Other steering problem on the 2009 Cadillac Cts
2 crashes 1 injury 3 of the 8 reports for this failure mention a crash, a fire, an injury or a death. Those are the owner's words on the complaint form, not a verified finding, and one report can mention more than one.
Only 5 reports for this mode came with an odometer reading, which is too few for percentiles to mean anything. The page is here because someone linked to it; treat the figures as anecdotes, and see the full report for this year instead.
When other steering problem gets reported
There are 8 reports of other steering problem on the 2009 Cadillac Cts, 5 with a mileage attached. That is too few to place the failure on the odometer with any confidence.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 95,000 miles. It is the 8th most-reported problem on this model year.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| — | — | 46,500 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
Of these reports, 2 a crash and 1 an injury are mentioned. Owners write their own complaints and the agency does not verify them, so read this as what the reports say happened rather than as a confirmed count.
Putting it right typically runs $350–$2,400 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 10 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2013, at a median of 15,000 miles, and latest on the 2008 at 125,000 miles.
By volume the 2003 carries the most reports, with 13; the 2009 has 8. 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.
2009 cts di has had constant problems with vibration in front end felt thru steering wheel vibration as well. Occurs anywhere from 60-75 MPH mostly highway driving. Dealer has tried changing tires, replacing suspension parts and still the dealer states cannot find the culprit. Dealer is acting very responsible as always. I have concerns that a safety issue is looming and hope this gets resolved soon. Problem has existed for some time and dealer has had the car for resolution of same 4 times. Dealer agrees a problem exists but to dat no cure. ( 8-15-2010). *tr
We were leaving a diner parking lot in the afternoon, when I had to stop for a delivery truck blocking our exit. When the truck pulled forward I lightly pressed the accelerator and the car began to surge forward and to our left(my wife was in the car with me). I pressed down on the brakes and the car continued forward and began to turn to the right and I tried to steer the car to the left but the steering did not respond resulting in my hitting two parked cars. I had the car towed to the cadillac dealer. The dealer indicated that there was nothing wrong with the car and suggested that the surge was caused my a secondary car mat but could not explain the steering problem. This same situation occurred during our severe snow storm last winter. At the time I assumed it was due to icing conditions on the road and my dealer indicated that they had reset the car codes to correct any errors(stability control light stayed on)
Driving down the interstate highway going about 65 - 69 MPH, the right wheel tire started shaking violently, and squealing then, it started wobbling but I was able to get it to come to a complete stop after it spun around a few circles. I got out of the car and noticed that the right rear wheel was sticking out and crooked. I took the car to the dealership right after that, and they replaced the knuckle, link, bolt and tire rod. The suspension got extremely messed up that I've still been unable to get the suspension back to somewhat normal. This costed me 948.01. *tr
Also reported on the 2009 Cadillac Cts
Timing chain, belt or tensioner failure
Other electrical problem
Other powertrain problem
Other body or interior problem
Other speed control problem
Other brake problem
How far this goes
This page is kept out of search results because 8 reports is not enough to publish percentiles from. It stays reachable because somebody looking at this exact car would rather see the reports than be told there are none.
Complaints are voluntary, so 8 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 other steering problem happen on the 2009 Cadillac Cts?
Across 5 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 45,000 miles. A quarter were filed before — and a quarter after —. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is other steering problem on the 2009 Cadillac Cts?
8 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