2008 Cadillac CTS
This year drew an ordinary 175 complaints for a Cadillac CTS — the model's median is 93. What they were about is the unusual part: 13.7% of them mention pump, against 3.7% across the model's other years.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 175 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 93 |
| Involving a crash | 12 |
| Involving a fire | 3 |
| Recalls | 2 |
| EPA combined | 20 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- pump — 13.7% of this year's complaints, against 3.7% across the model's other years (3.7×). Owners wrote it as: pump, fuel pump, fuel tank, steering pump.
- water — 8.6% of this year's complaints, against 2.6% across the model's other years (3.3×). Owners wrote it as: water, roof, mold, floorboard.
- won — 6.9% of this year's complaints, against 2.1% across the model's other years (3.2×). Owners wrote it as: won, take car, speedometer, won start.
Words owners used for the same problem are counted together, so a fault written four different ways is measured once. Grouped by which complaints they appear in, not by a list anyone wrote in advance.
What owners wrote
THE CONTACT SMELLED FUEL IN THE VEHICLE. THE VEHICLE WAS TAKEN TO AN INDEPENDENT MECHANIC WHO STATED THAT FUEL WAS LEAKING FROM THE FUEL PUMP ON TOP OF THE FUEL TANK. THE DEALER (CADILLAC OF ARLINGTON, 2001 N COLLINS ST, ARLINGTON, TX 76011) WAS MADE AWARE OF…
AFTER IT RAINS WATER LEAKS FROM SUNROOF (NOT SURE) DOWN ONTO FLOORBOARD NEAR THE PETAL.AND ALSO INTO TRUNK. ELECTRICAL DEVICE INSIDE CAR DOES NOT OPEN TRUNK EVEN AFTER HAVING IT REPAIRED.
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 14V394000 ELECTRICAL SYSTEM Fixed free of charge.
- 10V240000 ELECTRICAL SYSTEM
How this was worked out
Every year of the Cadillac CTS was compared against its own history rather than against other cars, which removes popularity and age from the answer — a common car draws more complaints at equal reliability, and an older one has had longer to accumulate them. A year is flagged when it drew at least 2.5× this model's median and at least 50 complaints.
This is a fault record, not a review. Nobody files a federal complaint to say the car was fine, so it shows what tends to go wrong — not whether owners liked it, and not whether it is a good car.
Source: NHTSA complaints, recalls and investigations, retrieved . Look this vehicle up directly on NHTSA's site to check anything here.
Own a 2008 Cadillac CTS? What happened to yours?
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