Electrical System Problems of Cadillac XT5 - part 1

The contact owns a 2021 Cadillac Xt5. The contact stated that while driving approximately 50 mph, the infotainment screen was touched but went black and failed to respond. The vehicle was turned off and restarted at the next traffic light, and the infotainment screen was touched and remained black and failed to respond. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic and was diagnosed; however, the diagnostic result was not provided. Due to the failure, the hvac system, gps, bluetooth, back over prevention, and lane keep assist features became inoperable. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 113,240.

See all problems of the 2021 Cadillac XT5 🔎.

I purchased this used car in the end of July 2025. Within the last month the service transmission light came on. Within a 24-hour period, the message changed to, "service transmission unable to shift soon". Also alarm bells go off when I first start the car and sometimes during driving. The car feels like it drives correctly and smoothly with no shifting issues. Sometimes when that second message and check engine light icon being comes on, there seems to be a third message that is trying to pop up behind it but it does not. It seems like there is a glitch in the system. This was very concerning and scary for me. My research shows me that this has been a chronic problem for my make and model and year of car. I've also heard it can be even time to check and or change the transmission fluid. That needs to be a different message all together without causing alarm that the transmission itself is not functioning properly. I have not driven this for 10 days because many repair shops in dealerships are telling me not to risk it and of course want me to bring this in for a diagnosis. It is costly and hard to discern and trust who to go to for the correct information. The dealership should be responsible for a recall and replacing this sensor or modular so people do not have a cause for alarm if it is something as simple as needing to change the transmission fluid. There is also no dipstick on this vehicle so no local fluid fill station can check this. Many people have complained and are at a loss. I see there is a bulletin on this subject but no recall. Please take action and turn this situation into a recall once and for all to help. The little folks like me stay more safe and better informed about the health and longevity of our vehicles. Thank you for your time in reading this.

See all problems of the 2017 Cadillac XT5 🔎.

While waiting at a light, then the car shut off. Lossing all power. I could not get out of the vehicle, no hazards, no lights, nothing. After several pulls of the door handle I was able to open the door but the hazard light was not able to come one. After 4 attempts to engage break to push start the vehicle on ethe brake locked up and would not disengage. Total screen black out, no power no hazards. After some time, the brake released screen activated and I was able to press the brake and try to start the car again. It did not work but was now able to turn on hazards. After 15 mins, I tried again and it cranked up normal. I had new battery in June 2025 and 60k maintenance services in Aug 2025. This happen in oct 2025.

See all problems of the 2018 Cadillac XT5 🔎.

The contact owns a 2018 Cadillac Xt5. The vehicle was recently purchased, and while driving at an undisclosed speed, the vehicle failed to accelerate as intended while depressing the accelerator pedal. In addition, the vehicle failed to accelerate above 5 mph with several unknown warning lights illuminated. The dealer was notified and sent a mobile mechanic to the residence to diagnose the vehicle; however, no cause for the failure was found. The vehicle was towed to the dealer, and it was diagnosed that the emission starter module had failed. The dealer reprogrammed the emission starter module. The contact stated that a week after the repairs were performed, while driving at an undisclosed speed, the vehicle sputtered, and the failure persisted. Several unknown warning lights were illuminated. The dealer was notified of the failure. The vehicle was not inspected or diagnosed due to the cost. The contact stated that the failure persisted, and the vehicle failed to start. The vehicle was no longer able to be started. The contact stated that the vehicle was repossessed but was recovered. The vehicle was towed to the residence and had not been driven since. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 2,000.

Cadillac Xt5 had a “steering assist is reduced” message on the driver information center. P0128 code.

Auto shut down completely in the middle of the road. No one including tow truck driver could not put vehicle into neutral. Once the vehicle was towed to the dealership in was confirmed that battery just died and the dealership stated due to the electrical shifter there was no way to engage neutral since the vehicle could not start. This situation caused major traffic issues for 3 hours as vehicle was locked in position. I would think there should be some way to push the vehicle to the curb allowing traffic to flow. Being stuck in the middle of traffic and unable to push vehicle to the side of the road is very dangerous. Please advise Cadillac that people must have a way to get there vehicle out of the middle of the road and this a very dangerous situation.

See all problems of the 2020 Cadillac XT5 🔎.

There is an open service bulletin on my car - 17128 potential loss of hvac control. This loss of control affects the defrost on the vehicle making it very dangerous to drive when it is raining out as it severally reduces visibility.

Steering reduced assist drive with care on the dash board . It states drive with caution not sure if this is dangerous or even driveable I am 8 months pregnant and now I don’t have a car I am scared to drive it. Thermostat stopped working & fan is running and won’t stop.

