Six recalls in six years: driveshaft, death wobble, fire, steering. 2017-2022 F-250/F-350 gas owners may qualify for a California buyback. Free review.
The 2017-2022 Ford F-250 or F-350 Super Duty (gas engine, P558 platform) was supposed to be the most capable truck on the road. For many owners, it has also turned into one of the most recalled. Since 2018, Ford has issued six separate safety recalls on this generation of gas-engine Super Duty trucks, covering everything from under-hood fires while the truck is parked with the block heater plugged in, to a driveshaft that can fracture at highway speed and cause the truck to become a runaway, to steering wheel 'death wobble' violent enough to feel like the front axle is coming apart. In 2025, a seventh defect emerged: a steering column upper shaft that can separate completely, leaving the driver with no steering at all. The death wobble issue alone generated more than 1,200 NHTSA complaints and led Ford to issue two Technical Service Bulletins and an extended-warranty program (Customer Satisfaction Program 20N04) rather than a formal safety recall, even as owners reported that the damper replacements the fix called for didn't always hold. The driveshaft recall (NHTSA 22V-087) covered 247,445 gas-engine trucks built across the entire six-year production run, confirming this wasn't a one-batch defect. California's Song-Beverly Consumer Warranty Act was designed for exactly this kind of pattern: a truck that keeps coming back to the dealer, a manufacturer that knows about the problem, and an owner left dealing with the consequences. If your 2017-2022 Super Duty has been in for any of these issues more than once, or has sat at a dealer waiting for parts or a remedy that isn't ready yet, you may have grounds for a buyback or replacement at Ford's expense.
The issues owners report most, ranked by severity — each one verified against a cited NHTSA source.
Fire or smoke starting in the engine compartment while the vehicle is parked and the block heater cord is plugged into a 110-volt outlet. Melted wiring, burning smell, or scorch marks near the block heater cable connector.
After a collision that deploys the front seatbelt pretensioners, fire or burning in the B-pillar area (between the front and rear doors) ignited by sparks from the pretensioner. Occupants may not be aware of the fire developing in the structural pillar trim during or immediately after a crash.
Sudden loss of steering control; steering wheel turns but truck does not respond or responds erratically. Clunking or play felt in the steering column. In severe cases, steering becomes completely inoperative.
Rattling, clicking, or clunking noise from under the passenger-side floor or from outside the truck while driving. Visible loose or sagging underbody insulation panels. In severe cases: sudden loss of drive power, vehicle lurching, or vehicle rolling when parked in gear without parking brake.
At highway speeds (typically 45-75 mph) after hitting a bump, pothole, or road irregularity, the steering wheel begins shaking or oscillating violently. The shimmy can be severe enough to feel like the front axle is coming apart. It may persist for several seconds and requires the driver to decelerate significantly. Symptoms are often worse in cold weather or with worn tires.
Engine stalls unexpectedly while driving; engine runs rough or misfires before stalling; check engine light illuminates; reduction in engine power; difficult restart after stall. Symptoms worsen in hot weather or when fuel tank is low.
A settled Margarian Law case on this exact model, published with the actual settlement math.
Open any defect for the symptoms and why it matters for a California lemon-law claim. Each is tied to a cited NHTSA source.
Fire or smoke starting in the engine compartment while the vehicle is parked and the block heater cord is plugged into a 110-volt outlet. Melted wiring, burning smell, or scorch marks near the block heater cable connector.
Two cascading recalls on the same defect family — the second caused by improperly performed repairs under the first — is a strong lemon law pattern. Owners who plugged in their block heater after the 18V894 remedy and experienced a fire or melted wiring, or who needed multiple shop visits, may have claims. The fire risk exists even when the vehicle is parked (ignition off), meeting the safety impairment standard. California lemon law counts dealer repair visits even when the root cause is a manufacturer-induced defect.
18V894: inspect and seal or replace the block heater cable. 19V278: immediately disable the block heater (cut prongs, seal with silicone); replace cord when replacement parts available. Both remedies free of charge at Ford dealers.
After a collision that deploys the front seatbelt pretensioners, fire or burning in the B-pillar area (between the front and rear doors) ignited by sparks from the pretensioner. Occupants may not be aware of the fire developing in the structural pillar trim during or immediately after a crash.
Vehicles that were involved in a collision before this recall remedy was performed, resulting in a B-pillar fire and additional damage or injury, represent strong lemon-adjacent claims. The large recall scope (490,574 US units) confirms systemic assembly defect. Owners who experienced the fire and had extended out-of-service time waiting for repair also have valid lemon law grounds.
Dealers apply foil heat-shielding tape to the carpet and carpet insulation in the B-pillar area and modify the sound deadener on the back side of the B-pillar trim panel. Free of charge. Owner notification began January 2020.
