Disclaimer: Not affiliated with or endorsed by Cadillac Motor Company. For informational purposes only. Full Disclaimer

Problems with 2008 Cadillac CTS ELECTRICAL SYSTEM

On average, the 2008 Cadillac CTS starts to “feel” problems with the ELECTRICAL SYSTEM and its various aspects after 71 975 miles.

Components Affected by ELECTRICAL SYSTEM Issues

We have classified the 32 complaints from 2008 Cadillac CTS about ELECTRICAL SYSTEM into the following categories.

IGNITION 1

Recently reported ELECTRICAL SYSTEM problems on 2008 Cadillac CTS

While driving maybe 6 minutes my center console display would no longer function preventing me from being able to control the radio or air, which both remained functioning and the air bag light came on at the same time. the radio no longer plays but the air still blows. at the time this happened i was driving on a paved road at night going approx. 50 mph.

Tl* the contact owns a 2008 cadillac cts. while the vehicle was stationary, the electrical system failed and the control panel became inoperative. in addition, the power steering failed and the steering wheel was extremely difficult to turn left or right. kuni chevrolet cadillac (2449 fulton avenue, sacramento, california 95825, (916) 538-7217) diagnosed that the power steering pump was faulty and needed to be replaced. the vehicle was not repaired. the manufacturer was made aware of the failure and stated that there was no recall for the failures. the failure mileage was approximately 98,000.

My car has been in the shop due to engine issues, now that engine is replaced i'm seeing stabilitrak, service ac, and brake assist lights appear. also when driving the speedometer is not engaged and car won't shift gears. codes will not appear when hooked up to diagnostic reader and their is moisture that gets inside my car through the sunroof.

Our vehicle was stationary in the driveway of our home. in the middle of the night the vehicle caught on fire and exploded multiple times. fire report/investigation list cause as unknown.

The vehicle will stall while cruising to a stop light, while at idle and sometime while accelerating. i've read a lot of posts online about this issue but no one has a solution. i got stranded on the highway in the middle lane once too. gm will not do anything about it. the vehicle is in the shop right now and my diagnosis fee its over $750 and there is still no resolution for this issue!!! this issue is an ongoing issue for years now!!!

Passenger side rear window rolls down on its own in rain, car wash. sunroof has loud wind noise. window goes down while on and driving.

My car won't hold a charge. i buy a new battery and the car says battery saver mode activated. the battery will be dead by morning or if i take it down the road the voltage will start dropping before i get home. when i say down the road i mean less then a 2 miles. after i turn my car off it won't start because the battery voltage will be to low. i've had the battery and alternator check both are fine. checked to see if their might be lights left on, but nope not even the truck light. so i'm at my end with the car, it's a $30,000 car that i can't even drive. that's a lot of money for a yard ornament.

Randomly when i go to start my vehicle it won't start but the battery is good,which leaves me stranded ....and also randomly while driving the traction control lights up saying traction control off along with every light in the dash displayed and making the chiming sound.it reduces the engine power suddenly while at a high speed causing me to swerve in freeway traffic.

My sunroof drain is often clogged resulting in the interior being soaked during slight or heavy rain fall. maintenance has been done several times to no avail. also whenever the weather is warm outside, the back doors will not unlock from the outside or when exiting the car. i always have to manually lock the doors upon leaving the vehicle. these problems have been virtually present since the car was purchased and have become a nightmare. the water log inside the vehicle almost always happen when the car is stationary.

The d/s door will not unlock or open from the outside. read numerous complaints on same issue and no recall issued

Tl* the contact owns a 2008 cadillac cts. the contact stated that there were several electrical failures, such as the turn signals failed to function and the middle console electric functions failed to illuminate. after several repairs, the failures continued. the contact had three batteries replaced and the alternator assembly replaced, but the failures continued. the vent controls also failed to function for the heater and air conditioner. the manufacturer stated that there were no recalls pertaining to the failures. the vin was not available. the approximate failure mileage was 110,000. updated 08/29/17*lj *cn

The problem started with the timing chain, which led to coil issues and catalytic converters issues which led to low head beams constantly burning out. everytime work is done it causes a chain reaction to other parts in the car that requires more and more money. now the engine light is still on and i am told that since the first catalytic converter was repaired, the second one now needs replacing and the low head beam on the passenger side has wiring issues that will not allow the new bulb to burn, i am told that the wiring appears to be spliced. the catalytic converter was replaced in april and so was the low beam bulb. headlight was replaced in april, 2015 it is not working today and was told by dealership that the wiring had been spliced or burned out. radio speakers do not work and all was centered around issues with coils and catalytic coverters.

