Cadillac CTS/CTS-V Brake Problems

gmcustsvc · May 2013

brendak1,

If you would like, you can always email us at socialmedia@gm.com so we can verify there are no recalls associated with your vehicle. I do suggest you at least get a diagnosis from a Cadillac Dealership.

Erica Tiffany
GM Customer Service

jcranford83 · July 2013

Sirpontiac....I've been experiencing this exact same issue and the dealer can't recreate. Now they want to charge me $2,500 to try a few fixes, but they say after they do that, they aren't really sure if it will fix it because they can't diagnose an issue. Can you provide me more details on the harness, and how you tested it off the car to diagnose the issue??? And is your fix still working?

sirpontiac · July 2013

Hi J, Its been a while but as I recall. The first thing I did was to look at the wheel speed sensor wire with the wheel off and car jacked up. Turn the wheels hard left and right and it became quite obvious that the routing of the wires causes a kink to happen when turned. Constant kinking of wires cause fraying and therefore intermittent problems; loss of conductivity when turned only.
This can be tested with an ohm meter. But the harness has to be un-clipped at the sensor and cut at the frame. Hense having a replacement harness and splicing tools ready make sence. I also re-routed the new section of harness in a manner less likely to kink on turns.

I hope this answered your questions. Oh...No more issues!
Brian.

kara3 · August 2013

I am checking the site today because my mother was just pulling in to a parking spot and the brakes went out and the car actually accelerated . I went into a brick wall and crashed. We thank the Lord she is alright. We have never had that problem before but since I saw this site . This was be a malfunction and need for recall. I am also calling Cadillac to report this matter.

Kirstie_H · August 2013

Hi, and I'm sorry to hear about the accident, but glad your mother isn't injured (at least not badly).
You should also report the issue to the NHTSA at www.safercar.gov
That's the US agency that collects vehicle issue reports from consumers, and can conduct an investigation if warranted.

unhappy_cts · August 2013

unhappy_cts · August 2013

I have a 2010 CTS 3.6 RWD with 46,000 mile (74,000km). My front rotors have been resurfaced 3x and replaced 4x due to warping.

GM says it is due to my driving...hogwash! I am 51 yrs old, 3 kids and a clean driving record, and recently started my 2nd set of tires and 2nd set of brake pads.

This is a quality issue or an engineering issue.

GM says 'nope a driving issue because no one else has this issue'.

Because GM says 'no one else has this problem it is not a GM problem' they refuse any corrective and definitive actions.

Does anyone have issues with their 2010 CTS front brakes? we need to make this known, otherwise they wotn do anything to correct 'their issues'. Why pay top dollar for the GM flagship if they cant stand behind it?

BTW - I just replaced my rear pads last month, because they were getting low (35%)...no issues on the rear...

upsetctsowner · September 2013

I am having these same braking issues. Back in November 2012 I was parallel parking and it felt like my car slid on gravel or something. I thought it was odd because there wasn't any gravel or loose dirt or anything. My car had approximately 32,000 miles on it at this time. About a week later I turned the wheel to park and again it felt like the car slid on something, the brakes made a noise, pulsated and didn't really feel like they were going to stop but they did. A day or so after that I again went to park the car and this time the brakes pulsated, made a noise and would not stop. I was heading for a brick wall so I shifted the car into park. Each of these occurrences happened at speeds of approximately 5-10 miles per hour, all when I went to park the car, turning the wheel to the right. I took the car to the Cadillac dealer and they told me they didn't know of any recall, after checking the car they diagnosed it as a front wheel speed sensor electrical failure. They said they had to replace the HUB. This cost me $725.70. About two weeks ago (August 2013) I went to park my car and again started to feel the same pulsing of the brakes and sliding of the vehicle. A day later I was pulling into a parking space with my daughter and again the car slid and the brakes pulsated, my daughter immediately asked what just happened, she felt it too. On September 6, 2013 I took my car with 35,630 miles on it to a different Cadillac dealer since I was not convinced the first dealer fixed the problem, they diagnosed it with codes C0550, C0281, V1016, C0561, C0244 EBTCM failure. They replaced the electronic brake control module and cleared all the codes. This now cost me $1,434.87 to fix the same problem. I picked my car up yesterday 9/9/13 and I was just backing out of my driveway to put the car in the garage and the same exact problem just happened while turning the wheel to the right; the brakes made a noise, pulsated and the car slid. I am extremely upset right now. I will be going back to the dealer tomorrow. I can not and WILL NOT spend any more money to fix this problem. I was lucky no one was hurt or I didn't crash into anything but Cadillac really needs to look into this problem and make a recall before someone does get hurt or killed.

gm_bigot · September 2013

It's quite frightening when it happens. I have a 2007 CTS with a little over 69K miles. This exact thing has happened to me about 5 different occasions during the 5+ years I have owned the car. All of them involved turning sharply into a parking spot. Fortunately, each time it happened, there were no vehicles, walls, people, etc. in front of me. I have not taken it to the dealer for diagnosis. Based on everything I've read on this site, they are either unable or unwilling to correct the condition. It's amazing that GM has gotten away with no recall on this problem. It is certainly a safety issue.

brendak1 · September 2013

Hey All, I am patiently waiting for a recall on this issue. I'm not going to throw money at parts and labor that DON'T fix the problem. Come on GM, This is taking advantage of people and you know it! Meanwhile, I am very conscious about how I park and who drives my car.

lmohatt_sacto · September 2013

I recently purchased 2005 Cadi CTS. I know there were several recalls since 2005. My question is how do I find out if the previous owners responded to the recalls and if they did not, can I take to a dealership even though I am not the original owner? Thanks for the input.

