2016 Cadillac Escalade Esv problems, complaints & recalls
Most-reported problem areas: Suspension (4) · Power Train (4) · Electrical System (2)
🧭 Reliability snapshot
Compared against other Cadillac Escalade Esv model years — complaint volume vs the model's median year, recalls and severity. How we score →
Safety recalls (3)
Seat Belts:pretensioner 2017-07-10 · campaign 17V437000 · 40,683 vehicles
Defect: General Motors LLC (GM) is recalling certain model year 2014-2016 Buick Lacrosse and Chevrolet Spark EV, Caprice PPV and SS vehicles, 2014-2017 Buick Encore and Chevrolet Corvette, Silverado 1500 and GMC Sierra 1500 vehicles, 2015-2016 Cadillac Escalade and Escalade ESV, Chevrolet Tahoe, Trax, Suburban and Silverado 2500 and 3500 and GMC Yukon and Yukon XL vehicles, and 2015-2017 GMC Sierra HD 2500 and 3500 vehicles. While being previously remedied for recall 16V-651, the affected vehicles may
Risk: A failure of the front air bags or seat belt pretensioners to deploy in the event of a crash necessitating deployment increases the risk of injury to the driver and front passenger.
Fix: GM will notify owners, and dealers will reflash the SDM software. Vehicles that have had a previous air bag deployment will have the SDM replaced. These repairs will be performed free of charge. The recall began on August 4, 2017. Owners may contact Buick customer service at 1-800-521-7300, Cadillac customer service at 1-800-458-8006, Chevrolet customer service at 1-800-222-1020, or GMC customer service at 1-800-462-8782. GM's number for this recall is 17287.
Seat Belts:pretensioner 2016-09-08 · campaign 16V651000 · 3,640,162 vehicles
Defect: General Motors LLC (GM) is recalling certain model year 2015-2017 Chevrolet Silverado 2500 HD, 3500 HD, Tahoe, Suburban, GMC Sierra 2500 HD and 3500 HD, GMC Yukon, GMC Yukon XL, Cadillac Escalade and Cadillac Escalade ESV vehicles and 2014-2017 Chevrolet Corvette, Silverado 1500, Trax, Caprice Police Pursuit Vehicle, GMC Sierra 1500, Buick Encore, and 2014-2016 Buick Lacrosse, Chevrolet Spark EV and SS vehicles. In the affected vehicles, certain driving conditions may cause the air bag sensing
Risk: A failure of the front air bags or seat belt pretensioners to deploy in the event of a crash necessitating deployment increases the risk of injury to the driver and front passenger.
Fix: GM will notify owners, and dealers will reflash the SDM software. Vehicles that have had a previous air bag deployment will have the SDM replaced. These repairs will be performed free of charge. The recall began on October 13, 2016. Owners may contact Buick customer service at 1-800-521-7300, Cadillac customer service at 1-800-458-8006, Chevrolet customer service at 1-800-222-1020, or GMC customer service at 1-800-462-8782. GM's number for this recall is 16007.
Suspension:front:control Arm 2016-04-28 · campaign 16V256000 · 3,738 vehicles ⚠ DO NOT DRIVE
Defect: General Motors LLC (GM) is recalling certain model year 2016-2017 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 and 2016 Cadillac Escalade, Cadillac Escalade ESV, Chevrolet Suburban, Chevrolet Tahoe, GMC Sierra, GMC Yukon and GMC Yukon XL vehicles. The front upper control arms may have inadequate welds near the control arm bushing.
Risk: Inadequate welds may allow the control arm to separate from the bushing, compromising steering and increasing the risk of a crash.
Fix: GM will notify owners, and dealers will replace the left and right front upper control arms and realign the vehicle, free of charge. The recall began on May 18, 2016. Until the repairs have been made, owners are advised not to drive their vehicles. Owners may contact Chevrolet customer service at 1-800-222-1020, Cadillac customer service at 1-800-458-8006, or GMC customer service at 1-800-462-8782. GM's number for this recall is 42190.
Service bulletins (1,523)
Technical service bulletins are repair instructions manufacturers send dealers for known issues. Unlike recalls, the fix is not automatically free — but naming the bulletin at the service desk can save diagnosis time and support goodwill repairs.
Unknown Or Other 2026-09-26 · PIT5698F · Service Bulletin/Repair Instructions
this pi provides diagnostics tips on how the lin bus works and how to diagnosis it.
