CSR

Cadillac · NHTSA safety record

2012 Cadillac SRX

Every safety complaint, recall and defect investigation the US government holds on this vehicle.

416

Complaints

32

Crashes

4

Fires

32

Injuries

2

Deaths

Owners of the 2012 Cadillac SRX have filed 416 safety complaints with NHTSA between February 2012 and June 2026. The most complained-about system is the exterior lighting, named in 233 of them (56%). The typical failure was reported at 73,000 miles, the median across the 270 complaints that gave an odometer reading.

NHTSA has issued 3 recalls covering this vehicle.

Recalls (3)

SUSPENSION:REAR

21V473000 · June 24, 2021

Do not drive until repaired

The defect
General Motors, LLC (GM) is recalling certain 2010-2016 Cadillac SRX and 2011-2012 Saab 9-4X vehicles. The rear suspension toe link adjuster may not have been tightened properly, which could result in a loose toe link.
The risk
A loose toe link can separate and cause a loss of vehicle control, increasing the risk of a crash.
The remedy
Owners are advised to not drive their vehicle if they experience certain Malfunction Indicator Lamp (MIL) warnings or other issues, such as unusual steering behavior, while driving. Please see the Part 573 report for the full list of warnings. Dealers will replace the adjustable toe link with a non-adjustable one, free of charge. Interim owner notification letters were mailed August 6, 2021. Owner notification letters were mailed on October 25, 2021. Cadillac and Saab customers may direct questions to Cadillac customer service at 1-800-333-4223. GM's number for this recall is N212340980.

General Motors, LLC · up to 380,498 vehicles across all model years covered

SUSPENSION:REAR

14V571000 · September 19, 2014

The defect
General Motors LLC (GM) is recalling certain model year 2010-2015 Cadillac SRX vehicles manufactured April 14, 2009, to September 1, 2014, and 2011-2012 Saab 9-4X vehicles manufactured February 1, 2011, to September 13, 2011. On the affected vehicles, the jam nut in the rear suspension toe adjuster link may not be torqued to the proper specification. A loose toe adjuster link can cause the vehicle to sway or wander at highway speeds. A loose toe adjuster link may lead to thread damage and eventual failure. Failure of the toe adjuster link will cause an abrupt change in the vehicle's alignment.
The risk
Failure of the toe adjuster link could cause a loss of vehicle control, increasing the risk of a crash.
The remedy
GM will notify owners, and dealers will inspect the torque of the left and right rear toe link adjuster lock nuts, and replace the parts if there is evidence of damage or a loose link, free of charge. The The recall began November 11, 2014. Owners may contact Cadillac customer service at 1-800-458-8006 or Saab customer service at 1-800-955-9007. GM's number for this recall is 14457.

General Motors LLC · up to 290,241 vehicles across all model years covered

SEATS:FRONT ASSEMBLY:POWER ADJUST

14V447000 · July 23, 2014

The defect
General Motors LLC (GM) is recalling certain model year 2011-2012 Buick LaCrosse, Regal and Chevrolet Camaro, as well as certain 2010-2012 Cadillac SRX, Chevrolet Equinox and GMC Terrain vehicles, equipped with power height adjustable driver and passenger seats. In the affected vehicles, the bolt that secures the driver's and passenger's power front seat height adjuster may fall out causing the seat to drop suddenly to the lowest vertical position.
The risk
If the driver's seat unexpectedly drops, the distraction and altered seat position may affect the drivers' control of the vehicle, increasing the risk of a crash.
The remedy
GM will notify owners, and dealers will replace the height adjuster shoulder bolts, free of charge. The manufacturer distributed interim letters to owners on September 11, 2014. The recall began on December 26, 2014. Owners may contact GM customer service at 1-800-521-7300 (Buick), 1-800-458-8006 (Cadillac), 1-800-222-1020 (Chevrolet), or 1-800-462-8782 (GMC). GM's number for this recall is 14271.

