The air bag sensor under the seat, meant to indicate the presence of a front-seat passenger has failed, as denoted by a constant service air bag warning light. A dec, '10 press release announced a recall of '05-'07 cts' for this exact issue. Paragraph 5 of the release reads in part "owners of certain other 2005-2007 that have significantly lower incident rates will be provided free repairs for the issue for up to 10 years or 120,000 miles." numerous contacts with cadillac customer service throughout 2011 resulted in refusals to authorize repairs at their expense. A complaint files with the wi dept of ag, trade and consumer affairs resulted in a call from a rep of gm's business resource center advising that they would again refuse my request because "...the sts model was not included in the recall." she offered that after I pay for diagnostics (local estimate $260) 'we will be happy to look into cost assistance on the repair.' two months later when I called back I was told they closed the file and that I needed to start the complaint process over.
2006 Cadillac STS airbags complaints
Page 3 of 3: complaints 41 to 57 of 57, newest first, as owners wrote them.
The passenger side air bag sensor stopped working. A warning light on the dash came on. Nothing happened to make it stop working, it is just a faulty part. The cadillac dealer gave me a estimate stating that the "module" needs to be replaced. However, they did not offer to do so under warranty. I think this should be a recalled item since I see a long list of this same complaint on this same model and some other cadillac models.
Passenger air bag light came on and has stayed on. The air bag sensor does not recognizing a front seat passenger.
At approximately 72,000 miles my cadillac's passenger seat light began to act up and would go on and off when someone would sit in the front passenger seat. I am single and rarely ever have a passenger in the front seat. Approximately two times per month someone rides in this seat. The last time someone sat in the front passenger seat, I traveled 10 miles round trip on 1/19/2012, the "service air bag" and air bag red light indicator came on the dash and since then will not go off. I take extraordinary care of my vehicle. I took it to a dealer only to be told that the entire passenger presence system (pps) needs to be replaced and that it was going to cost me $629.00. I understand that the same problem occurred in the cadillac cts model of the same year. My question and complaint are: did the modules come from the same place and/or are they the same module and passenger presence system. Why wouldn't my cadillac sts be included in that recall when I see that this has happened to so many other cadillac sts models of the same year.
"service passenger side airbag" warning message displayed. A warning light will display saying the passengers airbag is off. Problem comes and goes. This seems to be the same error that caused the cadillac cts recall. Why has this not included the sts? Type this problem into google and there are lots of complaints including the dts. There is a tsb: "the federal safety agency number: 10036512. Cadillac: front passenger air bag status indicator displays off or switches from on to off with passenger in seat (replace passenger presence system (pps) module). Condition may be caused by passenger presence system (pps) in right front." will there have to be an accident for the recall to be expanded?
A dec '10 press release (http://media.gm.com) announced a recall of 2005 - 2007 cadillac cts' for a specific air bag issue in the front passenger compartment. Paragraph 5 of the release reads in part "owners of certain other 2005-2007 that have significantly lower incident rates will be provided free repairs for the issue for up to 10 years or 120,000 miles." I drive a 2006 sts (vs cts) and have not received an 'owners letter.' the car, however displays the exact characteristics of the air bag failure described in the release. The indications occurred no more than two weeks prior to the 12/10 publication. Numerous contacts with cadillac customer service have resulted in refusals to authorize repairs to my car. One csr offered to have the repairs paid for should I pick up the cost of the diagnostics and the error be exactly what the recall specifies. A complaint filed in april with the wi dept of ag, trade and consumer affairs resulted in a call today (5/16) from a rep of gm's business resource center advising that they will again refuse my request because "...the sts model was not included in the recall." there was no reply when asked whether the sts had been included in testing with your organization prior to the recall. She reiterated that cadillac may pay for repairs after diagnosis. I have every reason to believe that the passenger air bag in my car would fail if needed. I also believe that the two models share a significant-enough level of engineering, parts and assembly that cadillac should take responsibility. Considering (1) the issue isn't a potential problem but actually exists in my car, and (2) their reference of "...certain other 2005-2007 models" indicates their/your suspicion that the issue crosses over to other models, I find their position that I should pay for the diagnostics unacceptable. My request is that cadillac diagnose and fix my air bag issue at their expense. I intend to pursue the issue through the state and other means. Updated 05/24/11
Service passenger air bag system.
Stopped the vehicle, placed into park position, shut off car and engaged emergency brake. Removed seat belt, driver and passenger opened doors to exit. Engine at that time went into a very high RPM making a horrible loud whining noise and auto accelerated in reverse with car in park and emergency brake on. Tried to stop the vehicle but brake pedal went to floor. No control of the vehicle and rode the vehicle as it reversed on its own, onto street, through the intersection ,colliding with a parked car and coming to rest with the rear of the car against a building. Speed unknown, no airbags deployed, small injuries.
