Differential or transfer case failure on the 2011 Cadillac Cts
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 differential or transfer case failure gets reported
There are 5 reports of differential or transfer case failure on the 2011 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 110,000 miles. It is the 9th most-reported problem on this model year.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| — | — | 64,000 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 $900–$4,200 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 12 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2006, at a median of 12,500 miles, and latest on the 2015 at 105,000 miles.
By volume the 2014 carries the most reports, with 81; the 2011 has 5. 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.
I purchased a new 2011 cadillac cts coupe. It continuously makes a groaning sound which appears to be coming from the rear part of the drive train. The dealer changed the differential fluid to correct the problem. However, the problem remains. I believe this sound is produced by a defective component in the drive train (differential, bearings etc.), which will ultimately lead to a component failure that can cause a serious accident. *tr
My cadillac cts 2011 has had a failure in the rear differential, twice since I have owned it. The first time was sept 2013 and the entire rear differential had to be replaced, and now jan 2016, the exact same issue has occurred. There is a service bulletin on the vehicle of sb11084 and an NHTSA item number 10038765. It is a same that this is a know problem and a recall has not been generated. The vehicle will be out of the powertrain warranty at the end of february so unless a recall is done, this will not be covered on its next failure in a year.
The gm rear differential is defective on this 2011 cadillac cts I own. Nhtsa did an investigation on these rear differentials to include the 2004 to 2007 rear ends. The same rear end is on cadillac sts, cts-v and these rear ends were continued to be placed by gm, without fix, in cadillac cts until 2013. Same design, same mechanical parts. My car is a 2011 that just had a new rear differential from gm put in to solve its issues. After installation, the same problems exist with a roaring and thumping noise that has been verified by repair shops coming from the old and new rear differential. These issues are either with the side differential carrier bearings and/or the ring and pinion system. Gm has never provided a fix except to recommend a different viscosity of fluid that only quietens down the noise. Eventually, the rear ends have catastrophic failure and have caused, as investigated by the NHTSA, the car to spin and injury or worse result. This issue has never been fixed by gm and they continue to sell and install rear differentials for which there is no fix. I discussed this also at length with service manager of sewell…
Also reported on the 2011 Cadillac Cts
Other powertrain problem
Other electrical problem
Other body or interior problem
CV axle or driveshaft failure
Other engine problem
Other steering problem
How far this goes
This page is kept out of search results because 5 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 5 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 differential or transfer case failure happen on the 2011 Cadillac Cts?
Across 5 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 65,000 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 differential or transfer case failure on the 2011 Cadillac Cts?
5 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.1 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