Model years › Cadillac Escalade

2021 Cadillac Escalade

This year drew an ordinary 77 complaints for a Cadillac Escalade — the model's median is 43. What they were about is the unusual part: 7.8% of them mention lifter, against 1.4% across the other years of this generation.

First year of a new generation. The Cadillac Escalade was redesigned for 2021. A first year carries problems nobody has found yet, and they are found by the people who buy it — which is worth knowing before you become one of them.

NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.

What the complaints were about

• lifter — 7.8% of this year's complaints, against 1.4% across the other years of this generation (5.7×). Owners wrote it as: lifter, smoke.
• four — 10.4% of this year's complaints, against 4% across the other years of this generation (2.6×). Owners wrote it as: four, past, rear axle.
• took vehicle — 10.4% of this year's complaints, against 4% across the other years of this generation (2.6×). Owners wrote it as: took vehicle, engine vehicle, acknowledged, remained.

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 driving 70 mph, the contact heard an abnormal rattling sound and then saw smoke coming from under the hood. Other drivers were honking at the contact and alerted him that there was oil leaking from the rear of the vehicle. There was no warning lights ill…

5/19/2021, Engine Vibrating, vehicle stall, 3 days repair. Ignition wiring bad/ replaced 5/28/2021, Engine Vibrating, Vehicle stop running, 3 day repair/electric module burn/temporary repair by Georgia car dealer. 6/3/2021 taken to NY dealer to repair 5/28/202…

Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.

Recalls for this year

• 21V739000 FUEL SYSTEM, GASOLINE Fixed free of charge.
• 22V036000 POWER TRAIN Fixed free of charge.
• 21V421000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
• 21V190000 SEAT BELTS Fixed free of charge.
• 22V617000 SEAT BELTS Fixed free of charge.
• 22V827000 EXTERIOR LIGHTING Fixed free of charge.
• 24V797000 POWER TRAIN Fixed free of charge.
• 25V274000 ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING Fixed free of charge.

Showing 8 of 9. The rest are on NHTSA's site.

Own a 2021 Cadillac Escalade? What happened to yours?

Loading comments…

How this was worked out

Every year of the Cadillac Escalade 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.

Every year of the Cadillac Escalade →