Owners have filed 44 complaints on the BMW M4, covering 2015–2022. The system named most often is Power Train (13 reports). Worst years by volume: 2016, 2015, 2018; cleanest: 2020, 2021, 2017. 0 reports describe a crash, 3 a fire. On average the car was 3.8 years old when the problem happened.
What breaks on BMW M4
Grouped by the system owners named — percentages are shares of all 44 M4 complaints. Open any row for the full reports in owners' own words.
Power Train 13 Read
There has been a recall on my car since november 2018, but bmw hasn't made the part available for my car. Bmw also doesn't offer a payoff amount of my car because it's not safe for me to sell the car to someone else but it's okay for me to continue driving this car
The contact owns a 2017 bmw m4. The contact received notification of NHTSA campaign number: 18V713000 (power train). The parts to do the repair were unavailable. The contact stated that the manufacturer exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. Bmw of monrovia (1425 mountain ave, monrovia, ca 91016,…
Diagnosed with cooling system issue, 2nd cooling system dry/low or leaking, transmission issue, code 537, power train issue, car is quick shifting and skipping from 5th to 7th gear with a buzzing sound, and without a drop in power. The car only has 48,000 miles. We bought this car 5 months ago from a mercedes benz…
Engine 7 Read
Crank hub issue
Multiple owners with the same platform are reporting having issues with the hub spinning and breaking we all feel like this is a manufacturer defect that needs to be recalled
Crank hub spins, its something that bmw manufacture should recall and fix because it can damage your whole engine
Fuel/propulsion System 6 Read
I think the fuel tank has cracked on the upper portion of the tank. I noticed a smell of gas on my way home from filling gas and when I got home I realized there was a puddle of gas sitting underneath my car. I jacked up the car and inspected the underneath and saw nothing, I noticed the gas was leaking from a higher…
Fuel tank was leaking. I brought it in to BMW of San Antonio who found the left side top area of fuel tank leaking fuel from the sealed portion. Heat caused the top of fuel tank to expand and crack. BMW of SA required me to buy a replacement fuel tank. When I said, if I buy the replacement fuel tank, won't this issue…
What component or system failed or malfunctioned, and is it available for inspection upon request? Fuel Tank on my BMW under 50k miles started leaking after a fill up. How was your safety or the safety of others put at risk? I didn't notice any leaks at the gas station but once I got home, pulled in my garage I…
Electrical System 5 Read
Spontaneous car fire - july 16, 2018; 10:30pm - 2016 bmw m4 convertible the car had about 22k miles at the time of the fire and was still under manufacturer's certified pre-owned warranty. It had last been serviced six months ago at 18,806 miles for a regularly scheduled oil change. There had not been any issues in…
Fire spontaneously started in the car. Felt like it cams from slightly behind drivers seat. Car was driving quite slowly when fire broke out
Driver side door lock fail to unlock to allow door open when interior door release pulled. Occurred occasionally at first, now regularly but not always. The car designed to automatically locks when driven, once car parked and ready to get out, door lever fails to unlock and allow door to open. Normally first pull of…
Suspension 5 Read
The contact owns a 2020 BMW M4. The contact stated while driving approximately 40 MPH, there was a failure with the wheelbase and the front end was raising off the ground while turning. The contact stated there was no warning light illuminated. The contact performed a personal diagnosis with adaptive mobility…
Bmw is aware of a crack developing in a front suspension carrier (one each located on both the driver's side and passenger's side - two total). Bmw had to replace my passenger side carrier under warranty. When I took my car in for an oil change, the service technician detected a hairline crack and ordered the…
The car only has 500 miles. It is a show car not taken out of the garage. Went to change oil and inspection sticker. Found to have a bad front knuckle. It is cracked. Many forums on this. This car is limited and has very low miles by owners. This should not be occurring
Service Brakes 2 Read
Vehicle brake very very loudly. BMw claims this is normal, this is not true. Vehicle has extremely low miles and performs bad when braking
The ABS module, which controls the brake drying feature, is malfunctioning. This BMW feature is designed to lightly pulse the brakes when the windshield wipers are active to wipe water off the rotors for better braking performance. The intervention is supposed to be imperceptible. Instead, the system intermittently…
Seats 1 Read
The contact owns a 2016 bmw m4. While driving 40 mph, the passenger seat began to emit smoke after the passenger turned on the seat heater. The vehicle was not diagnosed. The vehicle was taken to be repaired at erhard bmw of farmington hills. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was…
Visibility 1 Read
Company is selling reflector inserts that are not legal. The removal of safety device(s) is suspect at this time. The part removes the reflective safety feature and replaces with a dull black insert preventing reflection of said vehicle rendering a possible safety hazard. I do not use the product. These products are…
M4 years to avoid — and the clean ones
Complaints per model year. More reports usually means more cars on the road as well as more trouble, so read the crash and fire columns alongside the count.
| Model year | Complaints | Top system | Crashes | Fires |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | Unknown Or Other | — | — | |
| 2021 | Service Brakes | — | — | |
| 2020 | Suspension,engine | — | — | |
| 2018 | Engine | — | — | |
| 2017 | Power Train | — | — | |
| 2016 | Electrical System,engine,fuel/propulsion System | — | 2 | |
| 2015 | Electrical System | — | 1 |
The same model year, different builds
Every complaint carries the first 11 characters of the VIN — plant, year, body and engine. That is a production series, and complaints are spread across them very unevenly.
| Measure | Value |
|---|---|
| Distinct production series | 31 |
| Average complaints per series | 1.4 |
| Worst single series | 3 complaints |
| Average age at failure | 3.8 years |
A model average of 1.4 hides a worst series at 3. Enter a VIN above to see the numbers for that exact build instead of the model as a whole.
Owners reported these. Find out if yours is one of them.
- Complaints matched to the exact production run, not just the model
- What the car is worth given what tends to fail on it
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How we count
Every figure here comes from complaints owners filed with NHTSA — 1,100,006 of them, covering 1,982 models built between 1981 and 2026.
A complaint is an unverified report: someone wrote down what happened to their car. It is not a confirmed defect and not a recall. What makes the volume useful is the pattern — when thousands of owners of the same build describe the same failure, that is a signal no marketing brochure will give you.
Two things we do that the source does not. First, we compute the age of the car at the moment of failure from the incident date and the model year. Second, we group complaints by the first 11 characters of the VIN — the production series — so a bad plant run does not disappear into a model-wide average.
Frequently asked questions
What are the worst years for the M4?
By complaint volume, 2016, 2015, 2018 drew the most owner reports. Bear in mind that popular years put more cars on the road, so check the crash and fire columns too.
Which M4 years are the cleanest?
2020, 2021, 2017 have the fewest complaints on file. For recent years that can simply mean the cars are young.
How many complaints does the BMW M4 have?
44 owner complaints filed with NHTSA, covering 2015–2022. Of those, 0 describe a crash and 3 a fire.
Are these complaints verified?
No. They are unverified reports from owners. NHTSA publishes them as filed and investigates only a fraction. The value is in the pattern, not in any single report.
Can I check complaints for one specific car?
Yes — enter its VIN above. We match the first 11 characters, which identify the plant, year, body and engine, so you get complaints on that exact production series rather than the whole model.