The passenger interior side door at the bottom towards the back near the backseat, beginning driver seat caught fire. A small tiny hole began melting, and there was flames coming out of it. Within minutes. My entire car was engulfed in flames when the fire department came they said it seemed like it was fuses that began the fire. I bought this car used from carmax literally only two weeks ago and had only driven it. Maybe 100 miles it’s a 2020. I don’t understand how this happened and I’m concerned about other Cadillacs of this model having the same issue.

See all problems of the 2019 Cadillac XT5 🔎.

The tire air pressure gage on the dash is steadily illuminated but there is nothing wrong w the air in the tire.

Driving vehicle when it lost all power and stopped. On a main road . No lights, no start. No emergency flashers ! vehicle had to be towed to dealer ! vehicle was stuck on main road in traffic. And could not be moved because since it had no power at all was stuck in park!.

See all problems of the 2023 Cadillac XT5 🔎.

I was backing out of a parking space in reverse as I have done multiple times and the second I took my foot off the brake pedal to go into reverse, my car shot out at a high speed and hit a parked car on the other side of the street. Not realizing that there was an auto malfunction, I attempted to turn around my car to see the damage to the other car and when I went into reverse again to turn around, the car sped up again at high speed, did a 180 degree turn in reverse and hit two additional parked cars. Luckily, no one was hurt. I am 100% certain that I did not depress the accelerator pedal to cause the car to go at that speed in reverse twice! we contacted general motors which supposedly had their engineers look at the mechanicals of the car but the only information we received from them is that the car did accelerate both times at 99% of capacity. The air bags did not deploy so the crash computer did not activiate. Gm either did not examine the soft ware on the car, or, if they did, that information was not shared with us. If I had been in a crowded parking lot, the consequences could have been catastophic.

See all problems of the 2022 Cadillac XT5 🔎.

In 2021, I took my car into a gm facility to be repaired bc the a/c kept going in and out. Car was under warranty, however, gm mechanic just did a “bandaid” fix and replaced the thermostat, when there was a service bulletin put out in 2017 for this very issue. 3 years later, my car is having the exact same problem, and since car isn’t under warranty, gm will not fix it, even though I have proof they didn’t fix it correctly the first time. The service bulletin is titled, “17128: service update - potential loss of hvac control- (March 30, 2017) this issue started in October 2021 the first time, was temporarily fixed. It started again in October 2024 and is ongoing.

My car has been in and out of the dealership since January,5 2024 all the lights come on ( check engine, abs ,the message reads park assistance off all the lights the car goes crazy and stops running. This happened 3 times on the highway almost got rear ended. It is very scary I can not take this chance anymore. The dealership keeps changing one module after another and keeps telling me it is fixed. However it is not the car is in the dealership ship as of 10 days ago again. I will not pick it and drive it. Either me or someone else gets killed. I also opened a case with gm. However they just keep doing nothing. This matter needs to be addressed ASAP there is a serious problem, before someone gets killed. My name is nooshin shayani 416-398-7889 shayani01@gmail. Com can someone please get involved or I will go on tv or the newspaper if I have to. Thank you n. Shayani.

At approximately 3 pm may 20 ,2024 I was at the intersection of 17th street and mcvicar in topeka kansas when my vehicle stopped running completely. All lights on the dash went out and the doors were locked which prevented me from exiting the vehicle. No systems would operate at all. All I could do was sit there. Fortunately, I had a cell phone with me. I called my local Cadillac dealer for advice, they had very little. Finally a lady there told me she would call a tow company they recommended, which she did and the tow company, shawnee auto body did respond about 20-30 minutes later. In the meantime, a gentleman from a local tree company arrived on the scene and helped me, by placing an orange traffic cone behind the vehicle to keep oncoming vehicles from rearending me. After a few minutes the doors did finally allow me to exit the vehicle, which I was unable to do earlier due to the doors still being locked. Upon exiting the vehicle we raised the hood and discovered the negative battery cable was loose causing all power to vehicle systems to be lost. Was the cause of the problem. The replacement intrstate brand battery that I have in the vehicle negative post is smaller than the automobile cable that comes on the car and apparently when the man installed the replacement battery he failed to notify me he was unable to tighten the cable as it should have been which allowed it to become loose and vibrate off the post over a period of time. This is a major problem that needs immediate attention. What if the vehicle would have been on fire or something? I would have been trapped in the vehicle and unable to escape due to the doors remaining locked when power was lost.

