20V017000
AIR BAGS:FRONTAL:DRIVER SIDE:INFLATOR MODULE
An inflator explosion may result in sharp metal fragments striking the driver or other occupants resulting in serious injury or death.
2008 BMW X3
3 safety recall campaigns, 93 owner complaints filed with NHTSA.
The record
Recall campaigns3
Park it0stop driving until repaired
Investigations0
Owner complaints93
Complaints citing a crash6
Complaints citing a fire6
Complaints are reports from owners of this model year, not findings about any particular vehicle, and a model that sold in large numbers will collect more of them. They are counted here as filed; nothing is inferred from them.
Recall campaigns 3 of 3
17V683000
ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING:EXHAUST SYSTEM:EMISSION CONTROL:CRANKCASE (PCV)
An electrical short can cause the parts within the PCV valve to melt, increasing the risk of a fire, even when the vehicle is not in use.
17V605000
AIR BAGS:SENSOR:OCCUPANT CLASSIFICATION
Should the system fail, in the event of a crash, the front passenger air bag would be deactivated, increasing the risk of personal injury.
What owners report most
- 32AIR BAGS
- 16ENGINE
- 15ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING
- 5SEATS
- 5UNKNOWN OR OTHER
- 4ELECTRICAL SYSTEM
- 4POWER TRAIN
- 2FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM
This page is about a model, not a car
Two 2008 BMW X3s can have entirely different histories, and a recall campaign usually covers a build-date window rather than a whole model year — which a VIN does not encode, so only the door-jamb label settles it. Scanning the VIN adds the decode, the crash tests, the fuel economy and the complaints matched to that exact engine, trim and assembly plant.