Model Reports 4 min read Updated 18 Oct 2026

Mercedes-Benz C-Class 2002: reliability & common MOT faults

In 2025, 63 in every 100 first MOTs on a 2002 Mercedes-Benz C-Class were passes. Most common reason for a fail: Suspension arm ball joint (front).

Summary

The 2002 Mercedes-Benz C-Class follows the pattern of the model years either side.

At a glance

How 1,935 first tests went in 2025.

Passed first time
63 in every 100
Did not pass first time
37 in every 100712 failed first-attempt tests
The typical car
23 yearsabout 96,102 miles
First tests counted
1,935

What failed most often

  1. Suspension arm ball joint (front)16 in every 100 failed tests
  2. Coil spring (front)12 in every 100 failed tests
  3. Petrol engine warning light10 in every 100 failed tests

How we count this. Data: UK MOT open data, 2025. Only Class 4 cars on their first MOT of the year are counted. A car that fails and is fixed at the test station still counts as a fail in the first-attempt rate. These are raw results, not adjusted for age, mileage, or peer mix. The MOT does not test engine or gearbox internals.

Note:

These are patterns across 2002 Mercedes-Benz C-Class vehicles in 2025, not a prediction that any one car will have them. Faults are grouped by part of the car. A wear pattern follows age and use more than the way the car was built. They come from MOT defect codes, not manufacturer bulletins, recalls or a diagnosis of any one car.

Suspension

Five faults. The strongest is the coil spring (front): 5.1 times as often as on similar cars.

Figures below are measured across the 708 of 712 failed first attempts (99.4%) that recorded an odometer reading in 2025. Mileage is needed to compare like with like.

We only list faults with at least 20 failures and a rate of about 2.0 times that of similar cars, which keeps one-off results out of the list.

Coil spring (front)

Failed on 87 first tests5.1 times as often as similar carsLikely evidence

What it means

A missing bump stop rubber is not a reason to fail a coil spring. When the vehicle is jacked and lowered, a spring that does not correctly locate as the suspension returns to its normal running position is rejected as insecurely attached. A missing spring is Major, and graded Dangerous where directional control is affected.

Suspension arm ball joint (front)

Failed on 116 first tests3.6 times as often as similar carsLikely evidence

What it means

A suspension arm ball joint is failed under the general suspension pin, bush or joint wording. Excessively worn is Major, and likely to become detached is graded Dangerous.

Also noted as an advisory

Testers also noted it as an advisory, worn but not yet failing, on 53 first tests, 2.9 times as often as on similar cars.

Anti-roll bar linkage ball joint dust cover (front)

Failed on 45 first tests2.4 times as often as similar carsPossible evidence

What it means

A suspension joint dust cover that is severely deteriorated is Minor. It becomes Major once it is missing or no longer prevents the ingress of dirt, so what matters is whether it still keeps dirt out. DVSA words this for any suspension joint dust cover, and files it here under anti-roll bars.

Anti-roll bar linkage ball joints (front)

Failed on 30 first tests2.1 times as often as similar carsPossible evidence

What it means

Excessive wear on an anti-roll bar linkage ball joint is Major. A joint likely to become detached is graded Dangerous.

Also noted as an advisory

Testers also noted it as an advisory, worn but not yet failing, on 27 first tests, 2.2 times as often as on similar cars.

Suspension arm ball joint dust cover (front)

Failed on 34 first tests2.1 times as often as similar carsPossible evidence

What it means

Whether a suspension arm ball joint dust cover still keeps dirt out decides its grade. Severely deteriorated is Minor, while missing, or no longer preventing the ingress of dirt, is Major.

Data: UK MOT open data, 2025. Compared with cars of the same age and mileage. Advisories count notes recorded on failed first tests only.

Tyres

One wear pattern: tyre tread depth (rear), 2.8 times as often as on similar cars.

Tyre tread depth (rear)

Failed on 38 first tests2.8 times as often as similar carsWear pattern

What it means

Only primary grooves count when tread depth is assessed: those holding the wear indicators, or cut as deep as those when new. Shallower secondary grooves are ignored. Tread depth below the minimum for the vehicle is Dangerous, and so is a pattern not visible over the whole tread, but that second row applies only to vehicles that need the lower minimum.

Data: UK MOT open data, 2025. Compared with cars of the same age and mileage.

Noise, emissions and leaks

One fault: petrol engine warning light, 2.4 times as often as on similar cars.

Petrol engine warning light

Failed on 74 first tests2.4 times as often as similar carsPossible evidence

What it means

The malfunction indicator lamp (MIL) on a petrol engine is a Major failure when it is illuminated indicating a malfunction. The detail line DVSA gives for the same row also names an inoperative lamp. The test covers only certain petrol vehicles, depending on their age, size and fuel type.

Data: UK MOT open data, 2025. Compared with cars of the same age and mileage.

Advisories

Other things testers noted as worn or close to failing, more often than on similar cars.

An advisory is a note from the tester about something that has not failed yet. It is an early warning, not a fail. Advisories for the faults above are shown with those faults.

Anti-roll bar (rear)

Noted on 22 first tests6.2 times as often as similar carsElevated evidence

Wheel bearings (front)

Noted on 62 first tests4.4 times as often as similar carsElevated evidence

Suspension sub-frame mounting area (rear)

Noted on 21 first tests3.5 times as often as similar carsElevated evidence

Suspension sub-frame (rear)

Noted on 100 first tests2.8 times as often as similar carsElevated evidence

Brake pads (rear)

Noted on 44 first tests2.4 times as often as similar carsWear pattern

Suspension arm (rear)

Noted on 39 first tests2.4 times as often as similar carsElevated evidence

Headlight

Noted on 28 first tests2.3 times as often as similar carsElevated evidence

Data: UK MOT open data, 2025. Counts cover advisories recorded on failed first tests only, compared with cars of the same age and mileage.

