Does the BMW 5 Series fail the MOT on seat belts and airbags more than it should?

The BMW 5 Series records 1.27 seat belts and airbags failure items per 100 initial MOT tests (2019–2024), against 1.16 expected for a car of the same age mix: about as expected for its class and age (the difference is within its interval or under 0.5 items per 100 tests) (+0.11, 95% interval +0.09 to +0.13). It ranks 230 of 627 models on seat belts and airbags (1 = most failures above expected).

Data release dvsa-2024-v2 (24 Sep 2026) · page updated 30 Sep 2026 · all models on seat belts and airbags · check a BMW 5 Series by registration

What exactly fails on seat belts and airbags?

The most frequent DVSA defect wording in this group on the BMW 5 Series is “An SRS malfunction indicator lamp (MIL) indicates a system malfunction”, recorded 9,593 times in 2019–2024.

BMW 5 Series: most frequent seat belts and airbags defect wordings, 2019–2024 (30+ items each)
DVSA defect wording	Items	Per 100 tests
An SRS malfunction indicator lamp (MIL) indicates a system malfunction	9,593	0.75
Seat belt buckle missing, damaged or not functioning as intended	2,779	0.22
The strength or continuity of the load bearing structure within 30cm of any seat belt anchorage (a 'prescribed area') is significantly reduced or inadequately repaired	2,130	0.17
Seat belt not functioning as intended or of an incorrect type	535	0.04
An airbag obviously inoperative	275	0.02

Source: DVSA MOT bulk data (OGL v3.0) · Window: 2019–2024 · n = 1,273,419 (initial tests) · Method: failure items (major and minor) grouped by DVSA's defect tree; wordings with 30+ items · Updated: 30 Sep 2026 · Release: dvsa-2024-v2 · CSV

If a BMW 5 Series gets a seat belts and airbags advisory, how often does it fail next time?

5.9% of BMW 5 Series MOTs with a seat belts and airbags advisory were followed by a fail in the same group at the next MOT, typically 12.1 months and 3,895 miles later (3,405 advisories followed).

Source: DVSA MOT bulk data (OGL v3.0) · Window: 2019–2024 · n = 3,405 (advisories followed) · Method: the same vehicles followed to their next ordinary MOT · Updated: 30 Sep 2026 · Release: dvsa-2024-v2 · CSV

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Does the BMW 5 Series fail the MOT on seat belts and airbags more than it should?

What exactly fails on seat belts and airbags?

If a BMW 5 Series gets a seat belts and airbags advisory, how often does it fail next time?

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Other pages for this model