Consumer Safety Complaints
Search 2,245,377 safety complaints filed by vehicle owners with NHTSA, including 140,173 crashes, 56,794 fires, and 8,580 deaths.
What is a NHTSA consumer complaint?
A consumer complaint is a free-form report filed by a vehicle owner directly to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) describing a safety concern about their vehicle. NHTSA collects these reports through its Vehicle Owner Defect Report (VOQ) system and publishes them publicly. Each complaint includes the affected component, the date and circumstances of the incident, whether the failure caused a crash or fire, and any reported injuries or deaths. The owner's full narrative description is included verbatim, NHTSA does not edit or moderate the descriptions.
The database below contains over 2,245,377 individual complaints. NHTSA's investigators monitor it for clusters of similar reports, when enough owners describe the same failure mode on the same vehicle, NHTSA may open a Preliminary Evaluation that can lead to a recall. Many of the largest recalls in U.S. history, including the Takata airbag recall and the Hyundai/Kia engine fire recalls, started as patterns visible in this complaint database years before they became formal recalls.
How to interpret what you read
A few principles for reading consumer complaints usefully:
- One complaint is anecdote; a hundred similar complaints is data. NHTSA does not investigate the truthfulness of any individual report, that's the job of the Office of Defects Investigation, which looks at the full pattern. When evaluating a vehicle, look for whether multiple owners describe the same chain of events.
- Crash, fire, injury, and death flags are owner-set. They are not verified by NHTSA. They are still useful as a filter, because owners who tick those boxes are typically reporting more serious incidents than those who don't.
- Component categories are NHTSA-assigned, not owner-assigned. NHTSA standardizes the component field so that complaints can be aggregated. The owner narrative often goes into more detail than the component category captures.
- Complaint volume scales with sales volume. A best-selling model will accumulate more raw complaints than a niche model even at the same defect rate. To compare across vehicles, look at complaints per 100,000 units sold, not raw counts.
If you've experienced a defect
File a complaint. NHTSA's investigators rely on this database to detect emerging defects, and useful complaints, specific, concrete, with dates and mileage and clear descriptions of what happened, feed directly into the agency's pattern detection. The form takes about 10 minutes and is at nhtsa.gov/recalls under "Report a Safety Problem." Your complaint becomes part of the same public record that this page is built from. Owners filing detailed VOQs are how recalls get triggered.
Read more from our blog
Showing 21,483 complaints for CADILLAC
Incident date: Jul 1, 2021
While driving on the highway my car suddenly went sideways five times. I had no control over my vehicle and luckily did not hit another vehicle. Once I was safely on the shoulder, I saw that my rear driverside wheel was sticking out. I had it towed to the dealership and then found out that there was a recall on the rear toe end link adjuster. They kept my car for weeks and kept sending me assessme... Read more
Crash
Incident date: Jul 1, 2021
While driving on the highway my car suddenly went sideways five times. I had no control over my vehicle and luckily did not hit another vehicle. Once I was safely on the shoulder, I saw that my rear driverside wheel was sticking out. I had it towed to the dealership and then found out that there was a recall on the rear toe end link adjuster. They kept my car for weeks and kept sending me assessme... Read more
Crash
Incident date: Jul 1, 2021
While driving on the highway my car suddenly went sideways five times. I had no control over my vehicle and luckily did not hit another vehicle. Once I was safely on the shoulder, I saw that my rear driverside wheel was sticking out. I had it towed to the dealership and then found out that there was a recall on the rear toe end link adjuster. They kept my car for weeks and kept sending me assessme... Read more
Crash
Incident date: Dec 13, 2021
The contact owns a 2014 Cadillac CTS. The contact stated that while driving in the early morning, the headlights became inoperable. The contact checked the headlights and noticed both headlights were out. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer and the mechanic was informed that both headlights went out simultaneously. The headlight assembly was replaced. The manufacturer was notified but no fur... Read more
Incident date: Dec 28, 2021
UNKNOWN- Took my vehicle in for the recall listed above, to then be told that my Timing Cover Gasket: timing cover gasket leaking. Service advisor indicated that this is a known issue with SRX's. I did search for a recall on all years, but not on the 2012's. Not sure why they were not included. I was informed at the price of $2134.53 it could be repaired. I only have 87 plus miles on this veh... Read more
Incident date: Jun 15, 2021
The contact owns a 2016 Cadillac SRX. The contact stated that while driving at night at various speeds, the headlights were extremely dim, causing the contact to not see the road clearly. The contact mentioned that the hi-beam was used to see the road while driving at night. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where it was diagnosed that the headlamp assemblies needed to be replaced. The vehicle w... Read more
Incident date: Dec 23, 2021
The low beam headlights have become so dim that they are virtually useless for night driving. The only way I can drive after dark is with the brights which creates a safety blinding hazard for oncoming vehicles. In going on line I have found this has been an ongoing problem for several years but GM or Cadillac Motors has never announced a recall. The problem is not the bulb or even the globe.