MOT pass rates

How first tests ended, and how the pass rates are counted.

Passed first time
63in every 100
Passed on the first test.
Fixed at the station
7in every 100
Failed, then fixed at the test station the same day.
Failed
30in every 100
Did not pass, and were not fixed at the test station.

First-attempt pass 63.2% of 1,935 first tests (2025): only cars that passed first time count. Official-style pass 69.7%: cars fixed at the test station also count as a pass. The 7 fixed and the 30 not fixed make the 37 in every 100 that did not pass first time.

Petrol and diesel

First testsPassed first time, as tested
Petrol1,54464
Diesel38862

Figures are in every 100 first tests.

Same model, other years

Passed first time in every 100, all tested in 2025.

40608010020022005201020152020Older carsNewer cars
406080100200220102020Newer cars

Newer cars are younger, so look for a jump rather than the climb. A year earlier (2024), when these cars were a year younger, 60 in every 100 passed first time.

YearPassed first timeFirst tests
199672 in every 100347
199768 in every 100584
199871 in every 100723
199968 in every 100644
200066 in every 100501
200164 in every 1001,041
2002 This car63 in every 1001,935
200358 in every 1003,438
200458 in every 1005,099
200559 in every 1006,889
200658 in every 1008,303
200761 in every 10010,849
200863 in every 10012,485
200964 in every 10011,974
201066 in every 10012,159
201167 in every 10017,849
201267 in every 10024,448
201369 in every 10022,380
201475 in every 10024,165
201578 in every 10032,615
201680 in every 10034,859
201781 in every 10037,580
201884 in every 10026,966
201985 in every 10023,530
202086 in every 1009,433
202187 in every 1005,769
202289 in every 1004,378

FAQs

Short answers about how to read this model-year guide.

The 2002 Mercedes-Benz C-Class follows the pattern of the model years either side. Its main cause of failure was Suspension arm ball joint (front), about 16 in every 100 failed tests. In 2025, 63.2% of 1,935 first MOTs on the 2002 Mercedes-Benz C-Class passed first time (PRS: items fixed at the station the same day, counted as a fail). The official-style rate including PRS is 69.7%. Among 712 failed first-attempt MOT tests (test year 2025), Coil spring (front) appears more often than on similar cars (12.3% of those tests; 87 observed failures; about 5.1× more often than similar cars). There is no single reliability score here; this is a pre-purchase checklist built from DVSA open data, not a guarantee for any individual car.
Ranked by how often they were actually recorded, the items that most often failed a 2002 Mercedes-Benz C-Class at the first attempt were Suspension arm ball joint (front) (16.4%), Coil spring (front) (12.3%) and Petrol engine warning light (10.5%), each as a share of the year's failed first attempts. That is what goes wrong most often on the car. The common faults table shows a different measure: faults that are unusual compared with similar cars.
Among failed first-attempt tests we highlight patterns that appear more often than on similar cars. Top example: Coil spring (front) (12.3% of those tests; 87 observed failures; about 5.1× more often than similar cars). These are statistical signals, not a diagnosis of any individual car.
Coil spring (front) shows up more often than on similar cars (12.3% of those tests; 87 observed failures; about 5.1× more often than similar cars). That does not prove a design fault. Age, mileage, and how the car was used still matter. Treat it as a pre-purchase checkpoint, not a manufacturer service bulletin.
Common MOT problem areas for the 2002 Mercedes-Benz C-Class include Coil spring (front), Suspension arm ball joint (front), Petrol engine warning light. These are the faults that stand out compared with similar cars, not a complete list of what can go wrong on any individual car.
Advisories flag issues noted at the test and are not a fail rate. We show advisory patterns that appear more often than on similar cars among failed first-attempt tests, separate from common failure rows. Use them as early-warning checks, not as a pass/fail score.
This page highlights MOT failure patterns for the 2002 Mercedes-Benz C-Class (registration year) using UK DVSA open data for the selected test year. Patterns are compared with cars of a similar age and mileage. It is a buyer checklist from MOT defect statistics, not a full service history or manufacturer service-bulletin list.
No. MOT tests do not cover engine internals, gearboxes, or many electronic modules. Patterns here come from MOT defect statistics only and should not be read as engine or gearbox reliability scores.

About this data

How this page is built and what it can (and can't) say.

These figures come from UK MOT open data for this model year. We surface common failure patterns against similar cars, not a full reliability score, and not a pass/fail verdict on any individual vehicle.

2024 2025

What we include

UK Class 4 cars only. Normal MOT tests (not retests); first test per vehicle per calendar year; results pass, PRS, or fail.

Same-day repairs

PRS means the car failed items that were fixed at the test station and then passed the same day. We count PRS as a first-attempt fail in headline rates so same-day repairs do not hide problems.

How we compare

We compare this model year with other Class 4 cars of similar age and mileage in the same test year. This model family is left out of the peer group so the car is not measured against itself.

What this does not cover

  • MOTs do not cover engine internals, gearboxes, or many electronics; this is not a full reliability score.
  • Common faults come from MOT defect stats, not manufacturer TSBs or recalls.
  • Age and mileage matching reduces, but does not remove, differences in how cars were used and maintained.
  • If the data for a car is too thin to say anything useful, we say so rather than guess.

Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

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