2021 BMW X3

These are vehicle campaigns — the ones the automaker filed against this model. NHTSA also records equipment recalls, filed by a parts maker against a component (a tyre, a child seat, an aftermarket part), and those are not listed here or counted above. nhtsa.gov/recalls shows both for a VIN.

NHTSA defect investigations

Most often about: Equipment, Electrical System, Engine, Structure, Visibility/Wiper.

• B110426 Service bulletin
  2026-07-17 · Electrical System
• The manual starting of electronic engine oil level measurement from inside the vehicle, usually afterperforming an engine oil service task, is inoperative or it may lock up at between a 15% to 30% completionrate.
• B010324 Warranty extension
  2026-06-29 · Engine
• The EVAP systems purge (vent) valve limited warranty for defects in materials and / or workmanship has been extended to 15 years / 150,000 miles as determined from the original first in-service / delivery date.
• B011425 Warranty extension
  2026-05-07 · Engine
• The EVAP systems purge (vent) valve limited warranty for defects in materials and / or workmanship has been extended to 15 years / 150,000 miles as determined from the original first in-service / delivery date.
• B661719 Service bulletin
  2025-04-30 · Service Brakes
• The vehicle applies the brakes on its own when reversing onto an inclined roadway or driveway. This appliesonly to the situation where the Active PDC option is activated via the iDrive.
• B650122 Warranty extension
  2025-01-06 · Air Bags
• The limited warranty for the Knee Air Bag wire harness repair cable procedure for defects in materials and / or workmanship has been extended to 10 years / 120,000 miles as determined from the original first in-service / delivery date.
• B512824 Service campaign
  2024-10-11 · Unknown Or Other
• DELIVERY STOP: REAR CARGO RAILS
• B410722 Service bulletin
  2024-04-04 · Structure
• While driving the vehicle on normal roads at10mph and above, a "cracking" sound from the top of the B-pillar(s) is heard.
• B310122 Service bulletin
  2024-03-14 · Suspension
• During inspection and/or diagnosis there is noticeable dirt/grease buildup on the axles near the inner and/o router CV boots.

A service bulletin is the manufacturer telling its dealers how to diagnose or repair a known condition. It is not a recall, not a finding that the vehicle is defective, and the work is not automatically free — though a bulletin is often what a dealer works from when you describe a symptom, so quoting the document number can save a diagnosis. The count is every communication filed; the list shows the most recent, one entry per campaign, because a single campaign is usually filed as several documents on the same day. The summaries are NHTSA's; the full documents come from the manufacturer.

Codes documented against this model year in the federal record. A code appearing here does not mean this vehicle will set it — it means the code is part of this nameplate-year's documented history.

Generic codes (the second character is 0 or 2) mean the same thing on every vehicle sold in the United States. Manufacturer-specific codes (1 or 3) mean whatever the automaker assigned, and no honest source can define them for you — which is why the ones here carry the evidence instead of a definition. A code is a link when enough separate federal documents name it across the catalogue to be worth a page of its own; the rest are listed here, where the vehicle is the context that makes them mean something.

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In New York’s inspection lanes over the 12 months to Oct 10, 2026, the 2021 BMW X3 failed the emissions check on 1.7% of first inspections — close to the 1.9% for every 2021 model-year vehicle inspected; and the safety inspection on 0.77% (every 2021 vehicle: 1.5%).

New York’s emissions test on these model years is an on-board diagnostics check: it fails a car whose check-engine light is on or whose self-tests have not finished. First inspections only, so a car that failed and came back is counted once; private and special plates, not taxis, livery or commercial plates. A rate appears only where at least 200 inspections stand behind it. “Every 2021 vehicle” is every 2021 model-year car, SUV and pickup inspected in the same window, all makes. This is the state’s record of test results, not a reliability score by itself. Source: New York State Department of Motor Vehicles, Vehicle Inspections (data.ny.gov, Open NY terms).

Paid vehicle-history reports will not tell you the difference between “nothing happened to this car” and “we never received that record” — both of the big two say as much in their own help pages. Most of what is on this page comes from complete federal registers, so we can tell you which is which, row by row.

Rebuilt nightly; this page was generated 2026-10-26. Every figure above is traceable to the source named beside it, and the JSON for this page carries the same values with their identifiers.