Six problems related to headlights have been reported for the 1997 Cadillac Catera. The most recently reported issues are listed below.
Head light aimers broke, can not adjust head lamps. Plastic parts broke inside head lamp capsule.
The 97-99 Cadillac Catera in my opionion has a bad headlight design. My 6 year old car has broken headlight adjustors. This makes it basically impossible to aim (adjust) the headlights. Replacment headlights are available from the parts department, but the cost about $340 per headlight. This is an excessive cost to consumer to repair. My understanding is this is a very common failure on this car. Headlight assemblies should last the lifetime of the vehicle, not just several years. I consider it a saftey hazard that the headlamps cannot be adjusted.
The aiming mechanism on both headlights on my 1997 Cadillac Catera failed and left me with the headlights aimed at the ground and unable to re-aim the headlights. This is extremely common on these headlights, and there is no fix from gm except to buy entire replacement headlight assemblies at $500 each. The replacement units are made entirely differently (and do not fail) so it obvious gm knows the original design was defective.
The consumer stated the headlight assembly deteriorated, which caused a misalignment of the headlights. Dealer had been contacted. Cadillac refused to pay for the cost of each headlight replacement. The consumer felt this should be a recall.
When driving at night with headlights on, headlight lens provided poor visibility due to turning yellow. Headlight lens cover is made of plastic. Problem is getting worse. Has contacted dealer who is unable to exchange lens cover from plastic to glass.
Headlights take longer then necessary to come on, delaying the consumer for departure, dealer unable to resolve.
| Headlights problems | |
| Fog Lights problems | |
| Exterior Lighting problems |