Lexus RX vs Cadillac CTS

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	Lexus RX	Cadillac CTS
Complaints on file	1,271	3,104
Model years covered	1999–2026	2003–2019
Worst model year	2021	2005
Best model year	2012	2019
Crashes reported	155	301
Fires reported	22	60
Injuries reported	81	194
Deaths reported	1	13
Most complained-about part	Other & Unspecified	Transmission & Drivetrain
Share of complaints involving harm	20.4%	18.3%

Lexus RX by year

41 30 25 13 4 56 39 52 79 89 42 107 36 18 25 13 27 33 62 34 63 57 87 46 79 77 30 7

99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 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

Other & Unspecified 171 13.5%

Engine & Cooling 153 12.0%

Transmission & Drivetrain 134 10.5%

Airbags 129 10.1%

Brakes 125 9.8%

Electrical System 110 8.7%

Body & Structure 82 6.5%

Driver Assist & Collision Avoidance 82 6.5%

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%