I was driving on the freeway, came to a stop as traffic increased, then the car shut off m. I had no power, could not get out of the vehicle, no hazards, no tail lights, nothing. I had a complete panic attack, I thought I was going to die. I called onstar from my cell, they could even locate me. After 30 mins, calling 911, texting the representative from the dealership in which I purchased the car, it turned back on. Either the car was shut off with a signal or there is a serious hazardous issue that needs to be addressed.

On 10/18/24 I was making a left turn out of my development when a vehicle crashed into the front driver portion of my vehicle. The vehicle was going approximately 40+mph. I was driving approximately 5-10 mph making the turn. I was wearing a seatbelt, hit my head on the drivers door jam/window and immediately complained of neck and head pain. No airbags deployed. I sustained a severely herniated disc at c5-6 causing severe spinal cord compression and cervical myelopathy requiring urgent surgery. It was found that I not only had the severely herniated disc but ligament and cartilage that was severely compressing my spinal cord due to the trauma of the accident. I had a seat belt sign (bruising from the seatbelt) and sustained a concussion from the head strike. If the airbags would have deployed likely I would have not had as severe of a cervical spine injury. The vehicle only had 663 miles and only 3 weeks old. The car has at least 21k of damages. The vehicle is still being repair and not in my possession. My collision shop towed by vehicle to GMC/Cadillac dealership for computer/electrical malfunctions. They have been working on these electrical issues for over 2 weeks. The dealership verbalized that they could not differentiate if these electrical issues occurred before or after my accident. Given my serious injuries and high rate of speed that I was hit I have concerns that my airbags should have deployed. Combine with the new electrical/computer issues raises my concerns.

See all problems of the 2024 Cadillac XT5 🔎.

The driving mode don't stay in the correct control for example the SUV has three components tour, sports, snow and ice. . . While driving in tour mode the vehicle goes to sports on it owns. The electrical dash board cuts off and resets its self while in driving. Scary.

When you put the car in park, reverse, drive it jumps forward or back.

At a red light in traffic, it suddenly shut off the engine, emergency brakes went on, multiple warning lights were on (low bat, low fuel {full of fuel}, lower passenger window, etc. . ), totally immobilized itself by not being able to start the car or push it with the brakes on! 81 year old female driving and if the car did this at highway speed it could have been a catastrophe! it appeared everything else in the car was working but had 'self immobilized'!.

During the two years we have owned this vehicle, it has completely shut down. It usually happens when the vehicle is stopped or coming to a stop. Today 4. 17. 2023 it happened at 67 mph as I was accelerating to highway speed. The vehicle shut down for 2-3 seconds then restarted. The vehicle decelerated very hard, almost as if it were in a collision.

While driving the vehicle started to accelerate in its own. There was nothing obstructing the pedal. I could press down on brake with some resistance, but as soon as brake was released the, the vehicle accelerated. The vehicle did not level out with speed but continued to accelerate over 80 mph. This lasted about 8/9 mins, being controlled by riding on the break. It did it again for about 2/3 mins about 15 mins after first occurance. I took the car straight to get it looked at and the mechanic said that they could not find anything wrong with car.

Service stability track light came on. Brought to mechanic hooked up to computer. No code shown. Mechanic says car is fine. Keep it off for 15 minutes and the computer will reset. Driving on the highway emergency brake came on by itself and stopped the vehicle all caution lights lit up on on the dashboard. Service engine light came on brought it back to the mechanic again no codes shown drove it for three days has been running fine and on the fourth day vehicle will not start.

The contact owns a 2017 Cadillac Xt5. The contact stated while driving at 60-65 mph with her grand-daughter in the rear seat, the vehicle shut off inadvertently in the middle of the road. The message battery low was displayed. The vehicle failed to restart after several attempts. The vehicle was towed from the middle of the road to the side of the road. The vehicle was then towed to an independent mechanic where it was diagnosed that the electrical system had failed. An unknown repair was completed. The vehicle was repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 72,000.

The camera system has not been turning on intermittenly. Both the rear backup and the side/front cameras bring the screen to a black screen with a red triangle and red camera logo with a line through it (signifying no camera connected?). I have most commonly noticed it when I am parking in my garage at night, but it will work the next day, very hard to reproduce the conditions. .

Since 6/2022 and again 7/2022, 10/25/22 1/31/23 constantly stating service error codes for stabiltrak, antilock brakes, and brake assist not functioning and need service urgently. However when I take it to the dealership they find nothing wrong and further investigated at another Cadillac dealership they also state they found nothing. These errors continue to pop up intermittently and my Cadillac app reports them as needing service.

Driving down the road and my 2018 Cadillac Xt5 started on fire for no reason and no engine lights came on. I loss all driving control power steering in the matter of seconds and was trapped in the car waiting for cars to clear so I can run out. The car is with my insurance company the car is now a total loss and I don't think they will investigate. I called gm to make a complaint. The fireman said he had just put a fire out on the same car a week ago. I found out that we have 2 more cars in the macomb county mi area that caught on fire in the last 3 months same type of car.

