Cab Shake/Tremble at 80mph (Is there a fix?) LONG READ

[patrickirace]

I currently own a 2022 Ford Maverick XL, it has almost 30,000 miles on it. I've been in and out of my local dealership more often than I would like to be for various issues (recalls, routine maintenance, etc) and I recently brought it in for the cab shaking at around 50-55mph. As I approached 50, the cab would start to shake fairly violently to the point I didn't feel comfortable driving it that fast until I figured out what the problem was. They kept my car for about a week and told me there was an issue with my front axle, which they replaced for free as it was under warranty. Since then, I haven't had any issues with it shaking at that speed. I live in Indiana but am enrolled in school in Michigan so I'm back and fourth fairly often especially around holidays and for the summer. Recently I've noticed a shake when I get up to 80-85mph on the highway, it's not as violent as it was before but it's still very noticeable no matter where you are sitting in the car. When I brought it back into my local Ford dealer they took the car in with no problems or concerns after I explained everything I said above to the Customer Service rep that I spoke with. I brought it into them on Wednesday around 11 am and hadn't received a call from them with any updates so I decided to call them on Thursday a little bit later into the day. They explained that they hadn't looked at the vehicle yet and planned on gettingt in on Friday to check everything out. He verified the issues I brought up the day before but mistakenly put in the system that the shake was happening around 50. I let him know that it was actually 80 because I wanted to make sure the problem was properly diagnosed, he told me everything would get looked at on Friday and said they'd need it for a few extra days. I received a call on Friday night saying everything was complete except for the shaking issue. They told me they couldn't detect a shaking so they couldn't fix it at all because there was nothing to fix, I was at work at the time and couldn't pick it up before they closed that night. I went in the following morning to pick it up and they gave me a paper of all the issues they fixed and tried to fix. I noticed that on the list it said, "Customer states the cab shakes at 50/55mph." Once they brought my vehicle around I spoke with the customer service rep and said it was supposed to get looked at for a shake at 80 and not 50. He started telling me that driving 80mph was a very unsafe speed and if my vehicle shakes at 80 I just need to slow down. Being in Indiana, my commute from home to school in Michigan is spent mostly on roads with a speed limit of 75, so driving 80 is pretty normal for me. He started telling me that he's not my parent but I shouldn't be driving that fast and if my vehicle can't handle driving 80 then I need to slow down. I asked what I could do to fix my problem and he told me they wouldn't diagnose it at that speed because that's unsafe. He said they wouldn't even put a foreman or technician in the car with me going that fast because it's too dangerous. I can understand if I went in there saying it had a problem at 90 or even 100mph but 80 doesn't seem bad at all, in my opinion of course. With all that said, I have two questions:

1. Has anyone experienced a similar issue? If so, how did you go about fixing it?
2. Has anyone had a similar experience at a dealership and is that policy or was the rep over-exaggerating?

If you read this far I appreciate any help whatsoever.

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[tom_tucker]

I would first take the wheels off and clean the inside of them. There's a lot of shit in there and that could throw them out of balance. Maybe (or certainly) do a torque check on suspension bolts. Re-bolt the wheels in the star pattern. If that don't work, hmmm. Perhaps an alignment check, wheel rebalance. After that- Strut brace? Suspension upgrades?

In other words, you're gonna have to fix this yourself, lets be real here.

 

[Zed79]

So you say you travel between two states lots of dealers I Would try one near your school if the one near your home is this bad they can not even get there paperwork correct.

 

[Robber's Roost]

He started telling me that driving 80mph was a very unsafe speed and if my vehicle shakes at 80 I just need to slow down.

Interesting dilemma but be persistent before your warranty runs out. You might need to escalate the issue with the service manager and explain your circumstance of driving in another state with 75 mph speed limits and no 80 mph is not unsafe or unreasonable with a posted 75 mph speed limit. It is possible you have a tire issue and it might be simpler and easier to visit a quality tire store and have them check balance and rotate tires to rule that out first. 30k miles is about when tires may need a rebalance and is not a warranty issue but instead maintenance.

