AutoUtility currently tracks 4 official NHTSA owner defect complaints for the 2018 BMW M5. Engine & Cooling issues are the most frequently reported category, appearing in 2 complaints (50% of submitted records). Zero crashes, fires, injury reports, or fatality reports are cited across these complaint records. The 2018 BMW M5 belongs to the 6th Generation (F90) platform.

Key Problem Findings
  • Total NHTSA Complaints: 4 reports
  • #1 Reported Problem Area: Engine & Cooling (2 reports • 50% of submitted complaints)
  • Secondary Problem Areas: Air Bags & Restraints (1), Powertrain & Transmission (1)
  • Crash-Citing Complaints: 0 filings
  • Fire-Citing Complaints: 0 filings
  • Complaints Reporting Injuries / Fatalities: 0 injury filings • 0 fatality filings
Reporting Methodology: Statistics describe unverified consumer submissions voluntarily filed with NHTSA. Complaint volume is not normalized for vehicle sales volume or miles driven. Multiple components can be cited within a single owner complaint submission.
Total Complaints
4
Submitted to NHTSA ODI
Crash-Citing Complaints
0
Filings citing a collision
Fire-Citing Complaints
0
Filings citing smoke or fire
Complaints Reporting Injuries
0
Filings citing one or more injuries
Complaints Reporting Fatalities
0
Consumer filings citing fatalities

Most Reported Problems for 2018 BMW M5

Top automotive subsystem defect categories ranked by unique owner complaint volume in federal records

#1 Problem Area 50% of complaints

Engine & Cooling

2 owner complaints submitted to NHTSA ODI
✓ 0 crashes or fires cited
#2 Problem Area 25% of complaints

Air Bags & Restraints

1 owner complaint submitted to NHTSA ODI
✓ 0 crashes or fires cited
#3 Problem Area 25% of complaints

Powertrain & Transmission

1 owner complaint submitted to NHTSA ODI
✓ 0 crashes or fires cited
#4 Problem Area 25% of complaints

Fuel & Propulsion System

1 owner complaint submitted to NHTSA ODI
⚠️ NHTSA Recall Context

NHTSA records list 1 official safety recall campaign for this model year involving the same broad component area:

*Component overlap means an official recall exists for the same broad vehicle system. It does not establish that an individual owner complaint was caused by, covered by, or resolved through that recall.
✓ 0 crashes or fires cited
Domain Share Note: Share percentage represents the proportion of unique complaint filings referencing each vehicle system. Because single complaints may cite multiple systems (such as engine and electrical simultaneously), domain percentages represent individual category incidence and may sum to over 100%.

Recent NHTSA Owner Reports for 2018 BMW M5

Representative defect filings submitted by owners to the NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation

Engine & Cooling NHTSA ODI ID: #11594879
Filed: 06/17/2024

"BMW issued a stop sale on 2017-2023 bmw F90 M5 chassis regarding the expansion tank failure. All vehicles should be affected by the recall. My current vehicle is experiencing the issues stated on the recall notice. Expansion tank is failing and causing coolant to seep into engine bay"

Incident Date: 06/14/2024 • Raw NHTSA Component: UNKNOWN OR OTHER,ENGINE
Engine & Cooling NHTSA ODI ID: #11585423
Filed: 04/26/2024

"The coolant tank on my 2018 M5 failed causing a coolant leak. This is a highly documented problem on the forums and mine needed replacement at 22k miles. The bigger issue is the location of the tank because the coolant leaks on the ignition coils and fuel injectors causing failures later. My coils..."

Incident Date: 11/22/2022 • Raw NHTSA Component: ENGINE
Air Bags & Restraints NHTSA ODI ID: #11577017
Filed: 03/12/2024

"This is for the front passenger seat only.The idrive system will give an error for the passenger restraint system and will mention there is a seat belt issue and turn off the airbag. This is intermittent and will happen with or without a passenger. I contacted BMW about it but because it is not..."

Incident Date: 03/12/2024 • Raw NHTSA Component: AIR BAGS,SEAT BELTS
Powertrain & Transmission NHTSA ODI ID: #11098125
Filed: 05/26/2018

"I ALMOST HAD A TERRIBLE ACCIDENT IN MY 2 WEEK OLD 2018 M5 ON THE 1-95 HIGHWAY ON THE NIGHT OF MAY 25, 2018 AT ABOUT 9:45PM. WITHOUT WARNING, AT ABOUT 65MPH, THE CAR JERKED FOR ABOUT 3SECONDS , KICKED OUT OF DRIVE INTO NEUTRAL AND STARTED DECELERATING. I WAS IN THE MIDDLE LANE SURROUNDED BY SPEEDING..."

Incident Date: 05/25/2018 • Raw NHTSA Component: POWER TRAIN,FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM
Consumer Narrative Notice: Excerpts are sanitized text descriptions submitted by vehicle owners to the federal ODI database. They reflect the reporting consumer's observations at the time of filing and have not been independently confirmed by vehicle manufacturers or government investigators.

Complaint History for BMW M5

Reported defect complaint volume across sibling model years (2015–2026)

Model Year NHTSA Complaints Crash Reports Safety Recalls Detailed Report
2015 BMW M5 3 0 1 View 2015 Problems →
2016 BMW M5 1 0 2 View 2016 Problems →
2018 BMW M5 Current Page 4 0 3 Current
2019 BMW M5 8 0 3 View 2019 Problems →
2020 BMW M5 1 0 3 View 2020 Problems →
2021 BMW M5 2 0 1 View 2021 Problems →
2022 BMW M5 1 0 0 View 2022 Problems →
2023 BMW M5 0 0 0 View 2023 Problems →
2024 BMW M5 0 0 0 View 2024 Problems →
2025 BMW M5 0 0 2 View 2025 Problems →
2026 BMW M5 0 0 1 View 2026 Problems →
Comparative Disclaimer: Complaint totals are unadjusted historical counts and are not normalized for vehicles sold, active fleet size, or total road mileage. Newer model years naturally have had less calendar exposure time to accumulate owner filings.

Detailed NHTSA Component Breakdown for 2018 BMW M5

Complete distribution of consumer defect reports across all 4 granular NHTSA system and subsystem classifications

Vehicle Component / System Total Complaints Crash Reports Fire Reports Reported Injury Entries Reported Fatality Entries
AIR BAGS,SEAT BELTS 1 0 0 0 0
Engine NHTSA category: ENGINE 1 0 0 0 0
POWER TRAIN,FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM 1 0 0 0 0
UNKNOWN OR OTHER,ENGINE 1 0 0 0 0
Data Attribution & Reporting Methodology: Complaints are unverified voluntary submissions to the NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation (ODI). Because multiple vehicle components can be cited within a single owner complaint submission, component-level rollups may sum to more than the unique complaint count (4). Injury and fatality entries in the detailed table reflect raw values entered by reporting consumers across individual submissions; they are not deduplicated casualty statistics and may include duplicate or unverified entries. Complaint volume is not normalized for sales volume or vehicle mileage and does not represent an audited component failure rate.
Official US Government Data Provenance

The complaint records on this page are retrieved directly from the NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) public database.

Local Production Store Compiled: August 2026 • Deterministic Audited Dataset • Zero Dynamic External API Runtime Latency.