Kirstie_H · September 2013

You should be able to take it to a dealership and let them run the VIN to see if recalls have been performed. Since recalls must be done at a dealership, they should have records on your vehicle. If the fixes on those recalls haven't been done, the dealership can do them for you.

You could probably also get the same info by calling Cadillac customer service and providing your VIN.
Inside the U.S.: 1-800-458-8006
Inside Canada: 1-800-263-3777

ctsdan · October 2013

Hello GM Customer Service. I bought my 2006 CTS seven years ago today. I've been experiencing the same brake problem mentioned in this forum since I bought the car. I've taken my CTS to the dealer countless times and tried to explain the problem. The mechanics have tried to see if they can recreate the problem but have been unsuccessful. I still drive the car but I fear that one day I will be involved in an accident because of this brake problem. I would like for GM to have this problem fixed and me not have to pay for the repair since it's something I feel is a safety issue and Manufacturer's responsibility. Please let me know how to proceed with this matter.

The other problem I discovered is that the motor oil seems to evaporate before the 3 to 5 months service period. I carry with a couple of quarts of motor oil in my CTS and periodically check my oil levels. I've own other GM and non GM cars before and never had to worry about my motor oil evaporating. These are two serious problems which I believe GM should take a strong look at and consider recalling these cars.
I hope to here from someone from GM soon.
Thanks,
Daniel

trinity5 · December 2013

Yesterday, I set out to pick up medication and as I approached an intersection I noticed the traffic light changed and with a large vehicle in front of me. I started braking early(elderly and cautious), my vehicle would not stop I've never been so scared in my life! After pressing the brakes down has hard as I could it finally came to a stop. I was extremely shakened. Then afterwards the display said "low brake fluid". Well immediately I went to get brake fluid and added it. That did no good, so I went to Meineke and after they checked it out they told me the part where the brake line connects on the top rear axel had corosion and the brake fluid was pouring out. I have 2007 CTS, this just does not sound right to me. I could have serious hurt or killed and/or someone else.

elias · February 2014

fwiw: my 05 GTO does the same thing as some people are reporting. in my case, with the low-speed braking in hot weather, often in stop & go, maybe it's that wiring issue that sirpontiac mentions. it's done for at least half of it's 9 years.
i should check that wiring it if i can find a nice way to get under there. (i won't.) . there's never been a brake fluid level issue.

i'm used to it now - the abs 'misfires' on the right front wheel, feels like it is removing braking power from that one wheel. the abs goes wild on that one wheel, that's for sure. so it reduces braking on that one wheel. always at low speed and always when very HOT. the other wheels keep braking the car, but it feels exactly like 'sliding on gravel' that others are reporting with their caddys. and it is sort of alarming/scary - enough that it could cause someone to release the brake. ABS in normal operation sometimes makes weird noises - never back off the brakes when it does that - if anything push harder. in my car's problem case it is a "abs misfire", there is no traction-loss at all, but the one wheel acts as if its on ICE.

i've reported it to the dealer on probably 10 visits for other stuff, they can never recreate it, no codes are ever stored. rarely i do see it store an ABS code, the one for wheel-speed-sensor-wacky-reading, and the ABS self-disables.

the workaround in my case is to keep braking - standing on the brake solves the issue, the other 3 wheels brake the car. it only happens at low speeds on hot days, dry roads, intermittent. so 3 wheels are plenty to brake the car effectively in slow traffic like that.

devora · October 2014

Well looks like I am a liitle late on this forum regarding the brake issue on my CTS 2005. However I paid the dealership over $1000 for a part to fix it. Now in this forum it could be something as simple as wires. I never even thought of when I turned the car in to park that is when it happens. Kept my car for fear of someone getting hurt because of the brakes. Can't wait to go back to the dealership and tell them that possible this formum may have answered a question I have had for over a year. Thanks GM for the $1000 part and labor that did not fix my brakes.

elias · October 2014

it can happen. good shop will step up and fix the wires no charge if you nicely convince them the $1K part swap was wrong. it's possible that the $1K part was truly failed as well - was it the 'brake booster'? possibly the efficacy of that $1K part swap might be verified if you kept the old part in your garage.... if replacing/relocating the wire does indeed fix the brakes, then the best/honorable auto shop might well swap the old $1K part/job back into your car, and reverse the $1K charge.

bradyz1 · February 2018

I have a 2012 CTS performance coup, and ever since I got it the front brakes would pulsate and the steering wheel would vibrate under just a little harder then normal braking, After 2 years of complaining to the dealership when the said it was nothing and I had new brakes, suddenly I needed brakes after 15K miles, that cost me $1,000, now 6 month latter its starting again, under a little harder braking the front brake are pulsating, and the steering wheel is vibrating under hard braking, Their is barely 8K miles on the car since the brakes were done.. I have seen this issue posted a few times already, does anyone know why this keeps happening, and oh yeah its not the driver, i believe it a design flaw with the front calipers and Rotors and Pad not working together correctly.

Mr_Shiftright · February 2018

You might take a look at "sirpontiac" and his post about ten posts up from here.

kyfdx · February 2018

bradyz1 said:
I have a 2012 CTS performance coup, and ever since I got it the front brakes would pulsate and the steering wheel would vibrate under just a little harder then normal braking, After 2 years of complaining to the dealership when the said it was nothing and I had new brakes, suddenly I needed brakes after 15K miles, that cost me $1,000, now 6 month latter its starting again, under a little harder braking the front brake are pulsating, and the steering wheel is vibrating under hard braking, Their is barely 8K miles on the car since the brakes were done.. I have seen this issue posted a few times already, does anyone know why this keeps happening, and oh yeah its not the driver, i believe it a design flaw with the front calipers and Rotors and Pad not working together correctly.

https://forums.edmunds.com/discussion/comment/4050845/#Comment_4050845

Cadillac CTS/CTS-V Brake Problems

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