 

[Uncle Fatso]

He’s full of bologna. Several states have speed limits of 80 and even 85, so 80 isn’t inherently “unsafe”.
Next time you take it in, try a different dealership, as was suggested earlier. And make darn sure they get the issue written down correctly, of course.

 

[Sykotyk]

He’s full of bologna. Several states have speed limits of 80 and even 85, so 80 isn’t inherently “unsafe”.
Next time you take it in, try a different dealership, as was suggested earlier. And make darn sure they get the issue written down correctly, of course.

There's no way to legally test 80mph in either of those two states. Sure it's a cop out, but it's still very valid.

And given the state of roads in Indiana and Michigan it doesn't surprise me that you might have issues going that fast. Texas roads that are either new concrete or soft tar and chip since they rarely experience frost heaving, are much different for handling higher speeds.


As for op, check the wheels yourself. Get them balanced yourself again. Get alignment checked. It might be fine for slower speeds but even a slight unbalanced alignment can cause shuddering or vibration at high speeds.

 

[fishinmagician]

I have noticed the exact same thing. My guess is they didn't do an alignment after changing the cv joints.

 

[Jackfer]

Is your truck AWD? I have the same issue. It's seems to be caused by something in the rear. That's why the truck shakes and not the steering wheel. I haven't solved the problem yet but I'm starting to go down the road of rear cv axles this time. I've already had both fronts replaced twice for a similar issue but was easy to diagnose what it was. Fronts weren't made 100%, why not the rear too.
I've rebalanced my wheels a few times and it didn't seem to matter. 4 wheel alignment done also. I'll repost when I figure it out.

 

[Mav_27]

I currently own a 2022 Ford Maverick XL, it has almost 30,000 miles on it. I've been in and out of my local dealership more often than I would like to be for various issues (recalls, routine maintenance, etc) and I recently brought it in for the cab shaking at around 50-55mph. As I approached 50, the cab would start to shake fairly violently to the point I didn't feel comfortable driving it that fast until I figured out what the problem was. They kept my car for about a week and told me there was an issue with my front axle, which they replaced for free as it was under warranty. Since then, I haven't had any issues with it shaking at that speed. I live in Indiana but am enrolled in school in Michigan so I'm back and fourth fairly often especially around holidays and for the summer. Recently I've noticed a shake when I get up to 80-85mph on the highway, it's not as violent as it was before but it's still very noticeable no matter where you are sitting in the car. When I brought it back into my local Ford dealer they took the car in with no problems or concerns after I explained everything I said above to the Customer Service rep that I spoke with. I brought it into them on Wednesday around 11 am and hadn't received a call from them with any updates so I decided to call them on Thursday a little bit later into the day. They explained that they hadn't looked at the vehicle yet and planned on gettingt in on Friday to check everything out. He verified the issues I brought up the day before but mistakenly put in the system that the shake was happening around 50. I let him know that it was actually 80 because I wanted to make sure the problem was properly diagnosed, he told me everything would get looked at on Friday and said they'd need it for a few extra days. I received a call on Friday night saying everything was complete except for the shaking issue. They told me they couldn't detect a shaking so they couldn't fix it at all because there was nothing to fix, I was at work at the time and couldn't pick it up before they closed that night. I went in the following morning to pick it up and they gave me a paper of all the issues they fixed and tried to fix. I noticed that on the list it said, "Customer states the cab shakes at 50/55mph." Once they brought my vehicle around I spoke with the customer service rep and said it was supposed to get looked at for a shake at 80 and not 50. He started telling me that driving 80mph was a very unsafe speed and if my vehicle shakes at 80 I just need to slow down. Being in Indiana, my commute from home to school in Michigan is spent mostly on roads with a speed limit of 75, so driving 80 is pretty normal for me. He started telling me that he's not my parent but I shouldn't be driving that fast and if my vehicle can't handle driving 80 then I need to slow down. I asked what I could do to fix my problem and he told me they wouldn't diagnose it at that speed because that's unsafe. He said they wouldn't even put a foreman or technician in the car with me going that fast because it's too dangerous. I can understand if I went in there saying it had a problem at 90 or even 100mph but 80 doesn't seem bad at all, in my opinion of course. With all that said, I have two questions:

1. Has anyone experienced a similar issue? If so, how did you go about fixing it?
2. Has anyone had a similar experience at a dealership and is that policy or was the rep over-exaggerating?

