2002 Cadillac Sts: what breaks, and at what mileage
What breaks on the 2002 Cadillac Sts
On the 2002 Cadillac Sts, the failure owners report most often is brake line, hose or caliper failure, with 3 reports on file. Across every failure mode on this year, half the dated reports were filed before 105,000 miles.
What owners report breaking
Owners have reported 7 named failure modes on the 2002 Cadillac Sts, and the three most-reported carry 60% of everything filed, so the trouble here is concentrated rather than scattered.
Brake line, hose or caliper failure leads with 3 reports and about 0.1 per 1,000 vehicles.
Engine bay fire follows with 2 reports.
Ignition switch, key fob or immobilizer failure follows with 1 report.
By system, the reports fall mostly into brakes (3), engine (2) and electrical (1).
At what mileage it happens
Too few of the reports on this year carry an odometer reading to describe the timing: 7 of them do. The mileages quoted elsewhere on this page come from the modes that have enough of them.
Tick median reported mileage Solid middle half of reports Faint 10th to 90th percentile Colour how bad the failure is when it happens
How reports accumulate
Every report with an odometer reading, cumulative, from 0 to 200,000 miles. A curve that climbs early is a car with early problems, whatever its total.
- Line share of reports filed by that mileage
What happens when these parts fail
Nothing in the reports on the 2002 Cadillac Sts mentions a crash, a fire or an injury. That is the ordinary case and it is worth stating: most defect complaints are about a car that stopped working, not one that hurt somebody.
The average severity weight across every report on this year is 5.30, where a stalled engine or a failed airbag weighs many times more than a rattling trim panel, and a figure this high means the reports are dominated by failures with safety consequences rather than annoyances. The weighting is set out in full on the methodology page.
What the top failures cost to put right, as editorial estimates for an independent US shop rather than figures from NHTSA: brake line, hose or caliper failure at $250–$1,600, engine bay fire at $4,000–$20,000, ignition switch, key fob or immobilizer failure at $250–$1,500 and other steering problem at $350–$2,400. Dealer labour, a seized bolt or a part that is no longer made can push any of these past the top of its range.
20% of the reports on this year sit in the engine, transmission, drivetrain or cooling systems — the four where a repair bill is usually four figures.
Every reported failure mode
| Failure mode | System | Reports | With reading | 25th | Median | 75th | Per 1,000 | Typical repair | Severity |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brake line, hose or caliper failure | brakes | 3 | 3 | — | 81k | — | 0.1 | $250–$1,600 | Critical |
| Engine bay fire | engine | 2 | 0 | — | — | — | 0.1 | $4,000–$20,000 | Critical |
| Ignition switch, key fob or immobilizer failure | electrical | 1 | 0 | — | — | — | 0.0 | $250–$1,500 | High |
| Other steering problem | steering | 1 | 1 | — | 140k | — | 0.0 | $350–$2,400 | High |
| Other suspension problem | suspension | 1 | 1 | — | 140k | — | 0.0 | $350–$2,000 | Moderate |
| Other wheel or tire problem | wheels | 1 | 1 | — | 140k | — | 0.0 | $200–$1,500 | High |
| Other driver assistance problem | adas | 1 | 1 | — | 100k | — | 0.0 | $250–$1,800 | High |
This year had no usable recall paperwork, so the fleet-size estimate is the median of other years of the same model. Repair costs are typical independent-shop ranges for the failure, not figures from these reports.
How often, against how many were built
Scaled by an estimate of how many of these cars exist, the 2002 Cadillac Sts draws about 0.4 per 1,000 vehicles, which puts it in the 68th percentile of complaint rates among 2002 vehicles we can rate.
That denominator is the weakest number on the page and it is fair to say so plainly. This year had no usable recall paperwork, so the fleet-size estimate is the median of other years of the same model.
The working figure is 22,994 vehicles. If the true number is twice that, every rate on this page is half what it says; the ranking against other 2002 vehicles, which is what the risk score uses, is far more robust than the rate itself.
What owners wrote
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint narratives, trimmed for length. The odometer reading is the one the owner gave.
Brake line, hose or caliper failure
Tl*the contact owns a 2002 cadillac sts. The contact felt that the vehicle was not braking properly while driving 15 MPH. She took the vehicle to a repair shop and the mechanic found holes in the brake line that were three inches apart, which rubbed against the housing for the transmission. The contact called the manufacturer and they stated that she must take the vehicle to a dealer to confirm that the failure existed. The vehicle is currently at the dealer, but the contact does not know if she will be responsible for the repairs. She believes that it is a manufacturer defect that should be recalled. The current and failure mileages were 66,700.
I have a 2002 cad. Sts with 81,000 miles. About 2weeks ago the warning light stating check brake fluid. I checked it and added some. It did it again a week later but the brakes almost failed. I took it to a gmc dealer who told me the brake line broke because it was rubbing on the transmission. He told me he had never seen this happen before. I also have a friend who worked as service manager for a gmc dealer and he stated he had never seen that happen. He gave me a phone at gmc to call. The # 800-458-8006 they gave me a service #. I received a call back from 866-790-5700 x21073. After 2 days the man told me they could not help me cause the vehicle was 8 years old and had 81,000 miles. They were not concerned about the safety issue. *tr
Where 2002 sits in the model line
Across the 9 model years of this car that carry enough reports to score, 1999 comes out best at 55 and 2000 worst at 73.
Within the 2001–2004 generation specifically, 2001 is the strongest year at 58 and 2003 the weakest at 62.
Scores compare each year against other cars of the same model year, so a low number on an older car is a real result and not an artefact of age.
Shorter is better. Years with too few reports to score are shown without a bar rather than as a zero, because no data is not good news.
Within the 2001-2004 generation, 2001 Cadillac Sts scores best at 58 and 2003 Cadillac Sts worst at 62.
The limits of complaint data
10 owner reports; fleet size borrowed from other years of the same model. Every count on this page is therefore a floor: it is the number of owners who went to the trouble of filing with a federal agency, which is a small and self-selected fraction of the owners who had the fault.
Of those 10 reports, 7 carried an odometer reading, so the mileages here describe 70% of the sample rather than all of it. Owners also round: readings pile up on multiples of ten thousand, which is why this site publishes "about 90,000 miles" and not "91,438".
The failure modes are assigned by software reading the owner's own words, which is accurate in bulk and wrong in individual cases. A mode with a handful of reports may contain a misfiled one.
And nothing here predicts what one car will do. These are other people's complaints, filed years apart, on cars maintained by strangers. Read the page as a map of where this model year has previously gone wrong, then have the specific car in front of you inspected.
Questions this page answers
What are the most common problems with the 2002 Cadillac Sts?
The most-reported failures are brake line, hose or caliper failure (3 reports, median 80,000 miles), engine bay fire (2 reports) and ignition switch, key fob or immobilizer failure (1 report). Counts come from owner complaints filed with NHTSA, which are voluntary, so they show what owners bothered to report rather than every fault that occurred.
Which year of the Cadillac Sts is best?
Within the 2001–2004 generation, 2001 scores best at 58 out of 100 and 2003 worst at 62. Same body, same engines, different luck.
Where this comes from. Every figure above is computed from NHTSA owner complaints and recall records for this exact make, model and year. Complaints are voluntary and self-selected, so treat counts as a floor. The methodology page writes out each formula, and the same numbers are available as JSON.
What breaks at my mileage Compare with another car
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