Owners have filed 198 complaints on the Cadillac XTS, covering 2013–2019. The system named most often is Electrical System (65 reports). Worst years by volume: 2013, 2014, 2017; cleanest: 2019, 2015, 2016. 4 reports describe a crash, 4 a fire. On average the car was 5.1 years old when the problem happened.
What breaks on Cadillac XTS
Grouped by the system owners named — percentages are shares of all 198 XTS complaints. Open any row for the full reports in owners' own words.
Electrical System 65 Read
The contact owns a 2013 cadillac xts. While driving 10 mph, the contact noticed an abnormal odor and observed smoke coming from the dashboard. The contact was alerted by another driver that there were flames underneath the vehicle. The fire was extinguished by the fire department. The vehicle was towed to an…
The contact owned a 2013 Cadillac XTS. The contact stated that they parked their vehicle and approximately 5-10 minutes afterward the vehicle caught fire. The fire department arrived on the scene and extinguished the fire. A police report was filed. There were two vehicles and a bicycle nearby that caught on fire as a…
Purchased my 2017xt5 9/13/2017. While driving down a main street, I stopped for a light. When the light turned green, the car would not move. Could not turn it off nor could I try to put it in another gear. A kind gentleman, who was behind me, got out of his car and asked if I was okay. I told him the car would not…
Suspension 35 Read
2017 xts, rear suspension air bags fail while driving, stoped and even parked. While driving at highway speeds or just parked rear end will drop unexpectedly. The rear end will start to bounce with just the slightest uneven road. This cause the driver to have to fight to stay in control of car and slow down very fast.…
With no warning and only 45000 miles on car rear air suspension motor failed on expressway! I quickly noticed my steering anti red seemed out of control! I quickly pulled over not knowing what was wrong. My husband came to meet me and immediately asked what was in my trunk! I told him nothing he said my back tires…
Rear suspension not holding air. Rear suspension went flat while driving in highway. Had to pull over due to sudden rough ride
Steering 10 Read
Takata inflattors: had been having difficulty with the steering in my cadillac 2014 cadillac xts vsport for sometime back in 2017. It would become hard to steer at times when negotiating turns especially or when backing up and turning. Had reported to joe bullard cadillac service department on several occasions and…
On 4 separate occasions over the last few months the power steering has quit working while driving. Has happened while turning and while driving straight. Has happened while accelerating and while driving constant speed. After stopping, turning engine off and then restarting the problem goes away. I do get a message…
Numerous problems for a year have been: engine dies while driving, car totally dead with new battery, display partially black randomly or totally black along with radio display black, park assist is turned off. Headlights turn off and on by themselves; The latest is driving up a hill @ 25 mph, the steering wheel…
Service Brakes 8 Read
Brakes failed to completely stop the vehicle once when backing out of a parking spot and again when pulling into a parking spot
Short version: while driving approx. 55mph, rear brakes locked up. We pulled over into a parking lot and the brakes were smoking and a small fire appeared on each rear brake. A person who saw us pull into the parking lot ran over and put out the fire on each brake. Long version: approx. 2-weeks prior to the above…
While wearing my dress shoes for church today (size 13) I pivoted my foot from the accelerator toward the brake pedal and encountered a solid object that prevented me from actuating the brakes. As I pushed harder (presuming something was holding the brake pedal up) my shoe slipped off the solid object and slammed into…
Power Train 8 Read
Currently experiencing transmission shuddering — likely due to a torque converter issue. This was confirmed by an experienced mechanic at the dealership of Cadillac. After doing deep research I’ve learned is documented in Technical Service Bulletins such as TSB 18-NA-355 and 19-NA-121. The shuddering has caused the…
Xt5 has a transmission shudder, between 16mph and 50mph, with the aisin af50-8 transmission. Gm reports no problem with the aisin. Cadillac technician drove vehicle and did notice shudder. Next step, involve gm engineer. If he doesn't find an issue, I have to live with the shudder
In 2019, GM released service bulletin 18-NA-358 that confirms the company's knowledge of of defective parts in transmissions. I have a 2017 Cadillac XTS experiencing these symptoms and GM should be responsible for parts failing due to metal shavings. This needs to be a recall. The transmissions are not getting gas,…
Air Bags 7 Read
I was t boned hit by a truck on my side driver side air bags didn't go off and I now have a closed head injury because my head hit the window. Moving through a intersection 10 /15 miles m ph
The passenger present module in seat isn’t working with air bag. Per Cadillac passenger seat module is inside the seat and needs replaced
The contact owns a 2016 Cadillac XTS. The contact stated that the ABS warning light was illuminated. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic, who stated that the seat belt was the cause of the air bag warning light being illuminated. The vehicle was taken to another independent mechanic, who stated that the…
Wheels 7 Read
20-inch aluminum alloys wheels are all bent. I purchased this vehicle from a dealer near Lansing, Michigan. Upon test driving there were 2 wheels low on air. The dealer inspected the wheels and assured me they were fine. Once I got home I took the car to a local dealer who confirmed that all 4 rims were bent. This was…
I was forced onto the shoulder of the interstate by a vehicle that came into my lane. As I went onto the shoulder, I hit a pothole (there were several), and it split my factory rim in half, damaging my tire, also. It took me several days to find a reasonably priced replacement factory wheel as I could not afford $900…
The contact owns a 2014 cadillac xts. While having a tire replaced on the vehicle, the contact was informed that the rims were bent. The vehicle was taken to frank kent cadillac (3500 w loop 820 s, fort worth, tx 76116, (817) 385-1736) to be inspected, but the dealer was unable to provide a cause for the rim failure.…
Tires 5 Read
The tire tech at Walmart was attempting to remove the tire when the side wall just blew out on my Yokohama 245 /40 20 tire
Cracking on the white walls & splitting on the gold line wall I purchased the tires new (thinking) they was new with a warranty from discount tire witch they were new not used but already two years old & when I took them back to discount tire they said they was discontinued and they had took just a deduction off the…
My wife and I purchased a new 2013 cadillac xts a year ago and have had issues with the vogue tires and rims that came with the car. The tires are vogue m&s 245/40r20 99vxl and we believe they are a major safety problem. A few months ago the front tires had a major vibration issue so I took the car in for service and…
XTS 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | Air Bags,seats | 1 | — | |
| 2017 | Electrical System | — | 1 | |
| 2016 | Air Bags | 1 | — | |
| 2015 | Air Bags | — | — | |
| 2014 | Air Bags | 2 | 1 | |
| 2013 | Air Bags | — | 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 | 127 |
| Average complaints per series | 1.6 |
| Worst single series | 6 complaints |
| Average age at failure | 5.1 years |
A model average of 1.6 hides a worst series at 6. 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
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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 XTS?
By complaint volume, 2013, 2014, 2017 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 XTS years are the cleanest?
2019, 2015, 2016 have the fewest complaints on file. For recent years that can simply mean the cars are young.
How many complaints does the Cadillac XTS have?
198 owner complaints filed with NHTSA, covering 2013–2019. Of those, 4 describe a crash and 4 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.