2018 BMW M5: what breaks, and at what mileage
What breaks on the 2018 BMW M5
On the 2018 BMW M5, the failure owners report most often is fuel pump failure, with 2 reports on file. Across every failure mode on this year, half the dated reports were filed before 800 miles.
What breaks on the 2018 BMW M5
Owners have reported 8 named failure modes on the 2018 BMW M5, and the three most-reported carry 46% of everything filed.
Fuel pump failure leads with 2 reports and about 0.4 per 1,000 vehicles.
Seat belt or retractor failure follows with 2 reports.
Other engine problem follows with 2 reports.
By system, the reports fall mostly into fuel (2), airbag (2) and engine (2).
The mileage the reports cluster at
Too few of the reports on this year carry an odometer reading to describe the timing: 2 of them do. The mileages quoted elsewhere on this page come from the modes that have enough of them.
Tick median reported mileage Solid middle half of reports Faint 10th to 90th percentile Colour how bad the failure is when it happens
How reports accumulate
Every report with an odometer reading, cumulative, from 0 to 200,000 miles. A curve that climbs early is a car with early problems, whatever its total.
- Line share of reports filed by that mileage
What happens when these parts fail
Nothing in the reports on the 2018 BMW M5 mentions a crash, a fire or an injury. That is the ordinary case and it is worth stating: most defect complaints are about a car that stopped working, not one that hurt somebody.
The average severity weight across every report on this year is 3.92, where a stalled engine or a failed airbag weighs many times more than a rattling trim panel, and a figure this high means the reports are dominated by failures with safety consequences rather than annoyances. The weighting is set out in full on the methodology page.
What the top failures cost to put right, as editorial estimates for an independent US shop rather than figures from NHTSA: fuel pump failure at $600–$2,600, seat belt or retractor failure at $200–$900, other engine problem at $300–$4,000 and radiator or coolant leak at $350–$1,900. Dealer labour, a seized bolt or a part that is no longer made can push any of these past the top of its range.
23% of the reports on this year sit in the engine, transmission, drivetrain or cooling systems — the four where a repair bill is usually four figures.
Every reported failure mode
| Failure mode | System | Reports | With reading | 25th | Median | 75th | Per 1,000 | Typical repair | Severity |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fuel pump failure | fuel | 2 | 2 | — | 750 | — | 0.4 | $600–$2,600 | High |
| Seat belt or retractor failure | airbag | 2 | 0 | — | — | — | 0.4 | $200–$900 | High |
| Other engine problem | engine | 2 | 0 | — | — | — | 0.4 | $300–$4,000 | High |
| Radiator or coolant leak | cooling | 1 | 0 | — | — | — | 0.2 | $350–$1,900 | High |
| Control module (ECM/PCM/BCM) failure | electrical | 1 | 0 | — | — | — | 0.2 | $700–$3,000 | High |
| Other brake problem | brakes | 1 | 0 | — | — | — | 0.2 | $300–$1,800 | High |
| Other steering problem | steering | 1 | 0 | — | — | — | 0.2 | $350–$2,400 | High |
| Other speed control problem | adas | 1 | 0 | — | — | — | 0.2 | $250–$2,000 | Critical |
| Unclassified problem | other | 2 | 0 | — | — | — | 0.4 | — | Moderate |
Rate per 1,000 uses a fleet-size estimate derived from recall paperwork for this exact model year. It is a lower bound. Repair costs are typical independent-shop ranges for the failure, not figures from these reports.
How often, against how many were built
Scaled by an estimate of how many of these cars exist, the 2018 BMW M5 draws about 2.6 per 1,000 vehicles, which puts it in the 79th percentile of complaint rates among 2018 vehicles we can rate.
That denominator is the weakest number on the page and it is fair to say so plainly. Rate per 1,000 uses a fleet-size estimate derived from recall paperwork for this exact model year. It is a lower bound.
The working figure is 5,048 vehicles. If the true number is twice that, every rate on this page is half what it says; the ranking against other 2018 vehicles, which is what the risk score uses, is far more robust than the rate itself.
What owners wrote
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint narratives, trimmed for length. The odometer reading is the one the owner gave.
Fuel pump failure
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 vehicles. I managed to guide it to the shoulder and turned off the ignition for 2minutes, after which I re-started the car and was able to engage drive. I contacted my dealership today, only to be informed, this was as a result of computer glitch controlling the fuel pump causing it to shut off without warning. I was told there has been a software patch to remedy this problem. If it is true, I believe the correction should have been done before the car was picked up or promptly notified to return the car for fixing. I could have been killed on the highway last night if not for my prompt situation awareness and experience in handling this powerful car which is my fourth m5 since 2006. Owners need to be notified immediately for fixes like this that can lead to fatal incidents. I don't know if anything similar has been reported about this…
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 vehicles. I managed to guide it to the shoulder and turned off the ignition for 2minutes, after which I re-started the car and was able to engage drive. I contacted my dealership today, only to be informed, this was as a result of computer glitch controlling the fuel pump causing it to shut off without warning. I was told there has been a software patch to remedy this problem. If it is true, I believe the correction should have been done before the car was picked up or promptly notified to return the car for fixing. I could have been killed on the highway last night if not for my prompt situation awareness and experience in handling this powerful car which is my fourth m5 since 2006. Owners need to be notified immediately for fixes like this that can lead to fatal incidents. I don't know if anything similar has been reported about this…
Recalls on the 2018 model year
NHTSA has issued 3 recall campaigns covering the 2018 BMW M5, affecting an estimated 7,539 vehicles. A recall is a different kind of evidence from a complaint: it is the regulator and the manufacturer agreeing that something has to be fixed, and the fix is free for as long as the car exists.
