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 6,621 of 6,627 failed first attempts (99.9%) that recorded an odometer reading in 2025 — the subset the age-and-mileage comparison can be computed on.
Standout: Service brake imbalance (rear) — 4.2% of this year's failed first attempts
Recorded on 275 of those tests. It tops the table on elevation — about 3.7× 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.
No patterns met the strongest callout thresholds on this page; showing the highest-lift rows that still cleared the display floors.
| Fault pattern | Location | Failures | vs similar cars | Share of fails | Confidence |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Service brake imbalance (rear)
Brakes > Brake performance > Service Brake Efficiency (sp) > Rbt (sp) > Service brake imbalance
|
Rear | 275 | ×3.7 | 4.2% | Likely |
|
Sub-frame (front)
Suspension > Sub-frames > Sub-frame
|
Front | 145 | ×3.4 | 2.2% | Likely |
|
Macpherson strut (front)
Suspension > Macpherson strut > Macpherson strut
|
Front | 140 | ×3.2 | 2.1% | Likely |
|
Rbt (sp)
Brakes > Brake performance > Parking brake efficiency (sp) > Rbt (sp)
|
Any | 963 | ×3.1 | 14.5% | Likely |
|
Seat belts — Condition (rear)
Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems > Seat belts > Condition
|
Rear | 141 | ×3.0 | 2.1% | Likely |
|
Parking brake performance (rear)
Brakes > Brake performance > Parking brake performance > Rbt > Parking brake performance
|
Rear | 169 | ×2.8 | 2.6% | Possible |
|
Rigid brake pipes (rear)
Brakes > Rigid brake pipes
|
Rear | 295 | ×2.8 | 4.5% | Possible |
|
Anti-lock braking system
Brakes > ABS / EBS / ESC > Anti-lock braking system
|
Any | 236 | ×2.2 | 3.6% | Possible |
|
Service brake performance (rear)
Brakes > Brake performance > Service brake performance > Rbt > Service brake performance
|
Rear | 422 | ×2.1 | 6.4% | 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).