Engine thermostat defective, which causes the computer to speed up radiator fans, and causes temperature gauge to read zero. Dealer replaced under warranty at 68,000 miles and same problem reoccurred at 90,000 miles. Common problem on Cadillac Xt5’s (all years).

Xt5 bumper-to-bumper warranty expired on 6-1-21. Both key fobs suddenly quit working on 7-17-21. Took to dealer 7-21-21. Cost me $300. Got it back on 7-26-21. Drove vehicle for the first time after getting it back on 7-28-21. Key fob quit working again briefly then started after I kept trying for a few minutes. After driving for 5 miles, the car completely died on very busy road - no steering, no dash lights, break lights - then the car suddenly braked really hard and I almost got rear-ended. 4-way flashers wouldn't work so I had no way to warn other drivers coming up behind me. I also was a sitting duck as I couldn't exit the vehicle since the doors wouldn't unlock and windows wouldn't go down. The temperature was in the 80s and I quickly began to overheat. I tried to signal other drivers who were beeping their horns and swerving around me until several pulled over to help. After approx. 10-15 minutes, as I was calling 911, the doors unlocked and I got the 4-ways to come on though they were working erratically. I called the dealership and they came and picked up the car. They've had it for a week and don't know what's wrong with it. This is a potentially deadly safety issue; I could have died or caused someone else to be injured or die due to the car suddenly losing all power while driving in heavy traffic with no warning, then braking hard and very unexpectedly, along with the inability to warn other drivers due to the inoperable 4-ways I also could have succumbed to hyperthermia as there was no way to escape from an extremely hot car. It appears that after doing some basic research, that this is not an isolated problem with the 2013-2017 Xt5s. There are numerous reports of incidents similar or identical to mine found on various Cadillac owners online forums. Additionally, a common complaint is that this problem has not yet been solved yet by general motors and their dealerships are at a loss to resolve this issue (they haven't been able to fix mine yet!).

The accelerator on the car started to excel and shift in traffic where I had to pull over. Over the last few months the car has had some electrical issues with the braking and collision alerts going off and the car stopping which the dealer said they couldn't find the problem. Also the brakes since purchasing the vehicle has had to be switched out several times and now the parking brake light is on after being repaired 2 times. This car is definitely unsafe and the dealer insist it is.

Sitting at a stop light and car lost all power. No ability to turn on hazard lights or call for help or anything. In my opinion this is a huge safety issue since my wife could have been rear ended since there were no lights at all on the car and no way to turn on any warning lights. Thank goodness this happened when stopped and not moving. I could not imagine the outcome of losing power at speed when everything is electronically controlled.

Vehicle in motion on highway, vehicle suddenly dies, goes dead, uncontrollable. Vehicle will not respond to engine start button. Will not respond to attempts to restart, unable to brake, vehicle continues to be uncontrollable, rolling into cross traffic. All electronics do not respond, unable to open doors to get out. Can not unlock doors all electronics flashing, door locks rapidly cycling locked all electronics uncontrollable. Unable to activate hazzard lights. Onstar system dead, unable to call for help. After approx. 30 min. Vehicle suddenly without warning restarts on it's own and begins to function.

The contact owns a 2018 Cadillac Xt5. The contact stated while driving at various speeds, the vehicle stalled. The contact stated all of the warning lights were illuminated on the control panel. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer on three different occasions where it was diagnosed with nothing needing to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer had not been informed of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 80,264.

2nd time this issue occurred. 1st time was in 2019 and it took two weeks for the dealership to figure out it was the battery. While driving the car, the electronics go crazy, the engine stops for a split second, brakes are lost for a split second, cruise control turns off, every possible alarm displays on the dash. The dash beeps, all of the lights flash, the speed/pressure/temperature needles go to 0, the air condition turns off, etc. All of this occurred while I was driving 60mph on a highway. I quickly pulled off to the side of the road. Since this has occurred before, I took out my phone and turned on the video. I started driving again and the same issues above started occurring again. The video is too large to upload - 90mb. I can send a onedrive link if needed.

The contact owns a 2018 Cadillac Xt5. The contact stated that while driving at various speeds, the steering reduced warning message would intermittently appear on the instrument panel. The manufacturer was notified of the failure and referred her to local dealer for assistance. The contact was also informed that there were no recalls on the vehicle. The vehicle had yet to be repaired. The contact had yet to experience a power steering failure despite the frequent illumination of the warning message. The failure mileage was unknown.