Cadillac CTS — reported problems

What owners report: issue areas

Owner complaints are classified by the system they concern: 6,212 classifications in all. One complaint can concern several systems, so these add up to more than the number of complaints.

• Powertrain (transmission & drivetrain)960 (15.5%)Official recall records for this system: 5, covering model years 2005–2014.
• Air bags (restraint system)786 (12.7%)Official recall records for this system: 11, covering model years 2004–2016.
• Electrical system772 (12.4%)Official recall records for this system: 9, covering model years 2003–2016.
• Brakes646 (10.4%)Official recall records for this system: 6, covering model years 2003–2015.
• Engine614 (9.9%)
• Steering326 (5.2%)Official recall records for this system: 9, covering model years 2003–2018.

Other / uncategorized: 238 classifications (3.8%) were not assigned to a specific system by the source. They are counted but not treated as an issue area.

These are counts of records held by CarFaultIQ, not a failure rate. More records can simply mean more vehicles were sold or more owners reported. No vehicles-in-service figure exists in this data, so no reliability or risk score can be derived from it.

What the records are about, by source

Each source is kept separate: owner complaints, recalls, manufacturer communications and investigations are different kinds of record and are never added together. All model years.

• Owner complaints (4,432 records, model years 2003–2019) are most frequently classified under: powertrain (transmission & drivetrain), air bags (restraint system) and electrical system.
• Safety recalls (88 records, model years 2003–2018) are most frequently classified under: air bags (restraint system), steering and electrical system.
• Transport Canada recalls (83 records, model years 2003–2017) are most frequently classified under: seat belts, electrical system and air bags (restraint system).
• Manufacturer communications (24,188 records, model years 2003–2019) are most frequently classified under: equipment & accessories, electrical system and engine.

"Most frequently classified under" reports how the records are filed by the source. It is not a finding about causes, and a record can be filed under more than one system. Read the individual records

Mileage reported when the issue occurred

• 3,278reports included a mileage
• 63,992average of those mileages

This is the mileage owners recorded at the time they reported, not an expected failure mileage and not a prediction for any individual vehicle. The lowest and highest figures on record are not shown: they are unverified odometer entries that include zeros and implausibly high readings, so they would not describe a real range. A median is not shown either, because the stored figures are group totals and a median cannot be recovered from them.

Evidence by model year

Records held per model year. Select a year to narrow this page to it.

1. 2003 827 records for 2003 827
2. 2004 802 records for 2004 802
3. 2005 916 records for 2005 916
4. 2006 997 records for 2006 997
5. 2007 1,111 records for 2007 1,111
6. 2008 1,317 records for 2008 1,317
7. 2009 1,423 records for 2009 1,423
8. 2010 1,516 records for 2010 1,516
9. 2011 1,617 records for 2011 1,617
10. 2012 1,621 records for 2012 1,621
11. 2013 1,728 records for 2013 1,728
12. 2014 2,222 records for 2014 2,222
13. 2015 1,832 records for 2015 1,832
14. 2016 1,611 records for 2016 1,611
15. 2017 1,423 records for 2017 1,423
16. 2018 1,095 records for 2018 1,095
17. 2019 836 records for 2019 836

Counts are not adjusted for how many vehicles were sold in each year, so a taller year is not necessarily a worse year.

Reports mentioning outcomes

• 374mention a crash
• 70mention a fire
• 308mention an injury
• 12mention a fatality

These are counts of records whose report mentioned the outcome. They are not a severity rating and not a safety assessment of this vehicle.

Official records held

• Safety recalls NHTSA 88
• Manufacturer communications NHTSA 24,188
• Investigations NHTSA 13
• Transport Canada recalls Transport Canada 83
• Owner complaints NHTSA 4,432

Explore the underlying evidence records

Diagnostic codes found in evidence for this vehicle

These codes appear by explicit identifier in official records matched to this exact model and year.

• P0300 in 122 records · 2004–2019
• P0016 in 91 records · 2004–2019
• P0008 in 85 records · 2004–2018
• P0017 in 85 records · 2004–2018
• P0018 in 85 records · 2004–2018
• P0442 in 79 records · 2003–2019
• P2097 in 68 records · 2004–2019
• P0019 in 65 records · 2004–2018
• P0521 in 62 records · 2005–2016
• P015B in 29 records · 2014–2019
• P1101 in 29 records · 2014–2019
• P2138 in 27 records · 2004–2018

A code appearing in a record means the code was named in that document. It is not a diagnosis of this vehicle, not a fault this vehicle has, and not an indication of urgency. Diagnosis requires reading live data from the vehicle.