Rattling, clicking, or clunking noise from under the passenger-side floor or from outside the truck while driving. Visible loose or sagging underbody insulation panels. In severe cases: sudden loss of drive power, vehicle lurching, or vehicle rolling when parked in gear without parking brake.
Driveshaft fracture causes sudden loss of propulsion and potential loss of vehicle control — a clear safety impairment. The recall covers all six model years in this vehicle's range (2017-2022), indicating a systemic manufacturing or design issue across the entire generation. Owners who lost drive power, experienced rollaway, or had multiple dealer visits for drivetrain noise before the recall remedy was available have strong lemon law claims.
Dealers inspect the driveshaft for damage and repair or replace as needed; properly re-secure underbody insulators. Free of charge. Owner notification April 4, 2022.
At highway speeds (typically 45-75 mph) after hitting a bump, pothole, or road irregularity, the steering wheel begins shaking or oscillating violently. The shimmy can be severe enough to feel like the front axle is coming apart. It may persist for several seconds and requires the driver to decelerate significantly. Symptoms are often worse in cold weather or with worn tires.
Over 1,200 NHTSA complaints document this defect. Ford issued multiple TSBs and ultimately an extended warranty program (CSP 20N04) rather than a safety recall, but the pattern of repeat repairs — multiple damper replacements that fail to permanently cure the oscillation — is a classic lemon law scenario. Owners who had 2+ repair visits for death wobble within 18,000 miles or 18 months of delivery, or whose damper replacements did not cure the problem, may meet the California lemon law presumption threshold.
Replace the steering linkage damper with an updated, higher-rated part (per TSB 19-2274 and 18-2268). Ford covered this under Customer Satisfaction Program 20N04, extending warranty to 10 years/150,000 miles. Vehicles already over the limit were covered through December 31, 2024.
Sudden loss of steering control; steering wheel turns but truck does not respond or responds erratically. Clunking or play felt in the steering column. In severe cases, steering becomes completely inoperative.
Loss of steering control is among the most severe safety defects. Owners of 2020-2021 Super Duty trucks who noticed steering play, clunking, or who experienced reduced steering response — particularly those who visited dealers for steering complaints before this recall was announced — have strong lemon law grounds. The remedy was not available until early 2026, meaning owners faced an extended period with a known unresolved safety defect.
Dealers inspect the steering column upper shaft and repair or replace as necessary. Free of charge. Interim owner notices mailed October 2025; remedy available at dealers beginning Q1 2026.
Engine stalls unexpectedly while driving; engine runs rough or misfires before stalling; check engine light illuminates; reduction in engine power; difficult restart after stall. Symptoms worsen in hot weather or when fuel tank is low.
Engine stall at speed is a safety-critical event. Owners of 2021-2022 Super Duty trucks who experienced stalling, rough running, or loss of power — and whose dealers could not replicate or resolve the condition prior to this recall being announced — have strong claims. The recall's remedy was not yet available as of mid-2025, leaving owners driving vehicles with a confirmed unresolved stall defect. Multiple dealer visits for fuel/engine performance complaints that were not resolved count toward the lemon law repair attempt threshold.
Remedy under development as of July 2025. Interim owner notification letters mailed July 14-18, 2025. Ford customer service: 1-866-436-7332.
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The steering column upper shaft may separate from the steering column because the hard slider anti-pull-apart retention uses a single-point staking that does not meet load specifications. A second staking was added to the production design in February 2021; vehicles built before that change are affected.
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The low-pressure fuel delivery module (FDM) may fail due to internal contamination of the jet pump and reduced internal clearances that increase friction, particularly under low-fuel or high-temperature conditions. Failure causes loss of fuel pressure and engine stall.
closed
Underbody heat and noise insulator pads have inadequate adhesion and may loosen and sag, coming into contact with the aluminum driveshaft. Sustained contact abrades the driveshaft and can cause it to fracture during vehicle operation.
closed
During crash deployment of front seat belt pretensioners, excessive sparks may be generated that can ignite carpet or carpet insulation material located in the B-pillar area of the vehicle cabin.
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During servicing under recall 18V894, the engine block heater cable's splice connector may have been damaged through improper lateral bending or twisting. A damaged connector creates a new resistive short-circuit risk when the block heater is plugged in.
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Water and contaminants may enter the engine block heater cable's splice connector and cause corrosion. Prolonged corrosion creates a resistive electrical short when the heater is plugged in, increasing the risk of overheated or melted wiring and a fire.
Every item below comes from this vehicle's documented defects. The more you recognize, the more a free case review is worth your time.