Tl*the contact owns a 2006 cadillac sts. While driving 60 MPH a crash occurred and the air bags did not deploy. The vehicle was destroyed. The air bag light warning light never came on to indicate that it was malfunctioning. The contact is concerned about the safety risk. The failure mileage was 27000. Updated 01/29/10. *lj updated 01/29/10.
Tl*the contact owns a 2006 cadillac sts which was purchased february 2007. While driving 60 MPH he fell asleep behind the wheel and crashed into a stone divider. The air bags did not deploy at the time of the crash. The front of the vehicle bounced off the stone wall causing the vehicle to spin in a 180 degree turn and then the rear end crashed into the same stone wall. The contact suffered a broken nose. He was treated at a local hospital. To date, the manufacturer had not been contacted. The current and failure mileages were 27,000.
Tl*the contact owns a 2006 cadillac sts. While driving approximately 50 MPH, the steering wheel began to shake and felt loose. The contact attempted to pull the vehicle over, but lost control and drove into a ditch. The frontal air bags failed to deploy. The contact sustained injuries to her nose and broke her right ankle. The manufacturer filed case number 71741801936. A police report was filed. The vehicle was towed to a body shop and will be repaired. The current and failure mileages were 27,000. Updated 10/06/09. *lj updated 10/08/09
Was involved in a side impact car crash where none of the airbags deployed. Car that hit mine was traveling at least 40 MPH and I was traveling at least 30 MPH at impact.
Tl*the contact owns a 2006 cadillac sts. While driving 55 MPH, the vehicle slid on black ice on the road and crashed into the shoulder lane, striking the rear wheel assembly of a semi tractor cab. The vehicle was destroyed and the driver sustained head trauma, a skull fracture, a broken left shoulder, multiple broken ribs on both sides of his body, dislocation of the right shoulder, and cuts and bruises throughout his legs and arms. None of the air bags deployed. The contact believes that had the air bags deployed, the injuries would not have been so severe. A police report was filed. The current and failure mileages were 65,000. Updated 02/24/09. *lj updated 02/24/09.
2006 cadillac sts does not set air bag to on when a person who weighs less than 103 pounds sits in the passenger seat. While the air bag is off, the seat belt indication does not work. Cadillac refuses to fix the problem, even though it has worked correctly for the past 17 months. My wife weighs about 100 pounds.
1. I started my car via remote start to warm it up.. Passenger's airbag was reported via the dash controls as non-functional at that time 2. Drove 100 yards and the rear window imploded into the vehicle sending shards of glass all over the interior. It resulted in many small bloody cuts and scratches 3. Selling dealer would not respond to the issue. Non-selling dealer towed the car for repair.
October 8, 2006 I was involved in an accident in my 2006 cadillac sts where a truck crossed the median on a four lane highway and hit my car in the side. The impact was so severe it bent the center post between the doors and needless to say I had to be cut out of the vehicle. The side air bags did not deploy. A few days earlier I had taken the car to the dealership with my mother sitting in the front seat and the sign on the mirror read "airbag off". Cadillac assigned a service request number 1-437819043 but to date refuse to discuss this issue with me. Question: has anyone else experienced a similar problem with the airbags? Are we riding around with the false impression we are protected?? December 7, 2006 I did hear from a cadillac representative today. The cadillac representative advised me my car did not have side and curtain air bags and it was only available as an option. I asked him to give me the option number. Needless to say we got into an argument and I told him I could not believe a representative of cadillac would tell me such erroneous information. All those air bags are standard on the sts. Apparently this is a very incompetent group of people and I have been assigned to a rock. Anyhow they are going to retrieve the airbag monitoring box in an effort to reconstruct what happened.
(1) our 2006 cadillac sts repeatedly fails to sense the occupant in the passenger side of the vehicle and fails to trigger the passenger-side air bag sensor to activate. This is a safety issue. The only way the sensor will activate is if the passenger squirms around in the seat in an awkward way to have the sensor sense the occupant. But this is not always possible and on two occasions the passenger airbag sensor actually shut off after a refueling operation and restarting the vehicle even though the passenger never left the vehicle and had not changed position. (2) failure of the passenger sensor to sense an occupant, if not noticed by the driver, or passenger and taking action to attempt to reset it would cause the air bag not to deploy in the event of a collision. (3) the dealership tried for over a week to solve the problem, but would only say that the procedure to activate the sensor requires the passenger to enter and sit in the vehicle in a certain convoluted way that is basically un-natural and impossible for certain passengers to achieve. After repeated calls to gm customer service and raising the issue with the better business bureau we were told that gm engineers are "not allowed to modify the airbag sensor system because it was specified and controlled by the federal government." further " it is against the law for them to attempt to fix the problem even though they sympathize with my problem." (4) from my perspective it appears that some design/engineering constraints have been forced on the manufacturer by the federal government which makes this situation untenable and creates a safety hazard for people who are not able to properly seat themselves in the passenger side of the vehicle. I think the design specs need to be challenged and recalls issued to make the passenger-side airbag sensors properly sense an occupant that any reasonable person would expect to be protected by the passenger airbag system.
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