10.0

really awful
Crashes / Fires:
1 / 3
Injuries / Deaths:
1 / 0
Average Mileage:
17,278 miles

About These NHTSA Complaints:

This data is from the NHTSA — the US gov't agency tasked with vehicle safety. Complaints are spread across multiple & redundant categories, & are not organized by problem.

So how do you find out what problems are occurring? For this NHTSA complaint data, the only way is to read through the comments below. Any duplicates or errors? It's not us.

2011 Cadillac CTS electrical problems

electrical problem

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2011 Cadillac CTS Owner Comments

problem #16

Oct 022022

CTS

  • miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

Heated seat when turned on caught on fire, burned me & the seat has burned leather. No warnings or lamps came on. It is available for inspection upon request.

- Midland, MI, USA

problem #15

Dec 052019

CTS

  • 45,000 miles
After a 45 minute drive and returning home I parked my car on the street in front of my home. The car drove perfectly normal as always and there was no indication of anything wrong with the car. There were no warning lights or anything else to indicate a problem with the car. I entered my house and as I walked pasted my kitchen window I could see flames coming out from under the hood on the driver side of the vehicle it was only a couple of minutes since from the time I entered my house. Within 5 minutes the entire car was engulfed with flames. After the fire department extinguished then fire I asked what could have cause the fire. I was told it was probably an electrical or a fuel malfunction.

- Levittown, NY, USA

problem #14

Nov 112018

CTS

  • 60,600 miles
I purchased a new 2011 Cadillac cts4 in August 2012 from herb chambers Cadillac in lynnfield MA. Since that time, I have driven the car approximately 60,000 miles. This problem affects virtually all (tens of thousands!) Cadillac Cts and srx vehicles built since 2008. After driving the car for a few months, I noticed that condensation appeared in the headlight assemblies after driving in or parking in the rain. The condensation would naturally evaporate during evaporate after the rain stopped. Over time, the low beams became dimmer and dimmer. They have become so dim that driving in other than well-lit areas is dangerous. I contacted the mike anagnos, service manager at herb chambers Cadillac. I presented the problem to him. Without inspecting the car, he stated that this was a common problem and that the headlights and headlight wiring harness needed to be replaced. He stated the replacement of two headlights cost would be $1400. He explained that the problem was caused by water ingress to the headlight assembly causing the headlight connectors to corrode and 'melt'. he offered no further explanation as to why two headlights would cost approximately 10% of the car's bluebook value. I asked him if the corroded wiring that melted presented a fire hazard. He did not reply. I believe that this presents a risk of under-hood fire. If you do an internet search on Cts or srx dim headlights, you will find hundreds of complaints about this problem and the outrageous cost to repair. See also cadillacforum.com and justanswers.com my research indicated that when Cadillac repairs these vehicles, they use the same parts that were used when the car was built...virtually guaranteeing that the problem will present itself again. This car is a danger to drive at night and a fire risk from the 'melted' wiring harness.

- Reading, MA, USA

problem #13

Feb 012016

CTS

  • 55,000 miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

The contact owns a 2011 Cadillac Cts. While the vehicle was in park, the front driver side door failed to open electronically from the inside. The contact had to manually pull a lever to open the door in order to exit the vehicle. The vehicle was taken to a dealer, but the contact was unsure about what part needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 55,000.

- Liverpool, PA, USA

problem #12

Aug 142014

CTS 6-cyl

  • miles
Letter from senator markey on behalf of constituent re 2011 Cadillac Cts recall notice. The consumer received an ignition recall notice in the summer of 2014. The consumer assumed the dealer was going to replace the faulty ignition switch. However, they only removed the other keys from his key ring.

- Worcester, MA, USA

problem #11

Mar 042015

CTS 6-cyl

  • 65,100 miles
My Cts was in a non GM authorized mechanics shop having oil change and brakes done. While working in the car I asked to have them look at my rear assist camera. The camera and wiring to the camera were actually smoldering at this point. My mechanic also told me that the transfer case was leaking and that the central drive shaft was bad. My mechanic removed the smoldering rear assist camera, put the Cts back together and I drove it over to the Cadillac dealership to have the warranty work done on transfer case and drive shaft. My mechanic also replaced the smoldering camera and gave it to me in a bubble wrapped bag along with wire harness. You can see where fire occurred on the camera and the smoldering wires. The service manager at crown Cadillac gave me the product allegation phone number which I called and got a file number. I informed GM about the fire/smoldering rear assist camera and was told by [xxx] at the product allegation department that since the removal of the camera was not done by an authorized GM dealer that they would not cover the camera. I asked her if it made sense to leave a product in the car that was on fire and smoldering? this product could have been smoldering for 30 days when the rear assist camera quit working. My concern is this, the camera had been smoldering for some time. The camera was still smoldering and at one point obviously was in flames. I believe we dodged a bullet that the car did not erupt in flames and destroyed our 2000 corvette and F150 plus the house itself as we have an attached garage. The Cts has other intermittent electrical issues such as seat heaters sometime work and sometimes they don't. the car when you turn it off will continue to run. Again intermittently. Information redacted pursuant to the Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6).