General Motors LLC · up to 414,333 vehicles across all model years covered

Defect investigations (1)

An investigation means NHTSA has decided a pattern is worth examining. A preliminary evaluation is often closed with no action; an engineering analysis is the stage that usually precedes a recall.

Rear Toe Link Adjuster Separation

PE20019

Closed preliminary evaluation · opened November 6, 2020 · closed December 23, 2021 · led to recall 21V473000

the suspension

On November 06, 2020, the Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) opened a Preliminary Evaluation (PE20-019) to assess the remedy and scope of General Motors (GM) recall 14V-571. ODI had received a total of 9 complaints with allegations of rear toe links separating while the vehicle was in motion. There were 4 complainants indicating that the remedy for recall 14V-571 had been performed on their vehicle. The other 5 complaints were outside the original recall scope but exhibited the same failure mode as addressed by recall 14V-571 and reported uncontrolled swaying while driving.ODI's review focused on all 2010-2015 Cadillac SRX vehicles that experienced a rear toe link failure while the vehicle was in motion under various driving conditions. The failures were the same or similar to those addressed by the remedy associated with recall 14V-571. The remedy for recall 14V-571 was to inspect the rear toe link adjusters and replace them if necessary as well as tighten both jam nuts to a manufacturer specified torque. The remedy can be reversed when the vehicle gets a rear alignment adjustment and the jam nuts are not properly re-torqued to the manufacturer's specification. ODI's data review confirmed a high toe link failure rate in vehicles that either had and had not received the remedy associated with recall 14V-571. On June 24, 2021, GM filed a defect information report recalling all 2010-2016 Cadillac SRX and 2011-2012 Saab 9-4X vehicles to remedy the potential failure of the rear toe link adjuster while driving. The remedy replaces adjustable toe links with non-adjustable toe links. The recall (21V-473) includes vehicles that were remedied under 14V-571. In view of the recall action being taken by GM, ODI is closing this Preliminary Evaluation. NHTSA reserves the right to take additional action if warranted by future circumstances.The ODI complaints cited above can be viewed at www.nhtsa.gov.The ODI identification numbers for the complaints cited above can be found in a separate document attached to this closing resume.

What owners report

Complaints naming each system. One complaint can name several, so these add up to more than 416.

EXTERIOR LIGHTING 233 56%
SERVICE BRAKES 42 10%
SUSPENSION 41 10%
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM 32 8%
UNKNOWN OR OTHER 27 6%
STRUCTURE 19 5%
STEERING 18 4%
AIR BAGS 15 4%
ENGINE 15 4%
VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL 14 3%
POWER TRAIN 11 3%
VISIBILITY/WIPER 11 3%

When the complaints arrived

By the year NHTSA received them, which is not the year the failures happened. They peaked in 2019 at 87.

2012 2019 2026
2012 to 2026, the last of them a part year

In owners' own words

Quoted from NHTSA's complaint file. These are unverified accounts by the people who filed them, not findings of fault.

AIR BAGS

2 deaths · 2 injured

A deer rammed my passager side . airbag light was always on saying passenger airbag off . but when it explodes it injured my passenger . all the airbags didn't activate my car shut down after the incident but a few moments after it regenerated there were all types of debris after the extreme loudness of the air bags explosion. I'm still traumatized.

NHTSA complaint 11744662. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

AIR BAGS

3 injured · crash · towed

2012 Cadillac SRX was traveling approximately 30mph and t-boned another vehicle at an intersection. Both vehicles were totaled. The airbags in the Cadillac did not deploy and the seatbelt did not lock, causing the driver to be thrust forward into the steering wheel and windshield. Significant head injury. The safety of everyone was at risk, this car was not even road-worthy from the moment it left the floor.

