Cadillac CTS vs Tesla Model 3

Both cars' complete complaint records, side by side.

Read the totals carefully. NHTSA publishes no sales figures, so the car that sold more collects more complaints regardless of quality. The rows worth weighing are the proportions — the share of complaints that involved harm, and which part dominates.

Measure	Cadillac CTS	Tesla Model 3
Complaints on file	3,104	7,584
Model years covered	2003–2019	2017–2026
Worst model year	2005	2018
Best model year	2019	2017
Crashes reported	301	859
Fires reported	60	40
Injuries reported	194	331
Deaths reported	13	25
Most complained-about part	Transmission & Drivetrain	Driver Assist & Collision Avoidance
Share of complaints involving harm	18.3%	16.5%

Cadillac CTS by year

450 294 396 371 314 252 222 101 148 81 106 198 65 47 33 10 16

03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19

Complaints filed with NHTSA, by model year. Bar colour is the FaultScore grade: A B C D F ungraded

What breaks

Transmission & Drivetrain 480 15.5%

Airbags 393 12.7%

Electrical System 387 12.5%

Engine & Cooling 337 10.9%

Brakes 323 10.4%

Steering 162 5.2%

Suspension 118 3.8%

Other & Unspecified 118 3.8%

Tesla Model 3 by year

56 1,693 1,050 767 1,225 1,497 726 330 209 31

17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26

Complaints filed with NHTSA, by model year. Bar colour is the FaultScore grade: A B C D F ungraded

What breaks

Driver Assist & Collision Avoidance 2,922 38.5%

Other & Unspecified 681 9.0%

Acceleration & Cruise Control 629 8.3%

Brakes 564 7.4%

Electrical System 555 7.3%

Steering 387 5.1%

Suspension 359 4.7%

Airbags 310 4.1%