

Does any one with this issue have 2wd? or is it all 4wd trucks? should single out a problem pretty easily if it's only 4wd.

 

Update. So Ford Canada is now stalling on assisting me with a vehicle replacement. Instead of a replacement they are offering 2500 to assist in trading in my 10 month old truck for a new one..... I don't feel like losing my shirt while taking it in the butt and said thanks but no thanks.

They said the tech line has advised them that this is normal characteristic for the F150......even with the service manager and techs saying its not.....unbelievable. Looks like its court time. Doom on You FORD. Man. This is brutal.....never again Ford.....my first new truck ever and this is how you treat customers?? Time to start a web page and FB page....and get ready for arbitration. It's WAR time now.....

 

Maximum speed limit in Iowa is 70, so I haven't experienced the vibration yet.

Before you go to war on this, why not get a quote on a trade and replacement for one that you know doesn't vibrate, and ask Ford Canada to cover the actual trade difference, not just a fixed amount? Court is when both sides stop talking to each other, and noone wins.

 

That sounds like a productive avenue to take. Court will look kindly on that and think "wow, this guy must really have issues if he takes to the web and FB to slam Ford, so we should probably help him out!"

You know, because all reasonable folks start creating web and FB pages to slam the manufacturer when something doesn't go their way...

I agree with ajsturtz...