CADILLAC
ESCALADE EXT
(2008) - AIR BAGS
Dec 27, 2021
Incident date: Feb 1, 2021
Takata recall. The contact owns a 2008 Cadillac Escalade EXT. The contact received a recall notice for NHTSA Campaign Number 21V052000 (Air Bags) however, upon contacting the dealer, he was informed that the repair might cause the dashboard to crack. The contact was then informed that he would have to sign a waiver to ensure that the dealer would not be held responsible for any damages to the vehi... Read more
Incident date: Nov 30, 2021
VEHICLE FIRE & MOLD. My 2013 Cadillac SRX had water leaking in/draining incorrectly from the sunroof, which in return pooled water in the front and rear of my vehicle. This water caused my trunk to COMPLETELY stop operating (water pooled at trunk latch/rusted), as well as water to saturate the electrical components near the front of my car and a FIRE TO ITNITE WHILE I WAS DRIVING THE VEHICLE! Fire... Read more
Fire
Incident date: Nov 30, 2021
VEHICLE FIRE & MOLD. My 2013 Cadillac SRX had water leaking in/draining incorrectly from the sunroof, which in return pooled water in the front and rear of my vehicle. This water caused my trunk to COMPLETELY stop operating (water pooled at trunk latch/rusted), as well as water to saturate the electrical components near the front of my car and a FIRE TO ITNITE WHILE I WAS DRIVING THE VEHICLE! Fire... Read more
Fire
Incident date: Nov 30, 2021
VEHICLE FIRE & MOLD. My 2013 Cadillac SRX had water leaking in/draining incorrectly from the sunroof, which in return pooled water in the front and rear of my vehicle. This water caused my trunk to COMPLETELY stop operating (water pooled at trunk latch/rusted), as well as water to saturate the electrical components near the front of my car and a FIRE TO ITNITE WHILE I WAS DRIVING THE VEHICLE! Fire... Read more
Fire
Incident date: Dec 24, 2021
At night, headlights do not come on. Only daytime running lights come on. You cannot see properly without headlights.