2008 cadillac cts. consumer writes in regards to recall parts are unavailable to complete recall #14v394000. *smd

Intermittently, the door locks do not lock/unlock with the remote. the safety concern is ingress/egress from the vehicle.

Attempted to start the car while it was parked in the garage, but it would not crank and the dashboard display indicated a problem with the stabilizer. also, the seats could not be moved, could not place the transmission in neutral, the door would automatically lock, and the lights would flicker off and on. i attempted to use brand new booster cables (positive to positive/negative to negative) at the remote terminals but stopped trying to connect from the charged battery due to sparking as though i was reversing my polar connections; at one point, i saw a flicker of flames and i never started the booster vehicle (12 volt). i had a wrecker attendant to try my booster cables and he attempted to charge with the connection directly to the battery and with the booster car started which created smoke and over heated cables. at the dealership, where the car was taken, i was told the positive cable was useless and the battery had a dead cell. this was very costly. i retrieved my car after about 11 days and parked it directly in the garage. the next day, i attempted to start the car and the same issue surfaced. had it moved by wrecker again, and i am being told that they jumped the battery and started the car, but had not determine the drain on the battery. *tr

Tl* the contact owns a 2008 cadillac cts. the contact received a notification of nhtsa campaign number: 14v394000 (electrical system) however, the part to do the repair was unavailable. the contact stated that the manufacturer exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. the manufacturer was made aware of the issue. the contact had not experienced a failure.

Tl* the contact owns a 2008 cadillac cts. the contact received a notification for nhtsa campaign id number: 14v394000 (electrical system) and stated that the part needed was unavailable to repair the vehicle. the dealer was unable to inform when the part would become available. the manufacturer was not notified of the issue. the contact had not experienced a failure. updated 1/7/15*cn

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. all of the system warnings popped up and the car would not turn back on. the car was towed once again to the dealership where i was told that it wasn't the pcm and that they would have to charge me $265.00 to investigate the problem. the problem was said to be the electrical wiring on the drivers side from the front of the car to the back of the car. it was fixed for approx $800.00. each of the system shut downs happened within 6 months of each other while operating the vehicle. this is very dangerous and makes me feel very unsafe about operating the vehicle. this needs to be investigated for the safety of drivers. *tr

Tl* the contact owns a 2008 cadillac cts. the contact received a notification for nhtsa campaign number: 14v394000 (electrical system) and stated that the part needed was unavailable to perform the recall repair. the manufacturer was not notified of the issue. the contact had not experienced a failure.

Tl* the contact owns a 2008 cadillac cts. the contact received a notification for nhtsa campaign number: 14v394000 (electrical system). however, the parts needed were unavailable. the dealer was uncertain when the parts would become available. the manufacturer had not been notified of the problem. the contact had not experienced a failure.

Tl* the contact owns a 2008 cadillac cts. the contact received a recall notification for nhtsa campaign number: 14v394000 (electrical system); however, the part needed to repair the vehicle was unavailable. the contact stated that the manufacturer exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. the manufacturer was notified. the contact had not experienced a failure.

Tl* the contact owns a 2008 cadillac cts. the contact stated that the vehicle stalled several times intermittently. while traveling on a major highway at an unknown speed, all of the instrument panel indicators illuminated each time the vehicle stalled. the vehicle was able to be restarted after several attempts. the key would also not turn into the on position on several occasions. the windows would roll down on their own on the rear driver and rear passenger side. the vehicle was taken to an authorized dealer more than once, but the dealer was not able to replicate or diagnose the failures. the manufacturer was notified. the vehicle was not repaired. the approximate failure mileage was 72,000.

Tl* the contact owns a 2008 cadillac cts. the contact stated that the vehicle stalled intermittently. the dealer recommended that the contact remove all the items from the key ring except for the ignition key and fob. the contact heeded the dealer's advice, but the failure persisted. the vehicle was able to be restarted. the vin was excluded from nhtsa campaign number: 14v394000 (electrical system: ignition). the contact also notified the dealer several times pertaining to the driver seat fracturing and collapsing. the seat was not diagnosed or repaired. the contact stated that a bolt needed to be replaced and the lower seat track needed to be aligned. the driver seat made a loud noise. the vehicle was not repaired and the manufacturer was notified. the approximate failure mileage was 110,000.