NHTSA complaint 11731874. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

ELECTRONIC STABILITY CONTROL (ESC)

2 injured · crash · towed · 90,000 miles

LOWER FRONT DRIVERS BALL JOINT FAILED. CAUSING SERIOUS ACCIDENT AT HIGHWAY SPEED

NHTSA complaint 11093472. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

AIR BAGS

2 injured · crash · towed · 133,000 miles

TL* THE CONTACT OWNS A 2012 CADILLAC SRX. THE CONTACT STATED WHILE DRIVING 25 MPH, WHEN DEPRESSING ON THE BRAKE PEDAL BUT THE VEHICLE BEGAN TO ACCELERATE. THE CONTACT STATED NO WARNING LIGHT WAS ILLUMINATED. THE CONTACT STATED HE REAR ENDED ANOTHER VEHICLE. AIRBAGS DID NOT DEPLOY. THE CONTACT SUSTAINED A FRACTURED RIGHT FOOT, BACK AND NECK INJURIES AND FRONT PASSENGER SUSTAINED NECK, BACK AND BOTH KNEES INJURED. THE CONTACT DID SEEK MEDICAL ATTENTION THE FOLLOWING DAY. A POLICE REPORT WAS FILED. THE VEHICLE WAS NOT DRIVABLE. THE VEHICLE WAS TOWED TO TOW LOT. THE CONTACT STATED HE CALLED USED DEALER AND WERE MADE AWARE OF THE FAILURE. THE VEHICLE WAS NOT DIAGNOSED OR REPAIRED AS OF YET. A

NHTSA complaint 11390471, quoted in part. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

STRUCTURE

152,667 miles

The contact owns a 2012 Cadillac SRX. The contact stated that the vehicle was having a failure with the drains for the sunroof. The contact stated that water was draining directly into the driver's and passenger’s side footwells. The contact stated that there was water saturating the carpet. Additionally, after it had rained, the radio intermittently stopped functioning. The vehicle was taken to a local dealer several times, but the vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not informed of the failure. The failure mileage was 152,667.

NHTSA complaint 11729757. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

EXTERIOR LIGHTING
The headlights don’t work very well when they are dimmed. To the point that one has to use high beams all the time.

NHTSA complaint 11725577. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

ELECTRICAL SYSTEM
there was a sunroof recall on my year of vehicle, with this being a used vehicle the previous owners did not know about the sunroof recall and this is why they sold the vehicle not knowing the issues it caused, so I purchased this vehicle wanting it to be my forever vehicle and still do, i am wanting the sunroof drain issue fixed as this has messed with all of my electronical functions in my vehicle, when it rains or snows the electrical information stops working as it has gotten wet due to the drain shrinkage not being fixed, I cannot drive my vehicle safely when this happens, i have to wait until it dries to drive my vehicle again. Please help me with getting the recall reinstated so i

NHTSA complaint 11699885, quoted in part. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

UNKNOWN OR OTHER

1 injured

My car was parked and in the park gear it was left running I went to get in the car to turn it off to stay awhile where I was at I got one leg in the car and reached over to push the button to turn it off and it lurched backwards and rolled over me and almost cut my leg off it kept rolling another good 200 ft or more before it stopped and it was still in the park position I read where there's a recall on the transmission on this car but I was injured very badly in this incident I do not know what happened because the car was in park and should not have rolled when I turned it off but it did and rolled over me and knock me down and cut my legs severely

NHTSA complaint 11685045. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

Compare

Other years of the Cadillac SRX

Model year Complaints Recalls Deaths
2016 168 2 3
2015 442 4
2014 389 2
2013 393 5
2011 446 7
2010 474 6

Other 2012 Cadillac models

Every Cadillac on this site — 91 vehicles, 198 recall campaigns and 4 open investigation s.

If this is your car and a dealer keeps failing to fix it, your state's lemon law may require the manufacturer to replace it or buy it back. What each state asks for , read from the statutes.

Where these numbers come from

A complaint is one owner's account and has not been verified by NHTSA or by us. A vehicle with more complaints is not necessarily worse: models that sold in larger numbers collect more of them. How this is counted.

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Independent developer and analyst