Incident date: Dec 4, 2021
*The chest clip failed. At the beginning, we had a very hard time unlatching the chest clip to where we thought we needed to cut it. Later, the chest clip started to become very loose to where my son could undo it by just touching it, then one evening it did not latch on at all. *It is available for inspection upon request. *The car seat has not been inspected by anyone. The child seat is tempo... Read more
Incident date: Dec 1, 2021
My car is undriveable after sunset because of low beam dim headlights. My car is a 2014 Cadillac SRX with 74971 miles. I've had a estimate of $1763.24 to fix problem at Labadie Cadillac in Bay City, MI. After investigation this has been a problem known to you for years, I don't understand why a safety recall has not already been ordered against GM, we can't see where we're going at night, that so... Read more
Incident date: Dec 1, 2021
My car is undriveable after sunset because of low beam dim headlights. My car is a 2014 Cadillac SRX with 74971 miles. I've had a estimate of $1763.24 to fix problem at Labadie Cadillac in Bay City, MI. After investigation this has been a problem known to you for years, I don't understand why a safety recall has not already been ordered against GM, we can't see where we're going at night, that so... Read more
CADILLAC
ESCALADE ESV
(2020) - SERVICE BRAKES
Dec 23, 2021
Incident date: Dec 21, 2021
March of this year while on vacation in South Carolina this vehicle had a partial brake failure at 2145 miles. It was repaired in Charlestown S. C. at a Cadillac Dealership and shipped back to Rick Hendrick Cadillac Norfolk Virginia. On 12/21/21 the same issues resurfaced one day prior to heading to South Carolina for Christmas. The vehicle was towed to Rick Hendrick Cadillac in Norfolk Virginia w... Read more
Incident date: Dec 22, 2021
After purchasing our 2016 Cadillac SRX we began to notice the head lites were becoming dimmer over time and now to a point that we are unable to drive at nite and need to put high beams on if subjected to nite driving .This creates a blinding hazard for oncoming vehicles. After several attempts of replacing bulbs to improve condition of lites I began to investigate and found that there is a recal... Read more
Incident date: Dec 22, 2021
After purchasing our 2016 Cadillac SRX we began to notice the head lites were becoming dimmer over time and now to a point that we are unable to drive at nite and need to put high beams on if subjected to nite driving .This creates a blinding hazard for oncoming vehicles. After several attempts of replacing bulbs to improve condition of lites I began to investigate and found that there is a recal... Read more
Incident date: Dec 3, 2021
The contact owns a 2011 Cadillac SRX. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the vehicle was swaying. The vehicle then stalled with the service traction control and stability warning lights illuminated. The contact received notification of NHTSA campaign number: 21V473000 (Suspension) however, the part to do the recall repair was unavailable. The contact called the local de... Read more
Incident date: Dec 3, 2021
The contact owns a 2011 Cadillac SRX. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the vehicle was swaying. The vehicle then stalled with the service traction control and stability warning lights illuminated. The contact received notification of NHTSA campaign number: 21V473000 (Suspension) however, the part to do the recall repair was unavailable. The contact called the local de... Read more
Incident date: Oct 12, 2021
The rear differential went out while I was driving.
Incident date: Nov 10, 2021
The headlights are damaged from normal use. the lights leak water which shorts out the light ballast , the repair requires removal of the front facia of the car which is a $400 repair. the interior lens of the light is heat damaged which dims the headlight. Gm wants 1300 for each headlight plus labor. Apparently the enginers at cadillac did not know how to build a headlight, so them made tem... Read more
Incident date: Dec 20, 2021
Headlights are too dim. Known issue in this car.
Incident date: Jun 1, 2021
"Rear Axle Service" light remains on after replacement of rear toelinks due to manufacturer recall. Rear differential clutch control module issue. Differential clutch oil leaking into the rear differential through the limited slip differential clutch. Oil pump was not replaced.
Incident date: Nov 11, 2021
In about mid November 2021 a grinding noise became noticeable from the rear of my car and quickly became louder. From experience, I thought it was probably bearing failure. The car was parked at that time and has not been driven since. Today is 12/20/21, so the car has been out of service for one and a half months at this point. An ASE certified mechanic inspected the vehicle and found the rear d... Read more
Incident date: Dec 16, 2021
No accident for crash of involved in this report. I'm reporting not able to drive at night just use high beams at all times safety visibility issues with low beams are terrible use my high beams non-existence low beam headlights so many people have to get hurt or killed before GM does something about this and not a recall for the factory lamp assemblies they have on the shelves or say they don't a... Read more
Incident date: Aug 27, 2021