- Alto, MI, USA

problem #10

Nov 032014

CTS 6-cyl

  • miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

2011 Cadillac Cts. Consumer writes in regards to a safety recall. The consumer stated the recall remedy, was nothing more than a band-aid, to cover-up a much more serious problem.

- Lake Worth, FL, USA

problem #9

Nov 032014

CTS

  • miles
2011 Cadillac Cts. Consumer writes in regards to GM recall# 14872.* ld consumer writes additional correspondence related to a recall. The dealer informed the consumer, the parts were not available. The consumer called another dealer and they were able to do the repairs. Updated 11/05/14

- Spartanburg, SC, USA

problem #8

Mar 232014

CTS

  • miles
2011 Cadillac Cts. Consumer writes in regards to ignition recall notice. The consumer was involved in an accident, and he would like to know, if the recall had anything to do with it.

- Locust Grove, GA, USA

problem #7

Sep 012014

CTS

  • miles
The contact owns a 2011 Cadillac Cts. The contact received a recall notification for NHTSA campaign number: 14V341000 (service brakes, hydraulic) and NHTSA campaign number: 14V394000 (electrical system). The parts needed to repair the vehicle were unavailable. The contact stated that the manufacturer exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The manufacturer was not notified of the issue. The contact had not experienced a failure.

- Richardson, TX, USA

problem #6

Sep 232014

CTS

  • miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

The contact owns a 2011 Cadillac Cts. The contact received a recall notification for NHTSA campaign number: 14V394000 (electrical system); however, the part needed to repair the vehicle was unavailable. The manufacturer was not notified. The contact had not experienced a failure.

- Lakewood, CA, USA

problem #5

Sep 222014

CTS 6-cyl

  • miles
I don"T own the vehicle any longer - please stop sending notices to me -

- Garden City, MI, USA

problem #4

Aug 162014

CTS

  • 29,000 miles
The contact owns a 2011 Cadillac Cts. While driving approximately 5 mph and making a right turn, the contact heard an abnormal noise coming from the vehicle. On another occasion, while driving 15 mph, the speedometer displayed 65 mph. In addition, while attempting to make a U-turn, the vehicle failed to accelerate and rolled away. The vehicle was towed to a dealer for diagnostic testing. The technician replaced the rear drive shaft center joint bolt. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 29,000.

- Chesterfield , MO, USA

problem #3

Mar 162012

CTS

  • 2,000 miles
Due to the recent GM problems with ignition switch I wanted to file this complaint on my 2011 Cadillac Cts as I am not hearing my car mentioned for recall. Twice within the first couple months of owning the Cts I started to accelerate into traffic from a stopped position and the car completely shut off like a light switch flipping. No sound was made but simply everything lost all power and forced me to coast into traffic...twice!! I threw the car into neutral to try and restart it with no luck. It wouldn't even turnover. I had to come to a full stop (coasting to side of road after having traffic fly by me on a 3 lane highway) and then the car would restart like nothing happened. I took the Cts to ken dixon Chevy/Cadillac (now waldorf Cadillac) in waldorf, md and also to capitol Cadillac in greenbelt, md. The techs told me the car showed no errors on the computer and also they could find no fault on the car and returned it to me. One tech did mention something about a heavy keychain could cause this. I passed him my keys and he said that my keys certainly shouldn't cause that due to the light weight. I am still driving the car and this latest news from GM has me very scared to drive this car in Washington, DC traffic and put me and my family at daily risk. I posted this problem on the edmunds.com Cadillac Cts car forum in March of 2012. No action was taken by GM customer service.

- Brandywine, MD, USA

problem #2

Oct 252012

CTS 6-cyl

  • 18,000 miles
On multiple occasions my rear view camera which is supposed to engage when the car is in reverse, has failed to come on thus creating a blind back-up situation. The dealer said they couldn't find anything wrong yet the problem continues at least once a month. The dealer did say other customers have had the same problem.

- Alexandria, VA, USA

problem #1

Jan 162012

CTS 6-cyl

  • 1,747 miles
The contact owns a 2011 Cadillac Cts. While driving approximately 60 mph with the radio in activation, the engine stalled without warning. During the engine failure, the radio remained in operation. The contact was able to restart the engine after two attempts. The vehicle was taken to an authorized dealer for diagnosis where the technician was unable to locate the problem. The manufacturer was notified of the defect. The approximate failure mileage was 1,747. Updated 02/15/12 the consumer stated all power to the dashboard, steering and brakes ceased during the failure. The service technician was unable to determined the cause of the stalling, but a software download had been performed that would probably take care of the problem. Updated 02/24/12 the consumer has since traded the vehicle. Updated 03/09/12

- Dix Hills, NY, USA

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