Model overview
BMW 5 Series: complaints by model year
Compare the federal record across 5 Series model years. Raw complaint totals are useful context, but they are not adjusted for sales, mileage, or time on the road.
| Year | Complaints | Recalls | Severity | Crash | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025Still new | 2 | 0 | 0 | Not rated | Still new |
| 2023 | 8 | 1 | 63 | Not rated | |
| 2020 | 13 | 0 | 108 | Not rated | |
| 2022 | 14 | 0 | 100 | Not rated | |
| 2021 | 26 | 0 | 15 | Not rated | |
| 2019 | 37 | 0 | 57 | Not rated | |
| 2018Most reports | 78 | 0 | 22 | Not rated | Most reports |
| 2016 | 81 | 0 | 21 | ||
| 2010 | 174 | 2 | 20 | Not rated | |
| 2011 | 0 | 1 | — | Not rated | |
| 2012 | 0 | 0 | — | Not rated |
Ranked by total NHTSA complaints per model year (not adjusted for units sold). A zero means no owner reports in the current NHTSA data, not that the car is problem-free. "Severity" is a harm-weighted index of those complaints — higher means a greater share involved crashes, fires or injuries. Complaint-volume percentiles vs. segment peers are computed separately and appear on each year's page. Complaints pile up over a car's life, so the last few model years look quiet mostly because they have had less road time — we mark them "still new" rather than treating them as lower-complaint standouts.
2 model years show zero owner complaints in the current NHTSA data. That can reflect low reporting volume, not a clean bill of health: 2011, 2012.