A brake module went out in the car August 2021. Brake, ABS, stability track, power steering warning lights all on. Cruise control doesn’t work. Lane assistant and back up camera system not fully operational. This is a warranty repair. It’s been 4 months and Cadillac can’t get the part to fix it. A brake module seams important
Incident date: Aug 27, 2021
A brake module went out in the car August 2021. Brake, ABS, stability track, power steering warning lights all on. Cruise control doesn’t work. Lane assistant and back up camera system not fully operational. This is a warranty repair. It’s been 4 months and Cadillac can’t get the part to fix it. A brake module seams important
Incident date: Aug 27, 2021
A brake module went out in the car August 2021. Brake, ABS, stability track, power steering warning lights all on. Cruise control doesn’t work. Lane assistant and back up camera system not fully operational. This is a warranty repair. It’s been 4 months and Cadillac can’t get the part to fix it. A brake module seams important
Incident date: Oct 25, 2021
In February 2020 Cadillac notified me "that a small number of model year 2010-2015 SRXs may experience issues that could cause moisture to accumulate in their headlamp capsules and/or cause Halogen headlights to become dimmer over time." (Claim Number [XXX]) At that time I had no issues but I have this issue now, as diagnosed by my dealer. The dim low beam headlights make the vehicle undriveable a... Read more
Incident date: Oct 1, 2021
The contact owns a 2010 Cadillac SRX. The contact stated while driving at an unknown speed, the vehicle began to shift independently into third gear. The contact stated no warning light was illuminated. The contact was able to park on the side of the road and shifted gears to drive before continuing to drive to his destination. The contact stated that he experienced the failure several times. The ... Read more
Incident date: Oct 1, 2021
The contact owns a 2010 Cadillac SRX. The contact stated while driving at an unknown speed, the vehicle began to shift independently into third gear. The contact stated no warning light was illuminated. The contact was able to park on the side of the road and shifted gears to drive before continuing to drive to his destination. The contact stated that he experienced the failure several times. The ... Read more
Incident date: Dec 14, 2020
The contact owns a 2012 Cadillac SRX. The contact stated that moisture was accumulating inside the headlight housing causing the illumination to be very dim. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer to be diagnosed. The contact was informed that the headlight housings needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not informed of the failure. The failure mileage was una... Read more
Incident date: Dec 16, 2021
The contact owns a 2018 Cadillac XT5 equipped with Michelin Tires, Tire Line: Touring H/T, Tire Size: 235/55/R20, DOT Number: B9AJ00TX2017. The contact stated that while his wife was driving 35 MPH, the rear driver's side tire had a sidewall blowout. The contact's wife was able to drive to a tire dealer. The dealer replaced all four tires. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure and informe... Read more
Incident date: Dec 16, 2021
The contact owns a 2015 Cadillac SRX. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the headlights dimmed, causing the contact to not see the road ahead. The vehicle was taken to the dealer. The dealer diagnosed that the weather sealant for the headlights was faulty. The vehicle was not repaired and remained at the dealer. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure and informe... Read more
Incident date: Dec 13, 2021
The air bag light comes on intermittently. It has been identified as a problem on several of the CTS and CTS-V forums.
Incident date: Dec 15, 2021
SENATOR SHERROD BROWN WRITES IN BEHALF OF CONSTITUENT REGARDING THEIR 2011 CADILLAC SRX. CONSTITUENT STATED THAT THEIR CHECK ENGINE LIGHT WAS ILLUMINATED ON VEHICLE. THE CONSUMER STATED THE DEALERSHIP TURNED OFF THE FAILURE CODES JUST BEFORE SELLING THE VEHICLE. THE VEHICLE WAS FOUND TO NEED AT LEAST $6,000.00 WORTH OF REPAIRS, SHORTLY AFTER BEING PURSCHASED. THE REAR AXLE AND EMISSIONS WERE POI... Read more
Incident date: Dec 3, 2021
The contact owns a 2016 Cadillac Escalade. The contact stated while driving approximately 20 MPH, the vehicle stalled. There were no warning lights illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer where it was diagnosed with a faulty wiring harness. The failure caused the battery to be drained. The vehicle was repaired. The manufacturer was notified but no further assistance was provided. Th... Read more
Incident date: Dec 3, 2021
The contact owns a 2016 Cadillac Escalade. The contact stated while driving approximately 20 MPH, the vehicle stalled. There were no warning lights illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer where it was diagnosed with a faulty wiring harness. The failure caused the battery to be drained. The vehicle was repaired. The manufacturer was notified but no further assistance was provided. Th... Read more
Incident date: Nov 10, 2021
The stock halogen headlights (low beams) are so dim you can't tell if they are on or not. New halogen bulbs did not help. I replaced them with LED units at my own expense.
