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Home / Symptoms / Shaking While Driving

Four common causes for a vehicle shaking while driving and their related parts.

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Is Your Car Shaking While You Drive?

It’s shaking while driving because either the engine mounts are damaged, the drive axle is bent, the driveline u-joint is faulty, or the tires are impaired or unbalanced. It can also be a cv axle joint problem. Any of these problems affect stability and commonly create the exact symptom you’re getting.

Addressing any shaking issues immediately is crucial to avoid potential hazards while driving. Ignoring the problem can cause further damage to your car, making repairs more costly and extensive.

Therefore, if your car shakes while driving, consider having it inspected by a qualified mechanic as soon as possible to determine the cause of the shaking and make necessary repairs.

Watch out: A car shaking while driving on the road can be pretty concerning. This shaking can indicate various issues, such as unbalanced wheels, worn or damaged tires, or problems with the suspension system. These issues can make it challenging to control your vehicle, putting you and your passengers at risk.

The most common causes for a vehicle shaking while driving

The most common causes for the car shaking while driving:

Bad driveline u-joint: The u-joint connects the transmission and engine power to the vehicle's wheels. So, it basically makes sure the wheels move according to the engine demands and transmission shifting. But, if the u-joint fails, the wheels lose performance and won't rotate as smoothly, becoming wobbly.
Bent drive axle: The drive axle is an axle connected to the wheels, transferring engine power to them and ensuring they turn efficiently while the vehicle drives. However, if the axle is faulty, leaking, bent, or rusty, it loses movement flexibility and smoothness, resulting in vibrations when turning the vehicle and even while braking.
Faulty CV axle joint: A constant velocity axle (CV axle) transfers power from the transmission to the wheels, it consists of CV joints, boots (rubber coverings), etc. However, a CV axle can get a torn boot, causing debris to wear the joint and causing the steering wheel to vibrate on acceleration.
Uneven tire wear: A worn tire won't offer the same adherence and performance as a new tire. It's common for vehicles to vibrate and drive rougher with old and worn tires. Additionally, if one side of the vehicle has tires in a worse shape than the others, the vehicle shakes even more. This type of uneven wear between tires causes stability and balance loss.
Faulty engine mounts: The motor mounts hold the engine, supporting it and keeping it properly aligned. However, due to wear, tear, aging, driving conditions, and recent accidents, a vehicle’s motor mounts might become loose, faulty, or leaky. These issues in a motor mount lead to excessive engine vibrations since there’s no proper support.
Unbalanced tires: Tires need to be regularly balanced during routine maintenance. If tires go unbalanced, they'll rotate differently between each other, causing your vehicle to steer in a crooked way, resulting in vibrations at high speeds.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does the vehicle shake when it is in gear while pressing the brakes?

Your car's engine needs to stay in place while you're driving, so it's mounted to the car's frame with rubber parts called engine mounts. These mounts are supposed to absorb the vibration from the engine so the driver doesn't feel it. However, over time, the rubber in these mounts can wear down and lose its ability to absorb the vibration. When this happens, the driver can start feeling the engine vibrations in the car. This is more noticeable when you stop the car in gear while pressing the brakes, like at a stop light.
Does the vehicle shake when reaching 45 mph and worsen as speed increases?

In a car, the driveline is a series of parts that transfer power from the engine to the wheels. The U-joints in the driveline are essential because they allow the driveshaft to move and change angles when the car's suspension moves. The U-joints have little needle bearings inside them, which are lubricated with grease and protected by seals. However, if the seals on the U-joints get damaged, dirt and water can get inside and cause the needle bearings to wear down too quickly. If the needle bearings inside the U-joints wear down, there is movement in the U-joint, which can feel like shaking when driving at around 45 miles per hour. This shaking can become more intense as you go faster.
Does the shaking seem to come from a single wheel in the vehicle?

The axle shafts in a car have a flange on one end that holds the brake rotor and wheel in place. Just behind the flange is a seal and bearing that help the axle shaft spin smoothly. On the other end of the shaft, a set of splines connect to the differential in the car. Sometimes, if something hits the side of the wheel hard enough, it causes the axle flange to bend. This makes it look like the wheel itself is bent or damaged. When the wheel and tire are misaligned like this, it causes the car to shake when you're driving down the road. This shaking only affects the misaligned wheel but can still be noticeable and make for an uncomfortable ride.
Does the vehicle shake when you hard accelerate it from a stop?

The CV axle is essential to your car's drivetrain. It has two joints on either end that help maintain torque even when the wheels make sharp angles. These joints are made up of balls and sockets filled with grease and protected by a rubber boot. However, the balls and sockets can wear out over time, especially if the boot becomes damaged or cracked, allowing dirt and debris to intrude. When the joint wears out, you may notice shaking or vibration in the car, especially during high-torque acceleration.
Is the steering wheel shaking when driving the vehicle?

