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Federal filingsHome›Trouble codes› C056E
Diagnostic trouble code

C056E

1 owner report and 171 manufacturer filings across 41 model years from Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, GMC.

Chassis Generic OBD-II code 171 manufacturer filings 1 owner report

Where C056E shows up

Source: NHTSA manufacturer communications and complaints

Showing the 25 model years where C056E appears most; it is on file for 41 in total.

A model year appears here because the code is named in its record, not because every one of these vehicles sets it. Counts are mentions in the federal files, not failure rates — nobody publishes the denominator.

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C056E by make

The same record, one make at a time: the model years, bulletins and owner reports that name C056E on that maker’s vehicles.

Chevrolet 13GMC 14Cadillac 9Buick 5

What it gets filed under

Parking Brake 84 Equipment 47 Electrical System 26 Service Brakes 3

What owners said

Source: NHTSA complaint database

Owners’ own words, one per nameplate, scrubbed of anything identifying. These are unverified reports filed with NHTSA — they are what was said, not a finding that it was true.

The the car displays a break light in the display and the fault code C056E is now constantly present in the computer
2018 Cadillac XT5 Oct 8, 2023 NHTSA owner report

171 manufacturer filings name C056E. Start with what the maker wrote down.

A code names the test that failed, not the part. A bulletin that names it is often a diagnosis someone has already written down — quote its number at the service desk.

Photo: Compagnons / Unsplash

Manufacturer filings that name it

Source: NHTSA manufacturer communications

Service bulletins and campaigns whose filed summary names C056E.

What C056E means

Source: SAE J2012 / OBD-II

C056E sits in the generic range of the OBD-II standard, so it means the same thing on every vehicle sold in the United States — but WhichTrim does not carry a definition for it and will not invent one. What is on this page is the record: who named it and on what.

A stored code names the test that failed, never the part that caused it. It is the starting point of a diagnosis, not its conclusion — the same code has several possible causes and the cheap one is not always right.

From here

Common questions about C056E

Source: NHTSA files and the OBD-II standard

Can I keep driving with C056E stored?

Nobody can answer that from the code alone, and a site that does is guessing. A steady light means a fault was logged and the car should be checked soon; a flashing light means a severe misfire — slow down and get it seen as soon as possible, because severe misfire can quickly damage the catalytic converter. The safe read of this page is the mileage and the components, not permission.

Does a code mean the car is recalled?

No. Recalls are filed by campaign and matched by VIN, and none of them are triggered by a scan tool. If you want to know whether an open recall applies to one specific vehicle, check the VIN at nhtsa.gov/recalls — that is the only source that settles it.

Why do the counts here differ from other sites?

Because these are not estimates. Every number on this page is a count of documents in NHTSA's own files: manufacturer communications that name the code in their filed summary, and owner complaints that name it in the narrative. We do not model, weight or extrapolate them.

Will clearing the code fix it?

Clearing turns the light off and erases the freeze-frame data a technician would have used to work out what happened. If the condition is still there the code returns, usually within a few drive cycles, and the diagnosis now starts from less information than before.