AutoUtility currently tracks 47 official NHTSA owner defect complaints for the 2015 Cadillac CTS. Powertrain & Transmission issues are the most frequently reported category, appearing in 19 complaints (40.4% of submitted records). Among these NHTSA complaint records, 2 filings cite a crash, 2 cite a fire.

Key Problem Findings
  • Total NHTSA Complaints: 47 reports
  • #1 Reported Problem Area: Powertrain & Transmission (19 reports • 40.4% of submitted complaints)
  • Secondary Problem Areas: Brakes & Traction Control (9), Engine & Cooling (5)
  • Crash-Citing Complaints: 2 filings
  • Fire-Citing Complaints: 2 filings
  • Complaints Reporting Injuries / Fatalities: 0 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
47
Submitted to NHTSA ODI
Crash-Citing Complaints
2
Filings citing a collision
Fire-Citing Complaints
2
Filings citing smoke or fire
Complaints Reporting Injuries
0
Filings citing one or more injuries
Complaints Reporting Fatalities
0
Consumer filings citing fatalities

Most Reported Problems for 2015 Cadillac CTS

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

#1 Problem Area 40.4% of complaints

Powertrain & Transmission

19 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
#2 Problem Area 19.1% of complaints

Brakes & Traction Control

9 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.
⚠️ 2 crash reports
#3 Problem Area 10.6% of complaints

Engine & Cooling

5 owner complaints submitted to NHTSA ODI
✓ 0 crashes or fires cited
#4 Problem Area 10.6% of complaints

Suspension

5 owner complaints submitted to NHTSA ODI
✓ 0 crashes or fires cited
#5 Problem Area 10.6% of complaints

Electrical System

5 owner complaints submitted to NHTSA ODI
🔥 1 fire report
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 2015 Cadillac CTS

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

Brakes & Traction Control NHTSA ODI ID: #11676097
Filed: 07/25/2025

"The contact owns a 2015 Cadillac CTS. The contact stated that while driving at undisclosed speeds, there was a loud grinding and squeaking sounds coming from the vehicle. Additionally, there was a high-pitched sound coming from the vehicle. The contact also stated that the water pump was..."

Incident Date: 06/01/2023 • Raw NHTSA Component: SUSPENSION,SERVICE BRAKES,ENGINE
Powertrain & Transmission NHTSA ODI ID: #11673962
Filed: 07/16/2025

"The contact owns a 2015 Cadillac CTS. The contact stated while driving 65 MPH, the vehicle shuddered and made an abnormally loud sound. The contact exited the highway and drove to the nearest mechanic shop at a gas station. The mechanic diagnosed the vehicle and determined that the rear..."

Incident Date: 07/14/2025 • Raw NHTSA Component: POWER TRAIN
Steering System NHTSA ODI ID: #11658541
Filed: 05/02/2025

"The contact owns a 2015 Cadillac CTS. The contact stated that occasionally while driving at various slow speeds, the message "Driver Assist Unavailable" and the steering wheel was abnormally firm, requiring excess effort to drive the vehicle until the power steering functionality returned. There..."

Incident Date: 12/31/2024 • Raw NHTSA Component: STEERING
Other / Miscellaneous NHTSA ODI ID: #11620250
Filed: 10/16/2024

"The car was taken to Hutchinson dealership in Macon Georgia, to have the oil changed and when I went to pick up the car the Cue Screen was cracked. I asked being the car was in their possession they should be liable for the repairs. They told me that there was nothing they can do because there was..."

Incident Date: 11/16/2021 • Raw NHTSA Component: EQUIPMENT
Powertrain & Transmission NHTSA ODI ID: #11618015
Filed: 10/04/2024

"The contact owns a 2015 Cadillac CTS. The contact stated that there was an abnormal loud clunking sound coming from the rear end of the vehicle while the vehicle was shifting into gears. The vehicle was taken to AMCO Transmissions & Total Car Care, where it was diagnosed that the rear differential..."

Incident Date: 08/04/2024 • Raw NHTSA Component: POWER TRAIN
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 CTS

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

Model Year NHTSA Complaints Crash Reports Safety Recalls Detailed Report
2015 Cadillac CTS Current Page 47 2 4 Current
2016 Cadillac CTS 31 0 4 View 2016 Problems →
2017 Cadillac CTS 27 1 2 View 2017 Problems →
2018 Cadillac CTS 8 1 2 View 2018 Problems →
2019 Cadillac CTS 10 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 2015 Cadillac CTS

Complete distribution of consumer defect reports across all 23 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 16 0 0 0 0
Other / Uncategorized NHTSA category: UNKNOWN OR OTHER 5 0 0 0 0
Electrical System NHTSA category: ELECTRICAL SYSTEM 3 0 0 0 0
Equipment & Accessories NHTSA category: EQUIPMENT 2 0 0 0 0
Suspension NHTSA category: SUSPENSION 2 0 0 0 0
VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,SERVICE BRAKES 2 2 0 0 0
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,STRUCTURE 1 0 1 0 0
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL 1 0 0 0 0
Engine & Cooling NHTSA category: ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING 1 0 0 0 0
EXTERIOR LIGHTING,UNKNOWN OR OTHER 1 0 0 0 0
POWER TRAIN,SERVICE BRAKES,ENGINE 1 0 0 0 0
Seats & Restraints NHTSA category: SEATS 1 0 1 0 0
Service Brakes NHTSA category: SERVICE BRAKES 1 0 0 0 0
Service Brakes NHTSA category: SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC 1 0 0 0 0
Steering NHTSA category: STEERING 1 0 0 0 0
STEERING,POWER TRAIN,VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL 1 0 0 0 0
STEERING,WHEELS,ELECTRONIC STABILITY CONTROL (ESC) 1 0 0 0 0
SUSPENSION,POWER TRAIN,ENGINE 1 0 0 0 0
SUSPENSION,SERVICE BRAKES,ENGINE 1 0 0 0 0
SUSPENSION,WHEELS,SERVICE BRAKES 1 0 0 0 0
Tires NHTSA category: TIRES 1 0 0 0 0
UNKNOWN OR OTHER,SERVICE BRAKES,ENGINE 1 0 0 0 0
Wheels & Hubs NHTSA category: WHEELS 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 (47). 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.