If you read this far I appreciate any help whatsoever.

Might be a balancing issue. Look into getting your wheels and tires “road force balanced” you can research it and find a place that has that kind of machine. Unfortunately new tires are terrible.
I had a truck that would shake so bad at 70-80mph that a drink would jump out of the cup. Dealer had to replace 3 bad tires.

 

[patrickirace]

Is your truck AWD? I have the same issue. It's seems to be caused by something in the rear. That's why the truck shakes and not the steering wheel. I haven't solved the problem yet but I'm starting to go down the road of rear cv axles this time. I've already had both fronts replaced twice for a similar issue but was easy to diagnose what it was. Fronts weren't made 100%, why not the rear too.
I've rebalanced my wheels a few times and it didn't seem to matter. 4 wheel alignment done also. I'll repost when I figure it out.

No, mine is RWD. They replaced my front axle when I brought it in for the 50-55mph issue. I appreciate the help!

 

[Jackfer]

Actually I'm glad yours is fwd. Now it makes me think outside the box a little further. Hopefully I can prove that the rear driveline is not at fault here. Thanks

 

[Oscarcat]

No, mine is RWD. They replaced my front axle when I brought it in for the 50-55mph issue. I appreciate the help!

FRONT WHEEL DRIVE, IT IS FWD.

Tires - find a quiet paved road, open all the windows and listen for a rhythmic sound. What you are trying to determine is if cords in your tires are torn. Tears happen when you go over ruts and potholes.

Rims that were incorrectly torqued, torqued unevenly or mounted off center done when they rotated your tires?

Correct air pressure - 35 psi checked when cold including not heated by sitting in the sun or driving, 35 psi all around.

Rotate tires - rears to front, cross the right rear to the left front and left rear to right front.

Bad/failed rear shock absorber combined with an out-of-balance tire? Look for the sign of fluid/moisture on the shock absorbers.

Balancing - Ask for "tape weights" instead of rim mounted weights. These are taped inside the rim, not only are they out of sight, you can't knock them off if you hit the curb and tape weights usually are adhered to the center of the inside of the rim, not the outer edge

Rims - Bent during winter going over potholes? Balancing weights that fell off or no longer correctly balance the wheel? Tire out of round?

Try putting some weight in the bed, a couple hundred pounds, then drive to see if you can replicate.

Finally, find a shop that specializes in suspension and tires. They should be able to isolate wheel, shock or strut and tire problems.

 

[patrickirace]

FRONT WHEEL DRIVE, IT IS FWD.

Tires - find a quiet paved road, open all the windows and listen for a rhythmic sound. What you are trying to determine is if cords in your tires are torn. Tears happen when you go over ruts and potholes.

Rims that were incorrectly torqued, torqued unevenly or mounted off center when you rotated your tires?

Rims - Bent during winter going over potholes? Balancing weights that fell off or no longer correctly balance the wheel? Tire out of round?

Since you state the problem seems to be in the rear, try putting some weight in the bed, a couple hundred pounds, then drive.

Find a good tire shop. They should be able to isolate wheel and tire problems.

I'll give these a try, thank you! Sorry about the confusion, I've never been very knowledgeable when it comes to cars. I appreciate the help.

 

[Zed79]

Why would you take a 3/36k bumper to bumper warranty to some "Tire shop" these are mostly staffed with kids that could not get in or cut it in vo tech. Find another dealer call ahead talk to them set an appointment.

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