BMW M5 — reported problems

What owners report: issue areas

Owner complaints are classified by the system they concern: 310 classifications in all. One complaint can concern several systems, so these add up to more than the number of complaints.

• Air bags (restraint system)94 (30.3%)Official recall records for this system: 4, covering model years 2001–2016.
• Engine54 (17.4%)Official recall records for this system: 2, covering model years 2013–2019.
• Powertrain (transmission & drivetrain)28 (9.0%)Official recall records for this system: 2, covering model years 2015–2020.
• Electrical system22 (7.1%)Official recall records for this system: 4, covering model years 2006–2026.
• Seat belts20 (6.5%)
• Seats14 (4.5%)Official recall records for this system: 1, covering model years 2016.

Other / uncategorized: 12 classifications (3.9%) were not assigned to a specific system by the source. They are counted but not treated as an issue area.

These are counts of records held by CarFaultIQ, not a failure rate. More records can simply mean more vehicles were sold or more owners reported. No vehicles-in-service figure exists in this data, so no reliability or risk score can be derived from it.

What the records are about, by source

Each source is kept separate: owner complaints, recalls, manufacturer communications and investigations are different kinds of record and are never added together. All model years.

• Owner complaints (210 records, model years 2000–2025) are most frequently classified under: air bags (restraint system), engine and powertrain (transmission & drivetrain).
• Safety recalls (55 records, model years 2000–2026) are most frequently classified under: air bags (restraint system), electrical system and lights.
• Manufacturer communications (2,982 records, model years 1999–2026) are most frequently classified under: equipment & accessories, electrical system and engine.

"Most frequently classified under" reports how the records are filed by the source. It is not a finding about causes, and a record can be filed under more than one system. Read the individual records

Mileage reported when the issue occurred

• 154reports included a mileage
• 52,774average of those mileages

This is the mileage owners recorded at the time they reported, not an expected failure mileage and not a prediction for any individual vehicle. The lowest and highest figures on record are not shown: they are unverified odometer entries that include zeros and implausibly high readings, so they would not describe a real range. A median is not shown either, because the stored figures are group totals and a median cannot be recovered from them.

Evidence by model year

Records held per model year. Select a year to narrow this page to it.

1. 1999 2 records for 1999 2
2. 2000 16 records for 2000 16
3. 2001 17 records for 2001 17
4. 2002 24 records for 2002 24
5. 2003 16 records for 2003 16
6. 2006 100 records for 2006 100
7. 2007 68 records for 2007 68
8. 2008 64 records for 2008 64
9. 2009 57 records for 2009 57
10. 2010 58 records for 2010 58
11. 2013 395 records for 2013 395
12. 2014 353 records for 2014 353
13. 2015 277 records for 2015 277
14. 2016 216 records for 2016 216
15. 2018 217 records for 2018 217
16. 2019 167 records for 2019 167
17. 2020 161 records for 2020 161
18. 2021 117 records for 2021 117
19. 2022 52 records for 2022 52
20. 2023 13 records for 2023 13
21. 2025 43 records for 2025 43
22. 2026 11 records for 2026 11

Counts are not adjusted for how many vehicles were sold in each year, so a taller year is not necessarily a worse year.

Reports mentioning outcomes

• 6mention a crash
• 10mention a fire
• 8mention an injury
• 2mention a fatality

These are counts of records whose report mentioned the outcome. They are not a severity rating and not a safety assessment of this vehicle.

Official records held

• Safety recalls NHTSA 55
• Manufacturer communications NHTSA 2,982
• Owner complaints NHTSA 210

Explore the underlying evidence records