Vehicle Data Hub

2008 Cadillac CTS electrical system problems

39 complaints about electrical system have been filed for the 2008 Cadillac CTS, which is 15% of all its NHTSA complaints. It is the most reported problem area for this model year.

At a glance

Complaints
39 16% of this year's complaints
Typical mileage
74,000 miles 21 complaints with mileage
Crashes and fires
0 and 3
Injuries and deaths
0 and 0

Source: NHTSA owner complaints

When electrical system problems show up

Electrical system complaints by mileage, 2008 Cadillac CTS Complaints by odometer reading in 20,000-mile steps. The median is about 74,000 miles. 0k to 20k miles: 4 complaints 20k to 40k miles: 3 complaints 40k to 60k miles: 0 complaints 60k to 80k miles: 4 complaints 80k to 100k miles: 4 complaints 100k to 120k miles: 3 complaints 120k to 140k miles: 1 complaints 140k to 160k miles: 1 complaints 160k to 180k miles: 1 complaints 180k to 200k miles: 0 complaints 200k+ miles: 0 complaints 040k80k120k160k200k miles Typical: 74,000 miles
Based on 21 complaints that include mileage. 33% were reported before 60,000 miles. The amber marker shows the median: half of these complaints happened before that mileage.
View the numbers
MileageComplaints
0k to 20k miles4
20k to 40k miles3
40k to 60k miles0
60k to 80k miles4
80k to 100k miles4
100k to 120k miles3
120k to 140k miles1
140k to 160k miles1
160k to 180k miles1
180k to 200k miles0
200k+ miles0

What the data shows

Of the 21 electrical system complaints that report mileage, the median is about 74,000 miles, and 33% were reported before 60,000 miles.

These complaints mention 3 fires.

What owners wrote

The car has had 7 batteries replaced. It has been towed three times to two different dealerships. When the failure occurs the door lock, the engine will not start, lights will not work, the car is completely dead. The last time my wife went one mile and the lights,radio, air conditioning and doors locked and would not open. She could not get the key out of the ignition. The door was opened and the car sat for two hours. When she went back to the car everything worked like nothing happened.

Reported at 7,000 miles, January 2009 Fire

I was driving in a parking garage so my speed was about 5-10MPH when the whole system shut down. The car stopped moving and all of the system warnings popped off (ABS, stabiltrack,engine). The car would not turn back on. I had it towed to the shop where I was told that it was an electrical problem. The PCM was replaced and I was told that the problem was fixed. Cost was approx $200. After the original system shut down, I was driving on an exit ramp to the interstate when once again the whole system shut down.

Reported at 74,000 miles, November 2014

Other problems reported for the 2008 Cadillac CTS

Electrical system problems in other years

Electrical system problems across all Cadillac models