Unknown Or Other 2026-09-21 · PIP5700H · Service Bulletin/Repair Instructions
this pi communicates the proper part numbers for transmission connectors and internal harness to prevent confusion when ordering
Unknown Or Other 2026-09-04 · PIP4902W · Service Bulletin/Repair Instructions
this preliminary information advises a dealer on how to email gds2 session logs into technical assistance.
Unknown Or Other 2026-07-21 · PIT5099J · Service Bulletin/Repair Instructions
pi to help diagnose a/c concern
Unknown Or Other 2026-04-01 · PIT3271Q · Service Bulletin/Repair Instructions
this preliminary information communicates information about how to determine if a wheel and tires size change is available.
Unknown Or Other 2026-03-09 · PIP6104 · Service Bulletin/Repair Instructions
this preliminary information communicates the steps on how to save a gds2 session log and upload to a technical assistance case in cx connect.
Showing the 6 most recent of 1,523 bulletins. Search all of them free at nhtsa.gov.
What owners report
2025-05-27 · Suspension · 113,000 mi“the contact owns a 2016 cadillac escalade esv. the contact stated while driving at an undisclosed speed, the contact heard an abnormal sound coming from underneath the vehicle and the vehicle was vibrating abnormally. the dealer was contacted; however, the vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. the manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. th…”
2023-04-28 · Suspension · 80,200 mi“the contact owns a 2016 cadillac escalade esv. the contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the vehicle made an abnormal sound. the vehicle was taken to the dealer however, no failure was found. the contact stated that the failure recurred. the contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the vehicle made an abnormal…”
2023-04-13 · Suspension:front:control Arm:upper Arm · 71,695 mi“the contact owns a 2016 cadillac escalade esv. the contact stated while driving 30 mph, the contact heard an abnormal sound coming from underneath the vehicle. the contact was able to drive the vehicle home. the vehicle was towed to the dealer and the dealer stated that the passenger's side rear upper control arms had separated from the vehicle and…”
2019-06-19 · Wheels · 45,200 mi · 💥 crash“06/14/2019 i was driving my cadillac to escalate esv traveling from baltimore to washington dc 95 south band. 12:04 pm my vehicle flip over. i almost lost my life. after the accident, i inspected the vehicle. i found that left the rear wheel of the car; come out of the vehicle. wheel locks and axle bar of the tire cut off and broken. this caused …”
2019-06-13 · Service Brakes · 22,851 mi · 💥 crash“vacuum pump deterioration or failure caused reduced stopping of vehicle. backed up vehicle in driveway and could not stop until i pumped brake petal several times. and finally stopped. placed vehicle in neutral and set hand brake. i checked accelerator and stop petals for obstruction and found none. placed vehicle in drive and slowly moved forward.…”
2019-06-06 · Power Train“the transmission has multiple malfunctions. delayed shifts, hard shifts both when shifting up or down, very large clunk or hard shift when going from 2nd to first. very unpleasant transmission and multiple ways. dealer keeps telling me that the transmission is adaptive to the driver and it needs to learn habits. i have had the vehicle for over …”
2019-02-09 · Power Train · 50,000 mi“transmission started slipping at 50k miles. since i am in the transportation service industry, i know many people that have transmission issues on escalades.…”
2018-10-05 · Unknown Or Other · 37,000 mi“shudder / vibration between 45 - 65 mph. cause was torque converter. 85 - 90% of vibration was mitigated. continue to have steady vibrations 65 -70mph and above. dealer also installed new tires / wheels and i have had a road force balance.…”
2018-09-27 · Power Train · 16,850 mi“from a cold start, when taking vehicle out of park and into reverse, the vehicle will surge or buck prior to applying the accelerator. this happens about 1/4 of the drive time. when accelerating and then coming to a coast and back to accelerating, the car will buck. this happens about 1/2 of the drive time. from a cold start, reverse, drive, acc…”
2018-08-23 · Electrical System · 15,462 mi“tl* the contact owns a 2016 cadillac escalade esv. the contact stated that the front and rear collision sensors provided incorrect information. the contact stated that false warnings provided by the sensors signaled an imminent crash when there were no vehicles in close proximity. the vehicle was taken to fremont cadillac (5939 auto mall pkwy, frem…”
Excerpts of consumer complaints filed with NHTSA, lightly truncated. They are owner statements, not verified findings.