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What 33 owners told NHTSA about the 2020 Cadillac CT5

These are the actual owner complaints behind this car’s reliability verdict, filed with the federal government, unedited. They’re unverified reports, not confirmed defects: read them as leads for your pre-purchase inspection, not a diagnosis.

All (33)Crash / fire / injury (2)Transmission & drivetrain (13)Electrical system (8)Engine (7)Body & structure (4)Speed control (2)Steering (2)Wheels (2)Airbags (1)Electronic Stability Control (esc) (1)Engine & cooling (1)

2 of 33 complaints match · crash/fire/injury only · clear filters

Jan 12, 2026Transmission & drivetrainCrash

While slowing down vehicle felt as if it was put into park momentarily, which cause car to slide on ice. After reading the recall, I am certain that the transmission failed. Car was towed to Ray Skillman cheverolet on south post road in Indianapolis, to which they already ran the vin and agreed to perform the recall. After they realized it was a more serious problem than software, they refused to work on the vehicle. So they worked on it long enough to find out they would have to cover it, then denied that they would do any work. They stated that the title is branded. The BMV has no brands listed on title. The service guy Ryan laughed at me today when I stated that it was dangerous, and told me good luck getting some one to help if I filed a complaint. Regardless they won’t touch the car

NHTSA ODI 11710542

Nov 5, 2021SteeringElectrical systemAirbagsCrash2 injuries

I have had many issues with Onstar failing. I bought the 2020 Cadillac CT5 AWD 10/2020. It took Onstar over a month to connect to my car to provide AT&T internet plan (via Onstar). On 4/22/21 I was hit in my driver front & wheel, Onstar failed- never contacted us & the airbags did not deploy. I noticed my Onstar light was red. Onstar was repaired during the body shop repair. Soon after I picked up the car (approximately 1 month) the SRS light came on & Onstar turned red again on 7/31/21. Dropped off the car to be repaired 8/13/21. After repair, SRS light came on again on 8/29/21. Then 10/4/21 the entire CUE system malfunctioned, could not use Carplay, Car Internet would not work, & Navigation would not load. 10/30/21 I cranked my car & left keys in car, the doors locked- which it should not have done. My Onstar app could not unlock the car. I called Onstar to unlock the vehicle & was told they were receiving a "busy signal, spinning sign" when trying to reach my car. My car finally shut off after idling for so long, and it unlocked the doors. I dropped off for service again 11/4/21. GM & Onstar both investigated car for the failures following the accident that occurred 4/22/21-both companies said no issue was found. GM downloaded data from wreck data, I received the report and it was missing data.

NHTSA ODI 11439475

Working with the data? Download all 33 complaints as CSV · fetched from NHTSA July 10, 2026

How to use these: a complaint is one owner’s report, filed voluntarily and published unverified. Patterns matter more than any single story. If several owners describe the same failure at similar mileage, put that system at the top of your pre-purchase inspection list. Back to the full 2020 Cadillac CT5 verdict →