A blind drunk man was jaywalking and was hit by a distracted and inexperienced driver and died. Why did he die? There likely isn't a singular root cause. There are 5 potential singular root causes, but they are a subset of the 5-factorial potential combinatorial root causes.
I agree that solutions before problems is bad, but the five whys is problematic simply because it promotes the idea of singular root cause which is almost inevitably a fallacy when analyzing complex systems. There are often conceivably millions of overlapping and/or interacting causes to an observable problem. Sometimes, trying to boil causality down to a single item is merely missing the point, but very often it is much more problematic. Unintended consequences from solutions derived from improperly attributed singular root causes can be terrifying.
This seems like an overly simplistic interpretation.
The answer to "why" can be three different things. So you ask why to each of those. Repeat.
The five whys is only "problematic" if you expect it to give you the answer. It's only a means by which it can be easier for you to arrive at one or more of the many possible answers.
My experience is that asking five whys can help you manage or mitigate some of the root causes. You probably won't get them all on this pass, but if this is important, it'll come up again and you'll try some other root causes. However, if you think you've found the root cause, you're probably wrong. I dunno about "terrifying", but accumulating scar tissue can definitely create more problems than it solves.
The point of 5 whys is NOT to assign proper blame for each problem. It is to give you a way in a complex system for identifying pain points that are causing you repeated problems.
I agree that solutions before problems is bad, but the five whys is problematic simply because it promotes the idea of singular root cause which is almost inevitably a fallacy when analyzing complex systems. There are often conceivably millions of overlapping and/or interacting causes to an observable problem. Sometimes, trying to boil causality down to a single item is merely missing the point, but very often it is much more problematic. Unintended consequences from solutions derived from improperly attributed singular root causes can be terrifying.