As you drive your car, the tires naturally wear out. However, specific issues can accelerate the wear and tear of your tires. For example, if your car's alignment is off or there are loose steering or suspension components, it can strain your tires and cause them to wear out faster. To add to that factor, the tires might hit bumps and uneven asphalt while driving. When this happens, the belts inside the tire can shift and cause extra damage, making the tire lose its round shape. This can result in noticeable shaking or vibration in the car, especially at higher speeds.
Is the vehicle only shaking at high speeds?

During manufacturing, the tires and wheels of a car might not be perfectly up to standards. So, they must be balanced when put together in a car. This means that weights are added to the tire and wheel to ensure they rotate smoothly and don't wobble. If the tire and wheel are not balanced correctly, the car will shake, especially at higher speeds.

Typical fixes to address the cause(s)

These are typical processes and repair services that fix a check engine light issue

The most common cause: Faulty engine mounts

The most common reason for a car shaking while driving is due to faulty engine mounts. The mounts that support the engine, keeping it aligned and tightly in place can loosen up, get leaky, bent, or break. In any case, if the engine mount loses balance, the engine loses support. Consequently, the vibrations that come from the engine combustion process will cause extra shakiness since the engine loses mount support.

Symptoms it causes: Apart from the vehicle shaking while driving you might notice the check engine light on, engine misfires, engine overheating, lawnmower sounds, banging and grinding noises, etc.
High risk of priority: A loose motor mount can quickly snap away, resulting in major damage in the engine compartment that might lead to engine stalling and a complete breakdown.

How exactly do the engine mounts fail?

Engine mounts are typically sturdy and reliable, made to last for decades. However, depending on driving conditions and recent accidents or improper restorations, the mounts can become unreliable and prone to bending and loosening up. If the mounts become loose, the engine loses support, resulting in excess vibrations, even when having the car at a standstill (idle).

Go safe: Ask for a mechanic to inspect your vehicle’s engine system to investigate if the engine mounts are faulty due to surrounding components and if there’s further damage to check out. Many shops do transparent vehicle inspections and lay out your options after investigating your vehicle’s conditions.

What’s a vehicle inspection? It’s “detective work” on your vehicle, checking its systems to see if anything prevents the car from working as expected. In this case, mechanics examine different parts of your vehicle to track if anything is causing the engine mounts to get faulty. They’ll also check the condition of components during their inspection, noting which are causing the problem and which got affected by it, recommending to replace them in order of priority.

Transparency example in a loose motor mount service

An engine system inspection is the most transparent process to understand why your vehicle’s engine mount is faulty. This is because many components surrounding the engine, support mounts, and combustion components can have a say in the issue, indicating the real culprits that caused it all.

A customer brought their vehicle to the shop and reported the engine was running rough and might need a tune-up.

A customer brought their vehicle concerned about the shaking and vibration they felt while driving. They also mentioned recently experiencing a loud clunk when they accidentally hit the gas pedal instead of the brake while backing out of their driveway. Although they weren't sure if these two issues were related, they said the vibration was exaggeratedly bad.

During the test drive, the technician confirmed that a lot of vibration from the engine was coming through the vehicle. They also heard the loud clunk that the customer had described when doing some hard accelerations in reverse.

However, during the vehicle health inspection, the technician didn't notice anything out of the ordinary that would explain the customer's concerns.

To get to the root of the problem, the technician put the vehicle in park and rocked it back and forth while observing the engine. They found that there was quite a bit of movement in all three of the motor mounts.

Upon closer inspection, they discovered that the rubber in all three mounts had been torn. This prevented them from gripping the engine and created the shaking and vibration the customer felt. To fix the problem, all three motor mounts needed to be replaced.

Faulty engine mounts causing the vehicle and engine to vibrate while driving

In this case, the mechanic put the “Immediate Action” tag on the engine mount.

Similar Symptoms

Below are just a few examples of typical Symptoms and Fixes your car might be experiencing

Four common causes for a vehicle shaking while idle and their related parts.

Is Your Car Shaking While You Drive?

The most common causes for a vehicle shaking while driving

Frequently Asked Questions

Does the vehicle shake when it is in gear while pressing the brakes?

Does the vehicle shake when reaching 45 mph and worsen as speed increases?

Does the shaking seem to come from a single wheel in the vehicle?

Does the vehicle shake when you hard accelerate it from a stop?

Is the steering wheel shaking when driving the vehicle?

Is the vehicle only shaking at high speeds?

Typical fixes to address the cause(s)

The most common cause: Faulty engine mounts

How exactly do the engine mounts fail?

Transparency example in a loose motor mount service

Similar Symptoms

Why Is My Car Shaking When Idle?

Why Does My Car Shake When I Brake At High Speeds?

Why Is My Car Shaking When Stopped?

Why Is My Car Shaking At High Speeds?

Why Is My Car Shaking When Accelerating?