AutoUtility currently tracks 35 official NHTSA owner defect complaints for the 2016 Cadillac ATS. Powertrain & Transmission issues are the most frequently reported category, appearing in 11 complaints (31.4% of submitted records). Among these NHTSA complaint records, 3 filings cite a crash, 1 cites a fire, 4 report one or more injuries.

Key Problem Findings
  • • Total NHTSA Complaints: 35 reports
  • • #1 Reported Problem Area: Powertrain & Transmission (11 reports • 31.4% of submitted complaints)
  • • Secondary Problem Areas: Electrical System (7), Air Bags & Restraints (5)
  • • Crash-Citing Complaints: 3 filings
  • • Fire-Citing Complaints: 1 filings
  • • Complaints Reporting Injuries / Fatalities: 4 injury filings • 0 fatality filings
Reporting Methodology: Statistics describe unverified consumer submissions voluntarily filed with NHTSA. Complaint volume is not normalized for vehicle sales volume or miles driven. Multiple components can be cited within a single owner complaint submission.
Total Complaints
35
Submitted to NHTSA ODI
Crash-Citing Complaints
3
Filings citing a collision
Fire-Citing Complaints
1
Filings citing smoke or fire
Complaints Reporting Injuries
4
Filings citing one or more injuries
Complaints Reporting Fatalities
0
Consumer filings citing fatalities

Most Reported Problems for 2016 Cadillac ATS

Top automotive subsystem defect categories ranked by unique owner complaint volume in federal records

#1 Problem Area 31.4% of complaints

Powertrain & Transmission

11 owner complaints submitted to NHTSA ODI
⚠️ 1 crash report 🩹 1 injury report entry
#2 Problem Area 20% of complaints

Electrical System

7 owner complaints submitted to NHTSA ODI
🔥 1 fire report
#3 Problem Area 14.3% of complaints

Air Bags & Restraints

5 owner complaints submitted to NHTSA ODI
⚠️ NHTSA Recall Context

NHTSA records list 1 official safety recall campaign for this model year involving the same broad component area:

*Component overlap means an official recall exists for the same broad vehicle system. It does not establish that an individual owner complaint was caused by, covered by, or resolved through that recall.
⚠️ 1 crash report 🩹 2 injury report entries
#4 Problem Area 14.3% of complaints

Wheels & Tires

5 owner complaints submitted to NHTSA ODI
✓ 0 crashes or fires cited
#5 Problem Area 14.3% of complaints

Engine & Cooling

5 owner complaints submitted to NHTSA ODI
🩹 1 injury report entry
Domain Share Note: Share percentage represents the proportion of unique complaint filings referencing each vehicle system. Because single complaints may cite multiple systems (such as engine and electrical simultaneously), domain percentages represent individual category incidence and may sum to over 100%.

Recent NHTSA Owner Reports for 2016 Cadillac ATS

Representative defect filings submitted by owners to the NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation

Powertrain & Transmission NHTSA ODI ID: #11744660
Filed: 06/17/2026

"NHTSA CAMPAIGN NUMBER: 15V558000 Rear Defogger Coil Antenna Module may Overheat If the coil antenna generates excessive heat, not sure what is happening but car does seem to overheat off and on especially when radio is turned on"

Incident Date: 12/31/1969 • Raw NHTSA Component: POWER TRAIN,ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,UNKNOWN OR OTHER
Air Bags & Restraints NHTSA ODI ID: #11744659
Filed: 06/17/2026

"Air bag dashboard light is on"

Incident Date: 06/03/2026 • Raw NHTSA Component: AIR BAGS
Powertrain & Transmission NHTSA ODI ID: #11735357
Filed: 05/03/2026

"On 3rd differential in 2 years. Dealer won’t fix without us paying ANOTHER $4,700. There is NO way a differential goes 3 times in 2 years. Something is wrong. Help!!"

Incident Date: 04/13/2026 • Raw NHTSA Component: POWER TRAIN
Steering System NHTSA ODI ID: #11701363
Filed: 11/24/2025

"My 2016 Cadillac ATS Coupe has a serious repeating safety defect. The vehicle violently shakes, vibrates, and becomes unstable while driving. This happened TWICE. Both times the rear bolts came out except one. Both mechanics who inspected it said they have NEVER seen this before. The first time, I..."

