Owners have filed 31 complaints on the Cadillac Brougham, covering 1987–1992. The system named most often is Vehicle Speed Control (4 reports). Worst years by volume: 1990, 1987, 1991; cleanest: 1988, 1989, 1992. 6 reports describe a crash, 3 a fire, 1 a death. On average the car was 7.3 years old when the problem happened.
What breaks on Cadillac Brougham
Grouped by the system owners named — percentages are shares of all 31 Brougham complaints. Open any row for the full reports in owners' own words.
Vehicle Speed Control 4 Read
Vehicle suddenly accelerated while brakes were being applied, resulting in an accident. Tt
Vehicle was in reverse, had foot on brake pedal, vehicle went into open throttle position speed unknow impact 6:00 position
Whenever taking foot off gas pedal after coming to a stop or even slowing down, vehicle acclerates forward. Has not contacted dealer
Seat Belts 4 Read
Seat belts did not work when customer was in accident. Tt
Design of shoulder belts that attach to doors are dangerous to passenger's due to probability of passenger being ejected from vehicle
The front seat head restraint not high enough. Tt
Electrical System 4 Read
An electrical short in the engine, caused the engine to catch on fire while driving the vehicle. Please describe
The car was running very odd right before I stopped at a store. After killing the ignition the car started smoking after any about a min or less the front of the car was fully involved with flames. The fire department was dispatched and came and extinguished the fire. Everything from the firewall forward was burnt.…
I purchased a new 1992 4 door cadillac brougham. At present the car has 45,000 miles. All 4 drs automatically lock when the gear shift is engaged. Problem: starting around mid-december, 2005 and through march 30, 2006, all 4 drs automatically unlocked while the car was in motion. This happened about 4-5 times in this…
Service Brakes 3 Read
During brake application noted hesitation before computer engages causing vehicle to float. Tt upon impact the shoulder straps snapped causing conusmer to suffer injuries
ABS: brakes locked up, caused an accident, hit guardrail during rainy weather. Tt
No summary
Structure 3 Read
The power door locks do not lock or unlock when vehicle is put in gear because a piece of metal broke off the latch. Driver's side latch was replaced on 8/2/97 and passenger's side replaced on 8/11/97. *ak consumer states that the front seat belts are mounted in doors, if doors unlatch, there is no restraint of…
Power door lock assemblies failed, causing doors to stick in locked position/unable to exit vehicle
Main frame had disintegrated, causing the rear axle to break off, resulting in loss of control
Power Train 2 Read
Just driving down the road ( about 40 mph ) I heard what sounded like the muffler falling off the car with a bang and the car moving oddly and hearing a metal noise. I found it to be the very rear crossmenber ( the one before the rear bumper ) had fallen off. I have done welding for over thirty years this was not…
Transmission defective
Engine And Engine Cooling 2 Read
Was burning oil every 200 miles, took into dealer who said engine needed to be replaced
A bolt in the cylinder head broke off, dealer removed cylinder head to replace bolt. Tt
Steering 2 Read
A/c compressor failed
While coming out of a parking space vehicle lost complete steering control. Dealer/manufacturer was contacted
Brougham years to avoid — and the clean ones
Complaints per model year. More reports usually means more cars on the road as well as more trouble, so read the crash and fire columns alongside the count.
| Model year | Complaints | Top system | Crashes | Fires |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1992 | Electrical System | 2 | — | |
| 1991 | Latches/locks/linkages | — | — | |
| 1990 | Engine And Engine Cooling | 3 | 1 | |
| 1989 | Electrical System | — | — | |
| 1988 | Seat Belts | — | — | |
| 1987 | Electrical System | 1 | 2 |
The same model year, different builds
Every complaint carries the first 11 characters of the VIN — plant, year, body and engine. That is a production series, and complaints are spread across them very unevenly.
| Measure | Value |
|---|---|
| Distinct production series | 29 |
| Average complaints per series | 1.1 |
| Worst single series | 2 complaints |
| Average age at failure | 7.3 years |
A model average of 1.1 hides a worst series at 2. Enter a VIN above to see the numbers for that exact build instead of the model as a whole.
Owners reported these. Find out if yours is one of them.
- Complaints matched to the exact production run, not just the model
- What the car is worth given what tends to fail on it
- The original window sticker and factory options
- Full research report as a PDF for the pre-purchase inspection
- No ads, on every page
- No ads, no tracking — and much more
How we count
Every figure here comes from complaints owners filed with NHTSA — 1,100,006 of them, covering 1,982 models built between 1981 and 2026.
A complaint is an unverified report: someone wrote down what happened to their car. It is not a confirmed defect and not a recall. What makes the volume useful is the pattern — when thousands of owners of the same build describe the same failure, that is a signal no marketing brochure will give you.
Two things we do that the source does not. First, we compute the age of the car at the moment of failure from the incident date and the model year. Second, we group complaints by the first 11 characters of the VIN — the production series — so a bad plant run does not disappear into a model-wide average.
Frequently asked questions
What are the worst years for the Brougham?
By complaint volume, 1990, 1987, 1991 drew the most owner reports. Bear in mind that popular years put more cars on the road, so check the crash and fire columns too.
Which Brougham years are the cleanest?
1988, 1989, 1992 have the fewest complaints on file. For recent years that can simply mean the cars are young.
How many complaints does the Cadillac Brougham have?
31 owner complaints filed with NHTSA, covering 1987–1992. Of those, 6 describe a crash and 3 a fire.
Are these complaints verified?
No. They are unverified reports from owners. NHTSA publishes them as filed and investigates only a fraction. The value is in the pattern, not in any single report.
Can I check complaints for one specific car?
Yes — enter its VIN above. We match the first 11 characters, which identify the plant, year, body and engine, so you get complaints on that exact production series rather than the whole model.