2005 Cadillac STS
This year drew an ordinary 101 complaints for a Cadillac STS — the model's median is 50. What they were about is the unusual part: 21.8% of them mention continued, against 8% across the model's other years.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 101 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 50 |
| Involving a crash | 13 |
| Involving a fire | 4 |
| Recalls | 3 |
| EPA combined | 18 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- continued — 21.8% of this year's complaints, against 8% across the model's other years (2.7×). Owners wrote it as: continued, after vehicle, identify, loose.
- per — 15.8% of this year's complaints, against 5% across the model's other years (3.2×). Owners wrote it as: per, person, dic, beam.
- driving car — 7.9% of this year's complaints, against 1.4% across the model's other years (5.6×). Owners wrote it as: driving car, other cars, car out, see why.
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 STATED AFTER THE VEHICLE WAS LEFT PARKED FOR FIVE DAYS OR LONGER THE BATTERY NEEDED RECHARGED. THE FIRST TIME THE VEHICLE WAS TOWED TO A DEALERSHIP. AFTER THE VEHICLE WAS INSPECTED, THE DEALER WAS UNABLE TO IDENTIFY WHAT CAUSED THE BATTERY TO LOO…
DURING BRAKE APPLICATION, HE EXPERIENCED UNINTENDED VEHICLE ACCELERATION. AS A CONSEQUENCE HE CRASHED INTO A TREE. THE VEHICLE WAS TAKEN TO THE DEALERSHIP, BUT THE TECHNICIANS COULD NOT IDENTIFY THE CAUSE OF THE FAILURE. THE FAILURE MILEAGE WAS 74,000.
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 07V589000 POWER TRAIN Fixed free of charge.
- 06V020000 FUEL SYSTEM, GASOLINE Fixed free of charge.
- 06V125000 SUSPENSION
How this was worked out
Every year of the Cadillac STS 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 2005 Cadillac STS? What happened to yours?
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