Total drainage of power battery drained everything comes on but the ignition has no power. *tr

For quite some time now i've been experiencing problems with locking/unlocking rear doors. rear doors will not lock/unlock with keyless entry or front/passenger door pads. i have to manually cling to back to unlock doors. have purchased several batteries for keyless remote. due to doors remaining unlocked i cannot auto start vehicle unless i manually lock doors myself. also computer is not recognizing keyless remote. i have purchased several batteries within the past 8 months. car always tell me keyless remote not detected. to crank car i have to put keyless remote in middle of console to ignite. both issues are very annoying and unsafe. *tr

There have been multiple electrical problems with the cts starting with wiring melt down in the front end. recently, both the driver side and passenger side door latch assembly's went bad resulting in situations where the doors could not be opened from the outside or inside. if there had been an accident, the doors would not have opened and the driver or passenger would not have been able to open them from the inside.

Tl* the contact owns a 2008 cadillac cts. the contact stated that the entire center console malfunctioned and all of the electrical components were no longer functional. the contact took the vehicle to the dealer to have the center console replaced. the repair did not remedy the issue. the failure mileage was 19,000.

There is a water leak occurring from the sunroof. the sunroof drains continuously get clogged. in result, the interior of the car gets extremely wet. this occurred on september 21, 2011 then has now happened in the same exact drain on may 05, 2015. when i started the car after discovering the water for the second time the passenger rear window rolled down on its own and will no longer operate. who knows what other electrical issues will occur? does this put me at harm? also, now with all the moisture inside the car, this is ruining the interior of my car! the worst part is that due to the moisture in the vehicle the inside of the windows fog up while driving. this is definitely putting me and other drivers on the road in harms way because it is interrupting my visibility while driving and i don't feel safe when this occurs. i don't understand how the drains are getting clogged, i don't park under trees and my car is covered almost year round. this is not acceptable and i feel like there needs to be change. *tr

Car sometimes doesn't recognize both electronic key-fobs preventing me from unlocking/locking & starting the car because. problem recurs periodically. replaced battery but problem keeps happening. dealer says they cant duplicate problem. *tr

Tl* the contact owns a 2008 cadillac cts. the contact stated he received notification of nhtsa campaign id number: 10v2400000 (electrical system). the contact was displeased with the remedy associated with the recall. he stated the manufacturer was offering a $100 reimbursement to disconnect the heated washer fluid and the contact stated the component cost much more than $100. the contact believed the remedy to be an unfair reimbursement. the failure and current mileages were approximately 25,000.

6 months ago the contacts 2008 cadilac cts started jumping forward and stopping. 4 weeks ago the vehicle jerked forward again in traffic and hopped a curb. the vehicle investigated by a cadilac dealer that said nothinig was wrong with the vehicle. updated 1/14/10 *cn updated 01/15/10.

I own a 2008 cadillac cts with awd. i bought it in december 2007. at around 7000 miles in mid-february 2009 my car would not start. the antitheft device was activated. a roadside assistance technician came out. he said it was a defective battery which he replaced. three weeks later i tried to start the car & received a dashboard alert that the battery registered low voltage and could not be started. the car was towed to the dealer who worked on it for two days. they told me that "maybe" the computer was being turned on when the car was shut off. their "maybe" answer made me feel they were just guessing. they told me they had corrected the glitch, charged the battery, told me the battery was fine & that the car should be fine now. last night, april 15, 2009 at 10:00pm my dashboard alerted me that the battery was too low to start. i called roadside assistance who could not get it started either. on april 16, 2009 at 8:30am i had to have the car towed into the dealership again. the service technician again said my battery must have a defective cell. this is the same battery that they put into the car 6 weeks earlier that they said was "fine". i am now awaiting their "professional" diagnosis. do you have any other complaints of this type on this vehicle? also do you know if this car can qualify as a lemon under federal & nj lemon laws? *tr

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. she drove home and the next morning the battery was dead. it was towed to the dealership and the odor of burning wiring was obvious. one week later the dealer service department called to inform me that the fuse block was replaced and the radio caused the problem. the car was leased and i just returned it with 17,890 miles. we went out and purchased another car when they said the wiring and fuse block was burnt. we just let it sit in the driveway until the lease run out. *tr

Other 2008 Cadillac CTS Problem Categories