AutoUtility currently tracks 21 official NHTSA owner defect complaints for the 2018 Cadillac ATS. Powertrain & Transmission issues are the most frequently reported category, appearing in 6 complaints (28.6% of submitted records). Among these NHTSA complaint records, 1 filing cites a crash, 1 reports one or more injuries.

Key Problem Findings
  • Total NHTSA Complaints: 21 reports
  • #1 Reported Problem Area: Powertrain & Transmission (6 reports • 28.6% of submitted complaints)
  • Secondary Problem Areas: Electrical System (3), Steering System (3)
  • Crash-Citing Complaints: 1 filings
  • Fire-Citing Complaints: 0 filings
  • Complaints Reporting Injuries / Fatalities: 1 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
21
Submitted to NHTSA ODI
Crash-Citing Complaints
1
Filings citing a collision
Fire-Citing Complaints
0
Filings citing smoke or fire
Complaints Reporting Injuries
1
Filings citing one or more injuries
Complaints Reporting Fatalities
0
Consumer filings citing fatalities

Most Reported Problems for 2018 Cadillac ATS

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

#1 Problem Area 28.6% of complaints

Powertrain & Transmission

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

Electrical System

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

Steering System

3 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.
✓ 0 crashes or fires cited
#4 Problem Area 9.5% of complaints

Fuel & Propulsion System

2 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.
✓ 0 crashes or fires cited
#5 Problem Area 9.5% of complaints

Air Bags & Restraints

2 owner complaints submitted to NHTSA ODI
⚠️ 1 crash report 🩹 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 2018 Cadillac ATS

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

Body & Structure NHTSA ODI ID: #11737210
Filed: 05/12/2026

"Both side mirrors failed. Internal components corroded, one almost fell off when driving, the other later became completely detached. Failed parts that could have caused a major safety issue if they were to fail during operation."

Incident Date: 04/25/2026 • Raw NHTSA Component: STRUCTURE
Electrical System NHTSA ODI ID: #11706515
Filed: 12/22/2025

"The contact owns a 2018 Cadillac ATS. The contact stated that the check engine warning light was illuminated. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic, where it was diagnosed, and the mechanic determined that the F-module, Part Number: 86815664, used to control the engine Auto START/STOP,..."

Incident Date: 11/30/2025 • Raw NHTSA Component: ELECTRICAL SYSTEM
Powertrain & Transmission NHTSA ODI ID: #11672691
Filed: 07/11/2025

"Rear differential. This part will be available after removal. This put me at risk of potentially locking up while driving. According to the dealership, Faulkner Cadillac, "found rear differential bearings damaged, causing noise in the rear end. The Rear Differential will need replaced." There were..."

Incident Date: 06/22/2025 • Raw NHTSA Component: POWER TRAIN
Steering System NHTSA ODI ID: #11671972
Filed: 07/08/2025

"My vehicle recently started experiencing an issue where the power steering would randomly cut out while I was driving. If I pulled over and shut the car off and then turned it back on the power steering would come back. But sometimes I would have to do this multiple times in a single drive just to..."

Incident Date: 05/15/2025 • Raw NHTSA Component: STEERING
Steering System NHTSA ODI ID: #11637598
Filed: 01/22/2025

"The power steering will randomly stop working while driving! We have had it in the shop 3 times and they can't find anything! We have replaced alternator, battery and it still isn't fixed! I seen u had a recall on the 16, 17, and some 18s for this issue! We have always bought GMs and are very..."

Incident Date: 11/18/2024 • Raw NHTSA Component: STEERING
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 35 3 3 View 2016 Problems →
2017 Cadillac ATS 33 1 2 View 2017 Problems →
2018 Cadillac ATS Current Page 21 1 2 Current
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 2018 Cadillac ATS

Complete distribution of consumer defect reports across all 12 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 5 0 0 0 0
Steering NHTSA category: STEERING 3 0 0 0 0
Air Bags NHTSA category: AIR BAGS 2 1 0 1 0
Electrical System NHTSA category: ELECTRICAL SYSTEM 2 0 0 0 0
EXTERIOR LIGHTING 2 0 0 0 0
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,EQUIPMENT,UNKNOWN OR OTHER 1 0 0 0 0
Fuel & Propulsion System NHTSA category: FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM 1 0 0 0 0
POWER TRAIN,ENGINE,FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM 1 0 0 0 0
Structure & Body NHTSA category: STRUCTURE 1 0 0 0 0
Suspension NHTSA category: SUSPENSION 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
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 (21). 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.
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.