2011 Cadillac CTS
This year drew an ordinary 108 complaints for a Cadillac CTS — the model's median is 93. What they were about is the unusual part: 13% of them mention attempting, against 5.1% across the model's other years.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 108 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 93 |
| Involving a crash | 11 |
| Involving a fire | 3 |
| Recalls | 2 |
| EPA combined | 21 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- attempting — 13% of this year's complaints, against 5.1% across the model's other years (2.5×). Owners wrote it as: attempting, displayed, stated attempting, reduced.
- reverse — 6.5% of this year's complaints, against 1.8% across the model's other years (3.7×). Owners wrote it as: reverse, continental.
- care — 6.5% of this year's complaints, against 1.8% across the model's other years (3.5×). Owners wrote it as: care, hundred, leds.
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
WHILE AT A STOP LIGHT, THE VEHICLE BEGAN TO SHAKE VIOLENTLY AS THE SERVICE TRACTION CONTROL AND ENGINE POWER REDUCED WARNING LIGHTS ILLUMINATED. ALSO, THE CONTACT STATED THAT WHEN ATTEMPTING TO ACCELERATE THERE WAS A REDUCTION OF ENGINE POWER AND THE VEHICLE F…
PURCHASED THIS CAR BRAND NEW IN 2012 FROM CAMARGO CADILLAC IN CINCINNATI,OHIO VECHILE HAS 41,000 MILES AND WELL TAKEN CARE,IN 2015 NOTICED HEADLIGHT ON PASSENGER SIDE HAVING A LOT OF CONDENSATION.TOOK VEHICLE BACK TO DEALER AND WAS TOLD CAR OUT OF WARRENTY. 6…
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 14V341000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 14V394000 ELECTRICAL SYSTEM Fixed free of charge.
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 2011 Cadillac CTS? What happened to yours?
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