2015 Cadillac Escalade
This year drew an ordinary 103 complaints for a Cadillac Escalade — the model's median is 43. What they were about is the unusual part: 26.2% of them mention driving vehicle, against 7.3% across the model's other years.
First year of a new generation. The Cadillac Escalade was redesigned for 2015. A first year carries problems nobody has found yet, and they are found by the people who buy it — which is worth knowing before you become one of them.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 103 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 43 |
| Involving a crash | 5 |
| Involving a fire | 3 |
| Recalls | 9 |
| EPA combined | 17 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- driving vehicle — 26.2% of this year's complaints, against 7.3% across the model's other years (3.6×). Owners wrote it as: driving vehicle, windows, instructed, vehicle continued.
- hard — 23.3% of this year's complaints, against 8.1% across the model's other years (2.9×). Owners wrote it as: hard, reverse, very hard, rate.
- worked — 22.3% of this year's complaints, against 8.3% across the model's other years (2.7×). Owners wrote it as: worked, potential, vibration, end collision.
Words owners used for the same problem are counted together, so a fault written four different ways is measured once. Grouped by which complaints they appear in, not by a list anyone wrote in advance.
What owners wrote
I was driving my vehicle, and it began to sputter, and steering wheel lock up almost causing an accident, plus I started the vehicle at home and within a few minutes I became unconscious from carbon Monoxide fumes and had to be rushed to the hospital and treat…
I WAS DRIVING ON A TWO LANE HIGHWAY AND I SUDDENLY LOST CONTROL OF THE STEERING WHEEL. THE STEERING WHEEL BECAME VERY HARD TO MANEUVER CAUSING ME TO VEER OUT OF MY LANE CAUSING A CRASH. THE AIRBAGS ALSO DID NOT DEPLOY FULLY CAUSING ME TO HAVE A DISLOCATED SHOU…
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 18V586000 STEERING Fixed free of charge.
- 19V645000 SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC Fixed free of charge.
- 16V651000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 17V437000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 14V259000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 14V624000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 14V007000 ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING Fixed free of charge.
- 26V289000 POWER TRAIN Fixed free of charge.
Showing 8 of 9. The rest are on NHTSA's site.
How this was worked out
Every year of the Cadillac Escalade was compared against its own history rather than against other cars, which removes popularity and age from the answer — a common car draws more complaints at equal reliability, and an older one has had longer to accumulate them. A year is flagged when it drew at least 2.5× this model's median and at least 50 complaints.
This is a fault record, not a review. Nobody files a federal complaint to say the car was fine, so it shows what tends to go wrong — not whether owners liked it, and not whether it is a good car.
Source: NHTSA complaints, recalls and investigations, retrieved . Look this vehicle up directly on NHTSA's site to check anything here.
Own a 2015 Cadillac Escalade? What happened to yours?
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