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RecallGazette

Vehicle problems, recalls & safety intelligence

BMW 323CI 1999–2008technical service bulletin

Bulletin 120913 · NHTSA communication 10150160 · issued Nov 1, 2013

Technical service bulletin
communication type
Equipment
component
1999–2008
model years
60
vehicle entries

Official summary

State Inspection and Emission (I/M) Test Fails Due To an Invalid VIN Number. The customer of an affected vehicle may fail to pass an I/M test due to a non-compliant 17digit vehicle identification number (VIN) stored in the DME (Digital Motor Electronic). The VIN read out and displayed on the state test printout does not match the actual VIN of the vehicle. If the DME was reprogrammed using the previously available BMW service equipment (e.g., Progman, GT1), it is possible that only the last 7 digits of the VIN were entered into the DME, and positions 4 through10 may only contain default charac

What a TSB means. Technical service bulletins are repair guidance manufacturers send to dealers — they are not recalls, and repairs are not automatically free (warranty extensions are an exception worth checking). The full document is available via NHTSA’s vehicle lookup.