General Motors has opened a service program covering a strip of foam at the base of the Cadillac Optiq’s windshield. The coverage that followed described a part coming apart in summer heat. GM’s own filing describes something a great deal duller.
The document is Service Bulletin PIC6628D, dated January 2026 and filed with federal regulators. Its subject line reads “Windshield to Dash Valence Foam Seal Mis-positioned.” Under Condition, GM writes that customers “may comment that the foam seal at the base of the windshield, will be visible from either the outside of windshield or from inside the interior when looking at the front of the instrument panel.” Under Cause, GM lists three words: “Foam Seal Adhesive.”
That is a trim strip you can see when you should not be able to see it. The bulletin names no safety consequence, and it was created on October 23, 2025, then revised four times through January.
The seal is worth roughly ninety minutes of a technician’s time, and GM expects few cars to need it. Which makes it a strange thing to be the loudest Optiq story of the summer, because the federal complaint file on this car points somewhere else.
Key Takeaways
- The foam seal is cosmetic. GM’s bulletin PIC6628D describes a seal that becomes visible, blames the adhesive, and states no safety consequence. Repair runs 1.4 hours under Customer Satisfaction Program N252534680.
- It is the fourth Optiq program since July 2025. GM has also addressed an electric drive transmission module, a drive motor control module, and a driver’s power seat switch built to the wrong specification.
- Owners are reporting something different. The most repeated complaint to NHTSA is telematics module failure, which takes OnStar, crash notification, navigation, and driver-assist features offline at once.
- Replacement parts have been backordered. Three separate owners describe waiting weeks or longer for a module, one told the part was on national backorder with no timeline.
- One recall carries real crash risk. Campaign 25V704000 covers 21-inch Continental tires that can shed tread. A second Optiq recall, 26V114000, is a paperwork compliance fix.
- The volume is still low. Eleven complaints across two model years, on a vehicle delivering roughly 4,000 units a quarter, is not a pattern of mass failure.
What the Bulletin Says
Preliminary Information bulletins are how GM tells dealers about a fault it has seen but has not yet turned into a formal campaign. They are working documents. PIC6628D has been revised five times, and the revision history reads like a parts department catching up with itself: repair instructions and labor times added on November 4, a rollback the next day “due to parts issue,” a released part number on November 12, warranty language in January.
The fix itself is fussy but minor. A technician pulls the A-pillar trim and the valence panel, strips the old foam, and cleans the adhesive off with isopropyl alcohol at 90 percent or better.
GM warns against anything harsher, in bold, because the surface underneath is painted and the customer can see it. A heat gun on low is permitted if the glue resists. The surface then air dries for fifteen minutes before a new seal, part WPC892, goes on with pressure-activated adhesive and a roller.
Labor operation 1080808 allots 1.4 hours. Cars that pass inspection with the seal intact take six minutes.
On the heat framing: the document read for this story, PIC6628D, makes no reference to temperature and describes the seal as mis-positioned rather than failed. Reporting that the seal delaminates in higher heat traces to the separate customer satisfaction program document, N252534680, which was not available directly. Both readings can sit together, since an adhesive that releases in heat produces a seal that shifts. What the record does not support is a safety failure.
The Programs That Did Not Make Headlines
Set the foam aside and a sequence emerges. GM has opened four service actions on the Optiq since the car reached customers.
| Date | Subject | Type |
|---|---|---|
| July 2025 | Electric drive transmission module replacement | Service program |
| December 2025 | Drive motor control module | Service program |
| May 2026 | Driver’s power seat switch, wrong specification (N262552010) | Customer satisfaction program |
| July 2026 | Windshield to dash valence foam seal (N252534680) | Customer satisfaction program |
Two of those touch the drive unit. That is a more consequential neighborhood than a trim strip, and neither drew the attention the foam did.
The seat switch program has also been widely described as a recall. It is not one. A recall is a federal safety campaign filed with NHTSA under a defect or noncompliance finding, and it carries owner notification requirements GM has to meet. A customer satisfaction program is GM electing to fix something at its own expense, on its own schedule, until a stated expiry. The seat switch runs to June 2028. The foam seal runs to August 31, 2028.
