Owners of 2023 model-year Lyriqs are reporting braking system problems, right as the electric SUV has started to take off.
The Cadillac Lyriq has finally begun selling respectably—better than its European counterparts, even—overcoming early manufacturing woes and a lukewarm EV market. It’s unfortunate for both General Motors and happy Lyriq adopters, then, that the electric SUV is now the subject of an investigation by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration for braking system malfunctions.
The issues at hand relate to the Lyriq’s anti-lock brakes and, specifically, the internal spindle electronic brake control module at risk of fracturing when ABS is active. The department states that no injuries or deaths have occurred due to the flaw, and overall, 3,322 2023 model-year vehicles are implicated in this probe. Should the module break, the automaker reports that ABS functionality will be compromised, and drivers can expect a “Brake System Failure” warning in their digital instrument clusters.
At the moment, officials are merely looking into owners’ claims to determine the “scope and severity” of the problem. GM is reportedly issuing an over-the-air update to get ahead of things, per the NHTSA’s ODI Resume, though the new software obviously won’t mend the unreliable module. Rather, it’s designed to alert drivers upon vehicle startup specifically if the part breaks. This wouldn’t seem to be exceedingly helpful, given that the existing “Brake System Failure” message arguably does a pretty good job of conveying that something’s wrong already, but at the very least it may warn drivers before they hit the road—not to mention save technicians some time when a stricken Lyriq rolls into the service bay.
Given that no 2024 vehicles are a part of the NHTSA’s probe at the moment, it appears that the defect is localized to earlier-run Lyriqs that employed different materials in their spindles. That’s certainly good news. After the Chevrolet Blazer EV’s troublesome software took that model out of commission for multiple months, GM can’t afford to let another one of its mainstream EVs go dormant for too long. Especially not if it hopes to finally start turning profits on such vehicles as soon as next year.
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