Incident Date: 11/02/2025 • Raw NHTSA Component: STEERING,SUSPENSION,WHEELS
Air Bags & Restraints NHTSA ODI ID: #11638325
Filed: 01/24/2025

"The contact owns a 2016 Cadillac ATS. The contact stated that the message "Service Air Bag" was displayed, and the passenger's side seat belt warning light was illuminated. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The dealer and the manufacturer were not notified of the failure. The failure..."

Incident Date: 08/24/2024 • Raw NHTSA Component: AIR BAGS
Consumer Narrative Notice: Excerpts are sanitized text descriptions submitted by vehicle owners to the federal ODI database. They reflect the reporting consumer's observations at the time of filing and have not been independently confirmed by vehicle manufacturers or government investigators.

Complaint History for Cadillac ATS

Reported defect complaint volume across sibling model years (2015–2019)

Model Year NHTSA Complaints Crash Reports Safety Recalls Detailed Report
2015 Cadillac ATS 29 1 4 View 2015 Problems →
2016 Cadillac ATS Current Page 35 3 3 Current
2017 Cadillac ATS 33 1 2 View 2017 Problems →
2018 Cadillac ATS 21 1 2 View 2018 Problems →
2019 Cadillac ATS 2 0 0 View 2019 Problems →
Comparative Disclaimer: Complaint totals are unadjusted historical counts and are not normalized for vehicles sold, active fleet size, or total road mileage. Newer model years naturally have had less calendar exposure time to accumulate owner filings.

Detailed NHTSA Component Breakdown for 2016 Cadillac ATS

Complete distribution of consumer defect reports across all 18 granular NHTSA system and subsystem classifications

Vehicle Component / System Total Complaints Crash Reports Fire Reports Reported Injury Entries Reported Fatality Entries
Powertrain NHTSA category: POWER TRAIN 7 0 0 0 0
Air Bags NHTSA category: AIR BAGS 5 1 0 2 0
Steering NHTSA category: STEERING 3 1 0 1 0
Electrical System NHTSA category: ELECTRICAL SYSTEM 2 0 0 0 0
Engine NHTSA category: ENGINE 2 0 0 0 0
POWER TRAIN,ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,ENGINE 2 0 0 0 0
Visibility & Wipers NHTSA category: VISIBILITY/WIPER 2 0 0 0 0
Wheels & Hubs NHTSA category: WHEELS 2 0 0 0 0
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM,BACK OVER PREVENTION 1 0 0 0 0
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,SEATS 1 0 1 0 0
Engine & Cooling NHTSA category: ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING 1 0 0 1 0
POWER TRAIN,ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,UNKNOWN OR OTHER 1 0 0 0 0
POWER TRAIN,VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL 1 1 0 1 0
Service Brakes NHTSA category: SERVICE BRAKES 1 0 0 0 0
STEERING,SUSPENSION,WHEELS 1 0 0 0 0
Tires NHTSA category: TIRES 1 0 0 0 0
Other / Uncategorized NHTSA category: UNKNOWN OR OTHER 1 0 0 0 0
VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,WHEELS,SERVICE BRAKES 1 0 0 0 0
Data Attribution & Reporting Methodology: Complaints are unverified voluntary submissions to the NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation (ODI). Because multiple vehicle components can be cited within a single owner complaint submission, component-level rollups may sum to more than the unique complaint count (35). Injury and fatality entries in the detailed table reflect raw values entered by reporting consumers across individual submissions; they are not deduplicated casualty statistics and may include duplicate or unverified entries. Complaint volume is not normalized for sales volume or vehicle mileage and does not represent an audited component failure rate.

Related Official Reports for 2016 Cadillac ATS

Cross-reference safety recalls, crash test safety ratings, and EPA fuel economy for this model year

Official US Government Data Provenance

The complaint records on this page are retrieved directly from the NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) public database.

Local Production Store Compiled: August 2026 • Deterministic Audited Dataset • Zero Dynamic External API Runtime Latency.