The distinction matters to an owner in a specific way. Nobody mails you a letter about a customer satisfaction program the way they must for a recall, and a VIN lookup on the NHTSA site will not show it. You find out by asking a dealer.
What Owners Are Filing
Eleven complaints sit in the federal database against the 2025 Optiq. None yet against the 2026. Read them together and one fault repeats.
In September 2025, an owner reported that GPS, OnStar, and cruise control had stopped working, traced to a failed telematics module, with the replacement backordered more than a month and no timeline offered (ODI 11689764).
In December, a second owner described the same collapse in more detail. OnStar, automatic crash notification, steering assistance, cruise and speed control, lane-change and driver-assist features, navigation, Bluetooth, and Wi-Fi all went dark together. The dealer confirmed the module had failed. The car went in on November 26, came back December 2, and broke again before the owner left the lot (ODI 11702646).
A third, in February 2026, reported the identical pattern and the identical answer: module broken, national backorder (ODI 11715095).
Two of those three owners believed an over-the-air software update pushed the weekend prior had caused it, and wrote that their dealer had inferred the same. That is an allegation, not a finding, and GM has not said anything publicly connecting an update to the failures.
But the shape is consistent across three unrelated filings, and the practical result each owner describes is the same. A car that still drives, with its emergency calling and much of its driver assistance switched off, waiting on a part nobody can date.
A fourth owner, in August 2025, described audio cutting out and safety features shutting down mid-drive, repeatedly, eventually on every trip, and requested a buyback (ODI 11686870).
The Recall With Teeth
Two federal campaigns cover the Optiq, and they are not equivalent.
Recall 26V114000 is housekeeping. The radio in roughly forty GM models, the Optiq among them, was not set to download the electronic owner’s manual during assembly, which puts the vehicle out of compliance with Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 208. Dealers reset the radio. Letters went out April 16, 2026.
Recall 25V704000 is the serious one. Certain 2025 and 2026 Optiqs and Chevrolet Equinox EVs fitted with 21-inch Continental all-season tires may shed tread in part or in full. Dealers inspect all four and replace any built during DOT week 4024. Notification letters were mailed November 19, 2025.
Two owners have since filed blowout reports. One lost a rear passenger tire at 35 mph roughly a mile from home, describing a hole the size of a fist in the tread with about 2,500 miles on it, no warning light, and a dealer who called the failure unusual and charged for the replacement (ODI 11745050).
The second is the more uncomfortable filing. A rear driver’s tire ruptured, threw the car left into a mailbox and back across the road, and the owner was billed $1,100 for the wheel damage. Their VIN returns no open recalls. They argue the campaign’s boundary was drawn too tightly and should be widened to cover their build (ODI 11742511).
One owner cannot expand a recall, and a single narrative does not establish that GM scoped it wrong. It does describe exactly the failure mode 25V704000 exists to prevent, on a car the campaign does not cover.
How Much of This Should Worry a Shopper
Less than the headline count suggests, and in a different place than the coverage points.
Eleven complaints across two model years is a low figure. GM Authority’s tally put Optiq deliveries at 4,236 in the second quarter of 2026 alone, up 31.4 percent year over year, while the larger Lyriq slipped 16.1 percent to 4,208. Cadillac is selling this car in volume, it is the fastest-growing model in its electric range, and owners are broadly not filing.
Early service bulletins are also ordinary. A new nameplate on a new platform generates them, and most describe exactly what the foam seal describes, which is a supplier or assembly detail found and corrected. Judging a two-year-old model by its bulletin count alone would flag almost every recent launch.
What separates the telematics reports from the rest is not their number. It is that each one describes several systems failing at once through a single component, and then a wait measured in weeks because the replacement is not on a shelf. Software-defined cars concentrate function into fewer modules. That buys capability, and it means the blast radius of one failure is wider than it used to be.