California's Song-Beverly Consumer Warranty Act gives you specific rights when a manufacturer cannot fix a covered defect after a reasonable number of repair attempts. The law creates a rebuttable presumption that your vehicle is a lemon if: the same safety defect has been subject to repair two or more times, or any substantial defect has been subject to repair four or more times, or the vehicle has been out of service for a total of 30 or more cumulative days during the warranty period — even if those days were spread across many visits. For the gas Super Duty, safety-level defects include the driveshaft fracture (loss of control), the steering column separation (loss of steering), the death wobble (loss of directional control at highway speed), and both fire-risk recalls. Each visit to the dealer for any of these issues counts toward the threshold — and so does time spent waiting for backordered parts. If your truck qualifies, you may be entitled to a full repurchase of the amount you paid (purchase price, taxes, registration, loan costs, incidental expenses), a replacement vehicle of comparable value, or a cash settlement — minus a mileage offset for miles driven before the first repair attempt for the defect. Ford is responsible for your attorney fees if you prevail under Song-Beverly, which means most California lemon law cases cost the owner nothing out of pocket. The above is general information only and is not legal advice; every case turns on its specific facts, dates, and warranty status.
“Could not duplicate” doesn't mean the defect isn't real. Here's exactly what to do to protect a potential California lemon-law claim.
Document the moment it happens. Photos, video, and screenshots of any warning lights — with the date and the mileage.
Get a repair order every visit — even “found nothing.” That paperwork is the foundation of a claim.
Check your VIN at nhtsa.gov/recalls. Note any recall that has no available remedy yet.
Track your out-of-service days. California law counts the cumulative days your vehicle spends in the shop.
Keep loaner & rental records. Alternate-transport paperwork during long repairs matters.
Save everything in one place. Symptoms, dates, repair orders, and every repeat visit — the intermittent ones especially.
Dealers close orders 'unable to duplicate' or 'no trouble found' more often than owners expect — particularly for intermittent issues like the death wobble (which may not occur during a slow dealer test drive) or an early-stage driveshaft rattle. Here is how to protect your claim: 1. Write down every symptom event before you go in. Date, time, mileage, speed, weather, road conditions, and exactly what happened. For death wobble, note what surface triggered it and how long it lasted. Take video with your phone if possible — a wobble caught on camera is powerful evidence. 2. Demand a printout of all stored and historical Diagnostic Trouble Codes from the dealer's scan tool, even if the light is off. Codes that have cleared themselves still appear in freeze-frame data. 3. Ask the service writer to look up open recalls by VIN before the visit. For your truck that means checking 18V-894, 19V-278, 19V-880, 22V-087, 25V-455, and 25V-626. If a recall remedy is not yet available (25V-455 and 25V-626 as of mid-2025/early 2026), document that in writing — driving a truck with an open, unresolvable safety recall is itself impairment. 4. For death wobble: ask specifically whether TSB 19-2274 and Customer Satisfaction Program 20N04 have been applied to your truck. If the original damper replacement under CSP 20N04 did not cure the problem, each subsequent wobble visit counts as a new repair attempt. 5. Keep every repair order, even the ones that say NTF or UTD. Under California law, a visit where the dealer found nothing still counts as a repair attempt. The cumulative paper trail — dates, mileage, complaint descriptions — is what builds a lemon law case.
Six recalls in six years, spread across fire, driveshaft, and steering — with a seventh safety recall (25V-626, steering column separation) issued in 2025 with no dealer remedy available until 2026. The death wobble issue generated more than 1,200 federal complaints and still never became a mandatory recall. The driveshaft defect covered every gas-engine model year of this generation. Owners who have been back to the dealer two, three, or four times for any of these issues — or who are sitting on a truck with an open recall and no fix in sight — should pull their service records and talk to a California lemon law attorney before their new-vehicle warranty expires.
— The Margarian Law team
Have you taken your 2017-2022 Ford F-250 or F-350 Super Duty in for a rattling driveshaft, death wobble, steering column play, or engine stall? Have you had a recall repair that didn't fix the problem — or been told the remedy isn't ready yet? Your service records may already document a California lemon law claim. The consultation is free. Find out what your repair history means for your rights.
No — Ford never issued a formal safety recall for the death wobble on 2017-2019 F-250 and F-350 4WD trucks, despite receiving more than 1,200 NHTSA complaints. Instead, Ford issued Technical Service Bulletins (TSB 18-2268 and TSB 19-2274) directing dealers to replace the steering linkage damper with an improved part. Ford then created Customer Satisfaction Program 20N04, which extended the no-cost steering damper replacement to 10 years or 150,000 miles from the warranty start date — later supplemented to keep older, out-of-mileage trucks covered through December 31, 2024. The practical problem is that a damper replacement sometimes does not permanently cure the oscillation, and some owners have been back multiple times for the same shaking or shimmy. Each visit to the dealer for death wobble counts as a repair attempt under California lemon law — even if the dealer replaced the part the first time. If your truck has been in twice or more for steering oscillation and the problem persists, you may have grounds for a California lemon law claim.
