Other steering problem on the 2008 Ford F-250
2 crashes 2 of the 53 reports for this failure mention a crash, a fire, an injury or a death. Those are the owner's words on the complaint form, not a verified finding, and one report can mention more than one.
When other steering problem gets reported
Owners of the 2008 Ford F-250 report other steering problem at a median of 75,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 45,000 miles and a quarter after 130,000 miles, from 45 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 95,000 miles. It is the 1st most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 30,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 147,500 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 116,190 miles across the middle 80% of reports.
A spread this wide points at use rather than design. Towing, climate, service history and city mileage all move a failure like this, so the median is a weak guide to any individual car.
16% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 30,160 miles | 45,000 miles | 75,950 miles | 130,000 miles | 146,350 miles |
Read the 10th percentile as “one report in ten arrived this early”. Exact figures are shown in this table because it is the table of record; everywhere else on the site they are rounded to the precision the sample can carry.
What a percentile can and cannot tell you here
These five numbers describe the readings owners gave, in order. The median is the middle one: half the reports arrived below it. The 10th and 90th are the edges of the bulk of the distribution, and the distance between them is the part worth reading. A tight spread — say 70,000 to 95,000 miles — points at something that wears out on a schedule, and the schedule is knowable. A wide one, 20,000 to 190,000, points at a fault that hits some cars and never troubles others, which means the mileage on the listing in front of you tells you very little about your odds.
What these figures are not is a survival curve. Every reading here comes from a car whose owner filed a complaint, so the sample contains only failures: it cannot say what share of the fleet made it past 150,000 miles untouched, because those owners had nothing to report. Nor is the mileage the moment of failure — it is the odometer reading as recalled at the time of filing, which may be weeks later and is sometimes rounded to the nearest ten thousand by the person typing it.
Percentiles are shown at all only once 8 readings exist for the vehicle and mode. Below that the middle of a handful of numbers is noise wearing a decimal point, so the figures are withheld rather than dressed up.
What happens, and what it costs
Of these reports, 2 a crash is mentioned. Owners write their own complaints and the agency does not verify them, so read this as what the reports say happened rather than as a confirmed count.
Putting it right typically runs $350–$2,400 at an independent US shop. That range is an editorial estimate held in this site's failure-mode catalogue, not a figure from NHTSA, and it is a repair cost rather than a diagnosis cost.
The same failure on other years
The same failure is reported on 17 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2004, at a median of 40,000 miles, and latest on the 2000 at 150,000 miles.
By volume the 2012 carries the most reports, with 95; the 2008 has 53. A mode that appears across most years of a model is usually a design choice rather than a bad batch.
If one year stands out to the left, that is the year to avoid; if the whole line sits at a similar mileage, this is wear rather than a defect in one production run.
Tick median reported mileage Solid middle half of reports Faint 10th to 90th percentile Colour how bad the failure is when it happens
What owners wrote
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint narratives, trimmed for length. The mileage is the one the owner gave.
It happen about a month after I first got the truck. I was getting to a stop sign and the steering wheel and brakes locked, I wasn't able to turn at all and I had a really hard time braking, I had to use a lot of force to brake or to turn the wheel even a little. That happened 3 different time. At a stop sign and once at a turn light which was the worst cause I had to go straight into the opposite direction. That was all in a 2 weeks after the one month of having the truck. It was completely stock. After taking it to the dealer ship they said nothing was wrong and they couldn't do anything. 3 weeks later I bought so mud tires for it. And about 2 or 3 weeks later I started having trouble with the steering box. When id be at a stop or not moving at all, am not able to turn the wheels and it makes a weird sound when I turn the wheel. This still happens everytime time I drive when am stopping or just turned it on, anytime am not moving or steeping on the gas, am not able to turn the wheels. I took it shortly after it first happened and they test drove it and agreed something was wrong so the said they fix it. It took them a week to…
I have experienced an issue with my 2008 ford f-250 where I hit a bump on the interstate and experienced the steering wheel oscillating and front end wobbling both extremely doing 65mph andwas almost thrown into a semi truck twice the same night. I had just purchased this truck back in july but had not drove it on the interstate, actually I hadn't driven it much at all. It has low mileage and is all factory. I took it to the dealership and they told me this happens all the time also they stated that fords service recommends 75lbs tire pressure and that is all that is wrong with it. The trucks stickers recommendation is less than that. The wheels on my truck are stock factory and do not have low pressure sensors on them. I have researched several complaints on the internet about this issues and of accidents and injuries resulting from what is being called the "death wobble". I think this matter should be investigated and the problem fixed properly by ford, not patched with tire pressure. I pull a trailer sometimes with this truck. If this happened while pulling one I am sure I would have been seriously injured or killed as in other…
I own a 08' f-250 extended cab super duty. I have experienced a death wobble almost a dozen times now mostly at speeds between 60-75 MPH. I brought it to the ford dealership and they originally told me it was tire pressure. It happened again and I brought it back. This time they changed the steering wheel dampener and told me that it would be fine from here on out. To no avail, same exact thing has happened 6 more times since then. Truck hit an irregularity in the road and you feel like your going to be thrown out of the truck cab. You have to grab the steering wheel as hard as you can and hold on for dear life while releasing the gas pedal and trying to brake the vehicle as gently as possible. The vehicles around you are in jeopardy of you smashing into them because of the violent nature of the shake and the loss of control of such a large vehicle. I feel like my life is in danger everytime I drive this vehicle now! *tr
Also reported on the 2008 Ford F-250
Other suspension problem
Steering rack, gear or tie rod failure
Other wheel or tire problem
Other engine problem
Radiator or coolant leak
Other brake problem
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 53 is a floor and not a count of affected cars. Mileages are typed in by owners and cluster on round numbers. And the mode itself is assigned by software reading the complaint text, which is reliable in bulk and fallible one report at a time.
Questions this page answers
At what mileage does other steering problem happen on the 2008 Ford F-250?
Across 45 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 75,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 45,000 miles and a quarter after 130,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is other steering problem on the 2008 Ford F-250?
53 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.5 per 1,000 vehicles. Complaints are voluntary, so this is a floor rather than a count of affected cars.
What this is and is not. These are the mileages at which owners chose to complain to a federal agency, which is not the same as the mileage at which the part fails on every car. It skews toward failures that happened outside warranty, cost real money, or frightened someone. It is still the only public dataset that carries failure mileage at all, and the shape of a few hundred readings is informative even when a single one is not. Methodology · JSON · this failure on other cars
Source Owner complaints and recall records published by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, model years 1996–2027 Figures rebuilt Published by AtWhatMileage How every figure is computed