Checking a Cadillac VIN free gives you recalls, owner complaints and safety records straight from NHTSA. Across the marque that is 13,239 complaints on 5,264 production runs, 6.4% of which involved a crash against 5.8% for the market as a whole.
Why a VIN tells you more than a model name
Every recall lookup you will find online answers at model level — «this SRX had a recall» — and stops there, which for Cadillac means collapsing 5,264 separate production runs and 13,239 complaints into a single yes or no. Characters 1–11 pin down the plant, the model year, the body and the engine instead.
Those 5,264 runs are nothing like each other: the average is 2.5 complaints apiece, but by model the rate swings 4.3× — from 4.7 on the SRX down to 1.1 on the CT4. The SRX tops both lists here — most complaints in total and the highest rate per run.
Cadillac models — where the reports concentrate
Sorted by complaints per production run — all 24 Cadillac models with enough records to rank. On Cadillac both orderings agree — the SRX leads by raw count and by rate alike.
| Model | Per run | Complaints | Runs | Crash-related |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cadillac SRX | 3,006 | 640 | 4.9% | |
| Cadillac DTS | 469 | 116 | 6.6% | |
| Cadillac Catera | 334 | 93 | 4.5% | |
| Cadillac Deville | 2,216 | 730 | 8.3% | |
| Cadillac CTS | 1,912 | 650 | 8.2% | |
| Cadillac STS | 342 | 129 | 11.1% | |
| Cadillac XLR | 76 | 32 | 3.9% | |
| Cadillac Allante | 174 | 80 | 3.4% | |
| Cadillac Escalade | 1,637 | 872 | 4.9% | |
| Cadillac Seville | 649 | 347 | 6.8% | |
| Cadillac XT5 | 297 | 180 | 5.7% | |
| Cadillac XTS | 200 | 129 | 2% | |
| Cadillac Lyriq | 160 | 109 | 14.4% | |
| Cadillac Vistiq | 22 | 15 | 0% | |
| Cadillac Eldorado | 160 | 117 | 3.1% | |
| Cadillac Escalade ESV | 512 | 362 | 4.9% | |
| Cadillac Fleetwood | 132 | 92 | 12.1% | |
| Cadillac XT6 | 107 | 79 | 1.9% | |
| Cadillac ATS | 365 | 275 | 4.9% | |
| Cadillac XT4 | 105 | 82 | 3.8% | |
| Cadillac CT5 | 112 | 93 | 11.6% | |
| Cadillac CT6 | 75 | 61 | 6.7% | |
| Cadillac Brougham | 31 | 29 | 19.4% | |
| Cadillac CT4 | 32 | 30 | 6.3% |
How serious were they
Of the 13,239 reports on the Cadillac, 6.4% involved a crash against 5.8% across all vehicles, above the norm.
| Outcome | Cadillac | All vehicles |
|---|---|---|
| Complaints filed | 13,239 | 1,116,631 |
| Involved a crash | 852 (6.4%) | 64,221 (5.8%) |
| Involved a fire | 300 (2.3%) | 26,977 (2.4%) |
| Injuries reported | 888 | 58,047 |
| Deaths reported | 54 | 2,728 |
Severity tracks close to the all-vehicle average.
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How this check works
The file behind this page holds 1,116,631 complaints filed with NHTSA between 1981 and 2026, across 299,142 production runs. The Cadillac share of that is 13,239 complaints over 5,264 runs, 1.2% of everything on record.
Grouping those 5,264 runs by prefix is the whole point. Counted at brand level Cadillac averages 2.5 complaints per run, yet by model the rate runs from 4.7 on the SRX to 1.1 on the CT4 — a 4.3× spread that a single Cadillac figure erases. We publish the eleven characters in full — they identify a batch, not a car, since the six-digit serial number naming the individual vehicle is not part of them.
Everything above is built from those 13,239 safety records and nothing else, so title brands, odometer readings, auction history and insurance write-offs are not in it — they live in DMV and insurer databases rather than NHTSA's, and no free tool has them, this one included.
Frequently asked questions
How do I check a Cadillac VIN for free?
Enter the 17 characters above. We look up its production run against 13,239 NHTSA complaint records for Cadillac vehicles and return recalls, reported faults and severity. Free, no signup.
What does a Cadillac VIN tell you?
Characters 1–3 identify the manufacturer and country, 4–8 the model, body and engine, 10 the model year and 11 the assembly plant. Together the first eleven pin down one production run — which is what makes a per-run comparison possible.
Which Cadillac model has the most complaints?
Per production run, the SRX leads at 4.7 complaints per run. The full table above ranks every Cadillac model this way.
Does a free Cadillac check cover accident history?
Not the title and insurance side — that lives with state DMVs and insurers. What is federal and free is what you see here: 13,239 Cadillac complaints and every recall campaign, matched to the exact production run rather than to the model name, including the 6.4% of reports where an accident did occur.
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