These MOT failure patterns show up more often on this registration year than on similar cars of the same class, age, and mileage.
Shares below are measured across the 6,276 of 6,282 failed first attempts (99.9%) that recorded an odometer reading in 2025 — the subset the age-and-mileage comparison can be computed on.
Standout: Seat belts — Condition (front) — 3.7% of this year's failed first attempts
Recorded on 233 of those tests. It tops the table on elevation — about 11× more often than on similar cars of the same age and mileage. That is what makes it unusual for its class, which is a different question from what is most likely to fail; the buying checklist ranks by that. The full ranked list is in the table below.
| Fault pattern | Location | Failures | vs similar cars | Share of fails | Confidence |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Seat belts — Condition (front)
Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems > Seat belts > Condition
|
Front | 233 | ×11 | 3.7% | Strong |
|
Electrical equipment — Horn
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment > Electrical equipment > Horn
|
Any | 371 | ×4.2 | 5.9% | Likely |
|
Drive shafts — Joints (front)
Body, chassis, structure > Transmission > Drive shafts > Joints
|
Front | 1,037 | ×3.7 | 16.5% | Likely |
|
Stop lamp (rear)
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment > Stop lamp
|
Rear | 785 | ×3.5 | 12.5% | Likely |
|
Position lamp (front)
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment > Position lamps > Position lamp
|
Front | 1,372 | ×3.1 | 21.9% | Likely |
|
Registration plate lamp(s) (rear)
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment > Registration plate lamp(s)
|
Rear | 637 | ×2.9 | 10.1% | Possible |
|
Coil spring (front)
Suspension > Springs > Coil springs > Coil spring
|
Front | 1,052 | ×2.8 | 16.8% | Possible |
|
Individual direction indicators (rear)
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment > Direction indicators > Flashing type > Individual direction indicators
|
Rear | 132 | ×2.6 | 2.1% | Possible |
|
Position lamp (rear)
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment > Position lamps > Position lamp
|
Rear | 260 | ×2.6 | 4.1% | Possible |
| Diesel emissions test (compression-ignition rules for vehicles from 01/01/2014) | Any | 263 | ×2.2 | 4.2% | Possible |
Only patterns that clear minimum sample and elevation thresholds are shown (at least 20 failures and about 2.0× more often than similar cars).