The campaigns cover back over prevention: sensing system: camera, fuel system, gasoline:storage:tank assembly and fuel system, gasoline:delivery:fuel pump. Whether the work was actually done on the car in front of you is a question only the VIN can answer, and the manufacturer or NHTSA will answer it free.
One caution about reading these together: a recall usually raises the complaint count for the same part, because owners who read about it go and file. The mileages stay informative; the counts get noisy.
BACK OVER PREVENTION: SENSING SYSTEM: CAMERA
257,473 vehicles 2019-09-27- Defect
- BMW of North America, LLC (BMW) is recalling certain 2018 540d, 2018-2020 530i, 530i xDrive, 540i, 540i xDrive, M550i xDrive, M5, 530e, 530e xDrive, X3 sDrive, X3 xDrive, X3 M40i, X3 M, and 2019-2020 X4 xDrive, X4 M40i, X4 M, X7 xDrive, X7 M50i, 740Li, 740Li xDrive, 750Li, 750Li xDrive, 8 Series Convertible and Coupe 840i, 840i xDrive, M850i xDrive, X5 sDrive, X5 xDrive, X5 M50i, X6 xDrive, X6 M50i, 330i, 330i xDrive, M340i, M340i xDrive, Z4 sDrive, Z4 M40i, 740Le xDrive and 745Le xDrive, 2018-2019 640i xDrive Gran Turismo and Rolls-Royce Phantom, 2019 M850i xDrive Gran…
- Consequence
- The lack of an image in the back-up camera display increases the risk of a crash.
- Remedy
- BMW will notify owners, and dealers will update the back-up camera software, free of charge. The recall began November 8, 2019. Owners may contact BMW customer service at 1-800-525-7417 or Rolls-Royce at 1-877-877-3735. Toyota owners may contact Toyota customer service at 1-888-270-9371.
FUEL SYSTEM, GASOLINE:STORAGE:TANK ASSEMBLY
1,645 vehicles 2018-07-17- Defect
- BMW of North America, LLC (BMW) is recalling certain 2018 BMW M5 vehicles. The fuel level sensor in the fuel tank may become stuck against an in-tank fuel line, causing the fuel gauge to display an inaccurate and possibly larger amount of fuel than is actually available.
- Consequence
- An incorrect fuel reading may lead to the vehicle stalling and increase the risk of a crash.
- Remedy
- BMW will notify owners, and dealers will secure the in-tank fuel line to keep the fuel line from contacting the fuel level sensor, free of charge. The recall is expected to begin September 2018. Owners may contact BMW customer service at 1-800-525-7417.
FUEL SYSTEM, GASOLINE:DELIVERY:FUEL PUMP
846 vehicles 2018-05-16- Defect
- BMW of North America, LLC (BMW) is recalling certain 2018 BMW M5 vehicles. In certain driving conditions, the engine control unit software may cause the fuel pump to stop.
- Consequence
- If the fuel pump stops, the vehicle will stall, increasing the risk of a crash.
- Remedy
- BMW will notify owners, and dealers will update the engine control unit software, free of charge. The recall began on June 25, 2018. Owners may contact BMW customer service at 1-800-525-7417.
Recall work is free at a franchised dealer regardless of the car's age. Check the VIN at nhtsa.gov/recalls before assuming it was done.
Every year of the BMW M5
Scores compare each year against other cars of the same model year, so a low number on an older car is a real result and not an artefact of age.
Shorter is better. Years with too few reports to score are shown without a bar rather than as a zero, because no data is not good news.
The limits of complaint data
13 owner reports; fleet size estimated from this year's own recall paperwork. Every count on this page is therefore a floor: it is the number of owners who went to the trouble of filing with a federal agency, which is a small and self-selected fraction of the owners who had the fault.
Of those 13 reports, 2 carried an odometer reading, so the mileages here describe 15% of the sample rather than all of it. Owners also round: readings pile up on multiples of ten thousand, which is why this site publishes "about 90,000 miles" and not "91,438".
The failure modes are assigned by software reading the owner's own words, which is accurate in bulk and wrong in individual cases. A mode with a handful of reports may contain a misfiled one.
And nothing here predicts what one car will do. These are other people's complaints, filed years apart, on cars maintained by strangers. Read the page as a map of where this model year has previously gone wrong, then have the specific car in front of you inspected.
Questions this page answers
What are the most common problems with the 2018 BMW M5?
The most-reported failures are fuel pump failure (2 reports, median 800 miles), seat belt or retractor failure (2 reports) and other engine problem (2 reports). Counts come from owner complaints filed with NHTSA, which are voluntary, so they show what owners bothered to report rather than every fault that occurred.
Where this comes from. Every figure above is computed from NHTSA owner complaints and recall records for this exact make, model and year. Complaints are voluntary and self-selected, so treat counts as a floor. The methodology page writes out each formula, and the same numbers are available as JSON.
What breaks at my mileage Compare with another car
Source Owner complaints and recall records published by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, model years 1996–2027 Figures rebuilt Published by AtWhatMileage How every figure is computed