Ford Edge toad death wobble

[dmctlc]

Originally Posted by lllkrob

The actual cause is the front end steering geometry of the Ford Edge and the fact it has electric power steering. When it's being towed the electric steering is inactive and provides no centering force to the steering. As you slowly begin to accelerate and turn the wheels are cornering at different included angles of turn and the slightest wheel deflection (bump) will cause the steering to begin to oscillate back an forth. The technical engineering term for this condition is Bump Steer. I may be wrong but, I thought Ford had a modification available to power the electric steering while being towed to correct this problem. If not a long bungee cord or two hooked to the bottom of the driver's seat front frame and looped around the bottom of the steering wheel a couple of times and attached back under the driver's seat frame should provide enough centering force to correct the problem.

Well I have a 2017 Lincoln MKX FWD and I posted a similar issue, I posted in this forum a week or so back, with my Lincoln which is basically the same car as the Ford Edge being discussed here even though it's a few years older. I, too, have a Blue Ox setup originally I had it on my DW 2008 for about a year and never had any problems. Moved up to the present 2017 and it started on the first tow. Doesn't happen all the time but at least once a trip. I had called Blue Ox spoke to Steve and he stated he never heard of the problem, well I doubt that, but even though I stated that it seemed the latch had unlatched after it happened he stated it was something wrong with the car. He said I should still send it in for a $150 tune-up. I did that myself and then I started to focus on the electrical steering. I changed the settings from Sport mode to Normal on both ranges in my car and took a trip last Sunday. Had no issues going up to the CG but once again one of the last turns before turning to my street it happened again. This was the first time I was able to actually see what was going on in the car because I was taking a left hand turn on a street that wasn't busy. I saw the front wheels turning but, to me, it didn't seem like they were turning fast enough. Ironically I was trying to make it happen because it dawn on me it seemed to be dependent on how fast or slow I was taking the turn. This time I took it a little faster than the rest of the trip on this sharp left. Then it started, the front wheels just didn't seem to turn enough. Slowed to almost a complete stop and the wobbling stopped as it usually does so we proceeded the rest of the way home. IMHO the electric steering is the issue, as been stated, because electric motors just don't turn as quick as hydraulic ones can unless there's a means to put them in free wheeling mode. Anyway I was contemplating moving to another Tow Bar since it seems I've only see this happening with folks using Blue Ox. I'd loved to hear from others that use either Demco, Roadmaster or Ready Brute, etc. to see if the same thing happens as well.
One related story to this that is different from the OPs. With our Lincoln there's no instructions to disconnect the battery but we did find out that there's is no power to any USB's or Cigarette lighters in the car after you set up for towing. Oddly it disappears after various times but not right away. Verified with dealer though they couldn't explain why it can be live for 5 mins or an hour but it seems an hour is the max. We use the RVi3 Brake systems and that could a bit of confusion the first few times we towed it until I added one that was charged all the time right off the battery but it's a mickey mouse way of doing it. I might try the battery charger the next time out. Thanks

[12amNSX]

We tow a 2016 Ford Edge Sport with a Roadmaster tow setup. Never had a problem. I know that Ford recommends that you disconnect the battery while towing which I believe solves your electric steering problem. When I set up the car for towing I installed a battery disconnect. YRMV

[F4Gary]

I have a ReadyBrute and I haven't had a problem. I have a manual battery disconnect under the hood.

[rockit350]

I tow a 2018 Edge Tit AWD with the roadmaster Falcon all terrain TB. Batt disconnect, charge line, AF1 brake. I have had the wobble twice within a 2-3 mile start of driving, and while making a 30MPH turn it went into wobble that started shaking the MH, immediately I slowed and it recovered and did not repeat on that trip. I am sure the ELECTRIC STEERING is the cause, similar to the 17 and up Jeep. I used the same set for my previous 05 Jeep GC w/o any problems for thousands of miles.(It's not the TB) Ford is clueless and no help. There should be something like the special harness jeep adds to fix it. The DW is on edge of her seat waiting for the repeat wobble. I wonder if there is a way to release the pressure in the steering system after hookig up but before towing off?

[pcwizard]

After I started using the bungee cord from the right side of the seat frame, up through the steering wheel around the bottom center spoke and back down to the left side of the seat frame, I never had the wobble re-occur. The bungee cord was pulled really tight, really tight. There was no play in the bungee cord. But it allowed the wheel to move and immediately return to center. FYI, the wobble only happened when I was making a left turn, usually when I was crossing a 4 lane highway. When I got across the on-coming traffic lane, through the medium and onto the lanes I needed to get to, then wobble would start.

[rockit350]

Update from my last post in June. We towed twice and each time the wobble repeated several times. But last week we had a New Roadmaster All Terrain TB and towed to Hyway #1 on the north coast where it got very windy with tight turns even going slow it also repeated again more times. When we arrived at the CG, one leg on the tow bar was bent badly. Today I sent an hour talking to Ford customer service lady. She took notes, but did not get me to an engineer to discuss a fix even after describing what Jeep did to fix it. She could not understand ELECTRONIC STEERING vs Hyd. Ford has the problem and Jeep knows how to fix it. The bad news, I read earlier that Ford is stopping the EDGE next year. The Jeep part #68321424AB has a printed instruction sheets, which I have copies of but may not be much use due to the differences in vehicles. For now, waiting to see if Ford gets back to
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