If you own a 2017-2022 Ford F-250 or F-350 Super Duty with a gas engine and an extended-cab or crew-cab body, your truck is likely covered by NHTSA recall 22V-087 (Ford 22S09). The recall covers 247,445 US trucks built between October 2015 and December 2021 — the full production run of this generation. The defect: underbody heat and noise insulator pads lose their adhesive bond, sag down, and rub against the aluminum driveshaft. Over time, that contact damages the driveshaft until it fractures — causing sudden loss of drive power and the risk of loss of vehicle control or rollaway. Early symptoms include rattling, clicking, or clunking from under the passenger-side floor or from outside the truck. The remedy — dealer inspection and driveshaft repair or replacement, plus insulator re-attachment — is free of charge. Note: this recall is specific to gas-engine trucks with aluminum driveshafts. Diesel Super Duty trucks with steel driveshafts are not covered. Check your VIN at nhtsa.gov to confirm your recall status.
Yes. NHTSA recall 25V-626 (Ford 25S62), issued September 2025, covers 115,539 2020-2021 F-250, F-350, and F-450 trucks built between February 2019 and September 2020. The defect is in the steering column upper shaft: a hard slider uses a single staking point that does not meet the required anti-pull-apart load specification. If the slider separates, the result is complete loss of steering control. Symptoms can begin gradually — a clunk or looseness felt through the steering column — before progressing to a sudden failure. Ford notified owners in October 2025, but as of that time, the dealer remedy (inspection and shaft replacement) was not expected to be available until Q1 2026. If your dealer told you there is no remedy available yet and you are driving a truck with this open recall, document that situation in writing. Extended time driving a vehicle with a known unresolved safety defect, waiting for a remedy that has not arrived, is relevant to a California lemon law claim.
If you own a 2021 or 2022 gas-engine Super Duty, the stall may be covered by NHTSA recall 25V-455 (Ford 25S75). The recall — issued July 2025 and covering 850,000+ Ford and Lincoln vehicles including 2021-2022 F-250/F-350/F-450/F-550 Super Duty — addresses a low-pressure fuel pump failure caused by internal contamination and tight clearances. When the pump fails, the engine loses fuel pressure and stalls, which can happen while driving at any speed. The failure is most likely to occur in hot weather or when the fuel tank is below a quarter full. Warning signs include rough running, a check engine light, or a reduced-power message on the cluster before the stall. As of July 2025, Ford had not yet developed a permanent remedy — owners were notified by letter but told to await a follow-up communication. If your truck stalled and your dealer could not reproduce or resolve the issue, that visit counts as a repair attempt. Multiple stall events with unresolved dealer visits are exactly the pattern California lemon law was written to address.
Possibly. The block heater fire issue on 2017-2019 Super Duty trucks resulted in two sequential recalls — and the second one (NHTSA 19V-278, Ford 19S11) was triggered because the repair performed under the first recall (NHTSA 18V-894, Ford 18S45) itself damaged the block heater cable, creating a new fire risk. Under 18V-894, the remedy was to inspect and seal or replace the cable. Under 19V-278, dealers were directed to immediately disable the block heater by cutting the prongs and sealing them with silicone, then replace the cord when parts became available. If your truck was serviced under 18V-894 and then experienced a fire or melted wiring after that repair, you may have a strong case. Two cascading recalls on the same defect — the second caused by the manufacturer's own repair — is a well-recognized lemon law pattern. Check nhtsa.gov to confirm both recalls are closed on your VIN. If either is still open, bring the truck in immediately.
It may, depending on your specific repair history. California's Song-Beverly Consumer Warranty Act creates a presumption that a vehicle qualifies for a buyback if: (a) a safety-related defect has been subject to repair two or more times, (b) any substantial defect has been subject to repair four or more times, or (c) the vehicle has been out of service for 30 or more cumulative days during the warranty period. For the gas Super Duty, the defects most likely to meet threshold (a) — safety defects requiring fewer repair attempts — are the driveshaft fracture, the steering column separation, the death wobble (which impairs directional control at highway speed), and either fire-risk recall. Each documented dealer visit for any of these conditions counts toward the threshold, including visits where the dealer said it could not duplicate the problem. Days spent waiting for a remedy that is not yet available (as with 25V-626 and 25V-455 in 2025) may also count toward the 30-day out-of-service threshold. The analysis depends on the specific dates, mileages, and warranty status. Gathering your repair orders and speaking with a California lemon law attorney is the best first step — attorney fees are paid by Ford if you prevail, meaning the consultation and representation typically cost the owner nothing.
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