AutoUtility currently tracks 2 official NHTSA owner defect complaints for the 2021 BMW M5. Powertrain & Transmission issues are the most frequently reported category, appearing in 1 complaint (50% of submitted records). Among these NHTSA complaint records, 1 cites a fire. The 2021 BMW M5 belongs to the 6th Generation (F90) platform.

Key Problem Findings
  • • Total NHTSA Complaints: 2 reports
  • • #1 Reported Problem Area: Powertrain & Transmission (1 reports • 50% of submitted complaints)
  • • Secondary Problem Areas: Fuel & Propulsion System (1), Electrical System (1)
  • • Crash-Citing Complaints: 0 filings
  • • Fire-Citing Complaints: 1 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
2
Submitted to NHTSA ODI
Crash-Citing Complaints
0
Filings citing a collision
Fire-Citing Complaints
1
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 2021 BMW M5

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

#1 Problem Area 50% of complaints

Powertrain & Transmission

1 owner complaint submitted to NHTSA ODI
🔥 1 fire report
#2 Problem Area 50% of complaints

Fuel & Propulsion System

1 owner complaint submitted to NHTSA ODI
🔥 1 fire report
#3 Problem Area 50% of complaints

Electrical System

1 owner complaint submitted to NHTSA ODI
🔥 1 fire report
#4 Problem Area 50% of complaints

Exterior Lighting

1 owner complaint submitted to NHTSA ODI
✓ 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 2021 BMW M5

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

Powertrain & Transmission NHTSA ODI ID: #11596199
Fire Cited Filed: 06/24/2024

"Car catch on fire and explode it with 2 ocupantes inside"

Incident Date: 06/23/2024 • Raw NHTSA Component: POWER TRAIN,ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM
Exterior Lighting NHTSA ODI ID: #11385992
Filed: 01/01/2021

"THE REVERSE BACKUP LIGHTS AND CAMERA IMAGE IS SO DIM AND LIMITED AS BE UNUSABLE AND VERY UNSAFE WHEN BACKING UP AT NIGHT IN DARKNESS. DEALER SERVICE COULD NOT FIX AS DESIGNED IN! I BELIEVE SAME SYSTEM USED ON ALL 2021 SERIES 5 CARS. LEFT CAR AT DEALER WITH FOBS AS I AM REFUSING THE CAR CANCELLING..."

Incident Date: 12/30/2020 • Raw NHTSA Component: EXTERIOR LIGHTING
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 4 0 3 View 2018 Problems →
2019 BMW M5 8 0 3 View 2019 Problems →
2020 BMW M5 1 0 3 View 2020 Problems →
2021 BMW M5 Current Page 2 0 1 Current
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 2021 BMW M5

Complete distribution of consumer defect reports across all 2 granular NHTSA system and subsystem classifications

Vehicle Component / System Total Complaints Crash Reports Fire Reports Reported Injury Entries Reported Fatality Entries
EXTERIOR LIGHTING 1 0 0 0 0
POWER TRAIN,ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM 1 0 1 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 (2). 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.

Related Official Reports for 2021 BMW M5

Cross-reference safety recalls, crash test safety ratings, and EPA fuel economy for this model year

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.