If you are cross-shopping an Optiq, the useful questions are narrow. Ask the dealer to run your VIN against open customer satisfaction programs, not only recalls, because the two live in different places. Ask what tires are on the car and whether 25V704000 has been closed out. And ask what the current lead time is on a telematics module, because that answer is the one the complaint file suggests you would most want to know in advance.
Bottom Line
The Optiq’s foam seal is a visible strip of trim and a 1.4-hour fix, not a heat failure, and it is the least significant of the four programs GM has opened on this car. The reports worth reading are the ones about telematics modules that take OnStar, crash notification, and driver aids down together, then sit backordered. Cadillac’s volume EV is not in trouble. Its weakest documented link is a single module, and its owners have been the ones to say so.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is the Cadillac Optiq windshield foam seal a safety problem?
Nothing in GM’s filing says so. Bulletin PIC6628D describes the seal as mis-positioned and visible from inside or outside the car, blames the adhesive, and lists no safety consequence. It is an appearance fault covered under a customer satisfaction program.
What is Customer Satisfaction Program N252534680?
It is GM’s program covering inspection and, where needed, replacement of the windshield-to-dash valence foam seal on 2025 and 2026 Optiqs. The work is free to owners and the program runs through August 31, 2028. GM expects only a small share of cars to need the replacement.
How is a customer satisfaction program different from a recall?
A recall is a federal safety campaign filed with NHTSA, and it obligates the manufacturer to notify every affected owner by mail. A customer satisfaction program is a voluntary repair GM funds until a set expiry date, with no notification requirement and no listing in a NHTSA VIN lookup. Ask a dealer to check both.
How many recalls does the Cadillac Optiq have?
Two. Campaign 25V704000 covers 21-inch Continental all-season tires that may shed tread on 2025 and 2026 Optiqs and Equinox EVs. Campaign 26V114000 is a compliance fix across roughly forty GM models where the radio failed to download the electronic owner’s manual.
What are Optiq owners complaining about most to NHTSA?
Telematics module failure. Three separate owners describe OnStar, automatic crash notification, navigation, connectivity, and driver-assistance features going offline together when the module fails, followed by a long wait for a replacement part.
Did an over-the-air update cause the telematics failures?
Two owners believe so and say their dealers suggested the same, but that remains an unverified allegation. GM has not publicly linked any software update to the failures, and NHTSA has not opened an investigation into them.
How long are Optiq telematics module replacements taking?
Owners report weeks. One was told the part was on national backorder with no timeline after more than a month of waiting. Another had the car in the shop for a week, collected it, and had the fault return before leaving the dealership.
Is the Cadillac Optiq reliable?
It is too new for meaningful long-term data, and the federal complaint volume is low, with eleven filings across the 2025 model year and none yet for 2026. The recurring telematics reports are the clearest documented weakness so far.
Should I be worried about the Optiq’s tires?
Check whether your car falls under recall 25V704000 and whether the work has been done. The campaign covers 21-inch Continental all-season tires built in DOT week 4024. Two owners have reported blowouts, and one argues the recall’s boundary excludes cars that should be inside it.
How well is the Cadillac Optiq selling?
Well, and better than it was. GM Authority counted 4,236 deliveries in the second quarter of 2026, including the Optiq-V, a gain of 31.4 percent year over year. That put it ahead of the larger Lyriq, which fell 16.1 percent to 4,208 over the same period.
What should I ask a dealer before buying an Optiq?
Ask for a VIN check against open customer satisfaction programs as well as recalls, since programs do not appear in public lookups. Confirm which tires are fitted and whether 25V704000 has been closed. Ask what the current lead time is on a telematics module.
Michael Kahn
Michael Kahn is the writer, photographer, and publisher behind The Weekly Driver. He cares about how cars drive and what they're like to own. He covers automobile industry news, car shows and events, and new car reviews. The reviews come from behind the wheel: day trips that favor back routes, treating a good meal as half the reason to go. He directs and produces the visual media, matching each car to a setting and mood that fit it. When he's not reviewing new cars, Michael races paddleboards, camels, and ostriches, along with the occasional exotic car on the racetrack, and has driven in every state and country visited.
https://theweeklydriver.com