No-start or intermittent start failure on the 2003 Cadillac Cts
When no-start or intermittent start failure gets reported
Owners of the 2003 Cadillac Cts report no-start or intermittent start failure at a median of 90,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 75,000 miles and a quarter after 90,000 miles, from 8 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 88,000 miles. It is the 16th most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 70,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 110,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 38,100 miles across the middle 80% of reports.
A window that narrow is the signature of a part that fails on its own schedule rather than on how the car is driven — which is usually a design or supplier problem rather than wear and tear.
0% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 71,300 miles | 74,000 miles | 90,100 miles | 92,000 miles | 109,400 miles |
Read the 10th percentile as “one report in ten arrived this early”. Exact figures are shown in this table because it is the table of record; everywhere else on the site they are rounded to the precision the sample can carry.
What a percentile can and cannot tell you here
These five numbers describe the readings owners gave, in order. The median is the middle one: half the reports arrived below it. The 10th and 90th are the edges of the bulk of the distribution, and the distance between them is the part worth reading. A tight spread — say 70,000 to 95,000 miles — points at something that wears out on a schedule, and the schedule is knowable. A wide one, 20,000 to 190,000, points at a fault that hits some cars and never troubles others, which means the mileage on the listing in front of you tells you very little about your odds.
What these figures are not is a survival curve. Every reading here comes from a car whose owner filed a complaint, so the sample contains only failures: it cannot say what share of the fleet made it past 150,000 miles untouched, because those owners had nothing to report. Nor is the mileage the moment of failure — it is the odometer reading as recalled at the time of filing, which may be weeks later and is sometimes rounded to the nearest ten thousand by the person typing it.
Percentiles are shown at all only once 8 readings exist for the vehicle and mode. Below that the middle of a handful of numbers is noise wearing a decimal point, so the figures are withheld rather than dressed up.
What happens, and what it costs
Putting it right typically runs $200–$1,800 at an independent US shop. That range is an editorial estimate held in this site's failure-mode catalogue, not a figure from NHTSA, and it is a repair cost rather than a diagnosis cost.
The same failure on other years
The same failure is reported on 7 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2016, at a median of 5,000 miles, and latest on the 2007 at 235,000 miles.
By volume the 2008 carries the most reports, with 12; the 2003 has 10. A mode that appears across most years of a model is usually a design choice rather than a bad batch.
If one year stands out to the left, that is the year to avoid; if the whole line sits at a similar mileage, this is wear rather than a defect in one production run.
Tick median reported mileage Solid middle half of reports Faint 10th to 90th percentile Colour how bad the failure is when it happens
What owners wrote
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint narratives, trimmed for length. The mileage is the one the owner gave.
Purchased 2003 cts used in 2007 with 54,000 miles. At 60,000 miles, the serpentine belt broke and destroyed engine in the middle of rush hour traffic. 30 days later coil went out and had to be towed again. Approximately 30 days after that the other coil went out and again vehicle was towed to the dealer for repairs. Currently the car is sitting in my driveway and will not start. Took to repair shop close to my house and they said the electrical system is too messed up to run a diagnostic on it. Prior to the vehicle dying in the driveway, the engine shut down in the middle of the road on two separate occasions. I lost steering and had to push it off the road. It is a dangerous and unreliable vehicle and should not be on the road. I contacted cadillac but received no response. The car currently has only 74000 miles on it with a total of maybe 20000 added in three years of ownership mostly due to the car needing constant repairs. I cannot afford to make the payments and pay for repairs both at the same time. I do not trust the safety of this vehicle. *tr
Purchased 2003 cts used in 2007 with 54,000 miles. At 60,000 miles, the serpentine belt broke and destroyed engine in the middle of rush hour traffic. 30 days later coil went out and had to be towed again. Approximately 30 days after that the other coil went out and again vehicle was towed to the dealer for repairs. Currently the car is sitting in my driveway and will not start. Took to repair shop close to my house and they said the electrical system is too messed up to run a diagnostic on it. Prior to the vehicle dying in the driveway, the engine shut down in the middle of the road on two separate occasions. I lost steering and had to push it off the road. It is a dangerous and unreliable vehicle and should not be on the road. I contacted cadillac but received no response. The car currently has only 74000 miles on it with a total of maybe 20000 added in three years of ownership mostly due to the car needing constant repairs. I cannot afford to make the payments and pay for repairs both at the same time. I do not trust the safety of this vehicle. *tr
Tl*the contact owns a 2003 cadillac cts. The contact stated whenever the vehicle was not started for a few days it would only start with a jump start. The vehicle was taken to the dealer at least three times who stated the battery caused the failure to occur. A brand new battery was installed but the vehicle would not start. The contact also stated that the trunk was too heavy to stay in the up position each time she opened it. The trunk had fallen onto her head but there were no injuries. The manufacturer stated that there were no recalls and offered no assistance. The failure mileage was 90,100.
Also reported on the 2003 Cadillac Cts
Other electrical problem
Other engine problem
Other lighting problem
Other body or interior problem
Other driver assistance problem
Other speed control problem
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 10 is a floor and not a count of affected cars. Mileages are typed in by owners and cluster on round numbers. And the mode itself is assigned by software reading the complaint text, which is reliable in bulk and fallible one report at a time.
Questions this page answers
At what mileage does no-start or intermittent start failure happen on the 2003 Cadillac Cts?
Across 8 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 90,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 75,000 miles and a quarter after 90,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is no-start or intermittent start failure on the 2003 Cadillac Cts?
10 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.2 per 1,000 vehicles. Complaints are voluntary, so this is a floor rather than a count of affected cars.
What this is and is not. These are the mileages at which owners chose to complain to a federal agency, which is not the same as the mileage at which the part fails on every car. It skews toward failures that happened outside warranty, cost real money, or frightened someone. It is still the only public dataset that carries failure mileage at all, and the shape of a few hundred readings is informative even when a single one is not. Methodology · JSON · this failure on other cars
Source Owner complaints and recall records published by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, model years 1996–2027 Figures rebuilt Published by AtWhatMileage How every figure is computed