Recall Register

BMW 5 Series: recalls and complaints by model year

NHTSA lists 16 recall campaigns for the BMW 5 Series, model years 1989 to 2023. NHTSA has 171 complaints on file for this model line. 8 of the 18 model years have a page on this register.

Complaint information entered into NHTSA’s Office of Defects Investigation vehicle owner's complaint database is used with other data sources to identify safety issues that warrant investigation and to determine if a safety-related defect trend exists.

NHTSA publishes these words. Source: NHTSA Datasets and APIs, section Complaints, read on . Complaint file through . Recall file through .

Model years

The number under each year is the number of recall campaigns.

  1. 19890
  2. 19950
  3. 19961
  4. 19971
  5. 19990
  6. 20000
  7. 20010
  8. 20020
  9. 20030
  10. 20046
  11. 20054
  12. 20067
  13. 20073
  14. 20083
  15. 20093
  16. 20105
  17. 20114
  18. 20231
BMW 5 Series: recall campaigns and complaints for each model year, newest first
Model yearRecall campaignsComplaintsShare of the line averageUnits in the campaigns
2023 BMW 5 Series NHTSA page100%552
2011 BMW 5 Series413137%198,806
2010 BMW 5 Series500%1,647,016
2009 BMW 5 Series300%1,483,140
2008 BMW 5 Series366695%1,483,140
2007 BMW 5 Series3111%1,483,140
2006 BMW 5 Series733347%1,695,060
2005 BMW 5 Series4884%766,274
2004 BMW 5 Series631326%795,573
2003 BMW 5 Series NHTSA page0553%
2002 BMW 5 Series NHTSA page0553%
2001 BMW 5 Series NHTSA page0221%
2000 BMW 5 Series NHTSA page0221%
1999 BMW 5 Series NHTSA page0221%
1997 BMW 5 Series NHTSA page100%25,270
1996 BMW 5 Series NHTSA page100%25,270
1995 BMW 5 Series NHTSA page0221%
1989 BMW 5 Series NHTSA page0111%

The share is the complaints of the model year divided by the average of the line for one model year. A campaign that names 3 model years is in the count of each of the 3.

A model year with fewer than 2 campaigns and fewer than 25 complaints has no page here. The link in its row opens its NHTSA page.

Recall campaign: One recall in the NHTSA recall file, with one campaign number. A campaign can name many makes, models and model years.

Complaint: A report about a possible safety problem that a person sends to NHTSA. This site shows the number of complaints and not their text.

Units: The number of vehicles or products that a recall can include. The manufacturer or the firm reports the number to the agency.

Components in the complaints

217 component mentions.

A complaint can name more than one component. Each component that a complaint names is one component mention. The figure per 1,000 component mentions shows how many of each 1,000 mentions name the component.

BMW 5 Series: complaints by component, per 1,000 component mentions
ComponentPer 1,000Mentions
Engine and Engine Cooling156.734
Fuel System, Gasoline152.133
Air Bags115.225
Electrical System10623
Power Train64.514
Steering50.711
Latches/Locks/Linkages46.110
Tires41.59
Service Brakes, Hydraulic36.98
Exterior Lighting36.98

Counts by year

Recall campaigns that name the BMW 5 Series, by the year NHTSA received the report. The largest year is 2004, with 4 campaigns.
Complaints about the BMW 5 Series, by the year NHTSA received them. The largest year is 2010, with 63 complaints.

Other model lines of the make

BMW: all 244 model lines

Official channels

Cite this page

Recall Register. BMW 5 Series: recalls and complaints by model year. https://recallregister.com/vehicle/bmw/5-series/. Source: NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation, recall, complaint and investigation files. Data through .

Sources

Source
NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation
Licence
US government work, public domain
Recall file through
29 Sep 2026
Complaint file through
29 Mar 2018
Manufacturer in the recall file
BAYERISCHE MOTOREN WERKE

The model name is the name in the NHTSA files. NHTSA keeps a variant of a model as a different line. How the register is made. Report an error.

Questions

Which BMW 5 Series model years have the most recall campaigns?
2006 with 7, 2004 with 6, 2010 with 5. A campaign that names 3 model years is in the count of each of the 3.
Which BMW 5 Series model year has the most complaints?
The 2008 model year, with 66 of the 171 complaints for the line. A newer model year has had less time to get complaints.
Which components do the complaints about the BMW 5 Series name?
Engine and Engine Cooling: 156.7 per 1,000 component mentions. Fuel System, Gasoline: 152.1 per 1,000 component mentions. Air Bags: 115.2 per 1,000 component mentions.
How many NHTSA investigations name the BMW 5 Series?
3 investigations name one or more model years of the line. The page of each model year lists its investigations.