Incident date: Dec 14, 2021
The headlights are failing, new lamps does not resolve the issue. Bad design, the inner reflective housing has melted and the lamps no longer light the road correctly. New lamps did not resolve the issue. I am having to replace the whole lamp housing at over $600 per side just to enable me to drive at night. Very dangerous situation
Incident date: Dec 4, 2021
The headlights, driver and passenger, repeatedly fill up with water/condensation and cause the light to short completely. This is dangerous for night time driving as it impairs visibility and is also illegal. When I asked a repairman about a replacement I was told that it’s useless as the replacement parts are made of the same components and I would pay thousands of dollars to eventually incur t... Read more
Incident date: Dec 13, 2021
2016 CADILLAC SRX. CONSUMER WRITES IN REGARDS TO A SAFETY FLAW WITH THE LOW BEAM HEADLIGHT SYSTEM. THE CONSUMER REQUESTED TO HAVE THE HEAD LIGHT ASSEMBLY REPLACED. *JS
Incident date: Dec 13, 2021
2016 CADILLAC SRX. CONSUMER WRITES IN REGARDS TO A SAFETY FLAW WITH THE LOW BEAM HEADLIGHT SYSTEM. THE CONSUMER REQUESTED TO HAVE THE HEAD LIGHT ASSEMBLY REPLACED. *JS
Incident date: Nov 25, 2021
The Cadillac Company sent me a letter several years ago informing me of a premature timing chain wear and the illumination of the Service Engine light. They knew about this defective engine problem but they did not recall the vehicle. Instead they extended the engine warranty to 10 years or 120,000 miles. I have only 90,000 miles on my vehicle but I've owned it for over 10 years and now the chec... Read more
Incident date: Dec 13, 2021
Since we moved to the East Coast, four years ago, the headlights on the 2014 SRX have slowly dimmed until they are completely ineffectual. When looking out the front window on a dark road, there is only a very dim, barely perceptible, lightening of the road directly in front of the car when the headlights are turned on. When approaching another car, the headlights resemble running lights or park... Read more
CADILLAC
ESCALADE EXT
(2007) - POWER TRAIN
Dec 13, 2021
Incident date: Nov 13, 2021
The contact owns a 2007 Cadillac Escalade EXT. The contact stated that on three separate occasions while driving at highway speeds, the vehicle shut off without warning. The contact stated that on each occasion, he had the vehicle towed back to his residence. The vehicle had yet to be serviced or diagnosed for the failure. The dealer nor the manufacturer had been notified of the failure. The vehic... Read more
Incident date: Dec 9, 2021
I was driving 70 MPH near Chattanooga, TN when I heard an explosion. The front panel(of 2) of my sunroof completely shattered. There were no cars within 1000 feet. There was no overpass I was driving under. Though I can't say for sure I am 99.9% sure that there was no object that created this, rather the glass in the sunroof is defective. I have not had vehicle inspected. The manufacturer is n... Read more
Incident date: Sep 1, 2019
Low beam headlights have become so dim as to be unusable, exascerbated when the auto-dimming goes unexpectedly from high to low beam. It’s as if someone just turned the car’s lights off, so options are to 1) drive on constant high beam, blinding other drivers; 2) drive on low beam, blinding me; 3) not drive at all at night. Thanks, Cadillac!! It’s unbelievable to me that a safety recall has ... Read more
Incident date: Nov 25, 2021
UNKNOWN THE DIM HEADIGHTS AS WELL AS MOISTURE IN HEADLIGHTS SEEMS TO BE A COMMON PROBLEM . IT IS NOT SAFE DRIVING WITH THE HEADLIGHS ON DIM---YOU MUST DRIVE WITH THEM ON HIGH BEAM TO BE ABLE TO SEE THE ROAD AHEAD. SOMETHING NEEDS TO BE DONE FOR GM TO CORRECT THIS MOST DANGEROUS PROBLEM AS MANY ARE HAVING THIS SAME PROBLEM. PLEASE HELP!!!11