Mercedes-Benz C-Class 2022: reliability & common MOT faults

At a glance

How 4,378 first tests went in 2025.

Passed first time: 89 in every 100
Did not pass first time: 11 in every 100494 failed first-attempt tests
The typical car: 3 yearsabout 24,891 miles
First tests counted: 4,378

What failed most often

Tyre condition (front)38 in every 100 failed tests
Tyre tread depth (rear)12 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 2022 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.

Tyres

One wear pattern: tyre tread depth (rear), 3.6 times as often as on similar cars.

Figures below are measured across the 494 failed first attempts in 2025 that had a mileage recorded, which allows a like-for-like comparison.

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.

Tyre tread depth (rear)

Failed on 58 first tests3.6 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.

Also noted as an advisory

Testers also noted it as an advisory, worn but not yet failing, on 118 first tests, 2.6 times as often as on similar cars.

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

MOT pass rates

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

Passed first time: 89in every 100; Passed on the first test.
Fixed at the station: 1in every 100; Failed, then fixed at the test station the same day.
Failed: 10in every 100; Did not pass, and were not fixed at the test station.

First-attempt pass 88.7% of 4,378 first tests (2025): only cars that passed first time count. Official-style pass 90.0%: cars fixed at the test station also count as a pass. The 1 fixed and the 10 not fixed make the 11 in every 100 that did not pass first time.

By fuel type

First testsTypical mileagePassed first time, as testedPassed first time, same mileage

Hybrid3,07023,484 miles8989

Other fuel1,16829,665 miles8889

Figures are in every 100 first tests. Cars with more miles usually fail more often, so the same-mileage figure gives every fuel the mileage mix of all the cars in this year.

Same model, other years

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

Newer cars are younger, so look for a jump rather than the climb.

Year	Passed first time	First tests
1996	72 in every 100	347
1997	68 in every 100	584
1998	71 in every 100	723
1999	68 in every 100	644
2000	66 in every 100	501
2001	64 in every 100	1,041
2002	63 in every 100	1,935
2003	58 in every 100	3,438
2004	58 in every 100	5,099
2005	59 in every 100	6,889
2006	58 in every 100	8,303
2007	61 in every 100	10,849
2008	63 in every 100	12,485
2009	64 in every 100	11,974
2010	66 in every 100	12,159
2011	67 in every 100	17,849
2012	67 in every 100	24,448
2013	69 in every 100	22,380
2014	75 in every 100	24,165
2015	78 in every 100	32,615
2016	80 in every 100	34,859
2017	81 in every 100	37,580
2018	84 in every 100	26,966
2019	85 in every 100	23,530
2020	86 in every 100	9,433
2021	87 in every 100	5,769
2022 This car	89 in every 100	4,378

If you are buying one

What this year's MOT record means for the decision in front of you.

Mileage matters most on a 2022 C-Class.

Of 2022 C-Class vehicles with under 15,000 miles, 95 in every 100 passed their 2025 MOT first time. With 39,000 miles or more, 85 in every 100 did.

Under 15,000813 tests

95

15,000–22,000976 tests

89

22,000–29,000 Typical car858 tests

89

29,000–39,000823 tests

86

39,000 and over908 tests

85

What to check at your mileage

How often each fault turned up on a failed first test, by the car's mileage. Read it as: what is likely to need looking at on a car like the one in front of you.

	Under 15,000	22,000–29,000	39,000 and over
Tyre condition (front)	2.8	4.4	5.3
Tyre tread depth (rear)	0.0	1.0	2.6

Faults per 100 first tests, by the car's mileage at the test.

When a car fails

67in every 100

of failed cars had one item to fix.

10in every 100

of failed cars had three or more items to fix.

6in every 100

of all first tests had a defect the tester marked dangerous (unsafe to drive away).

Every figure here is a first-attempt MOT rate from DVSA open data for this model line, for cars of this model year tested in 2025. Each mileage band holds a fifth of the tests. MOTs do not test engine or gearbox internals, so this is a pre-purchase checklist, not a full reliability score.

FAQs

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

Is the 2022 Mercedes-Benz C-Class reliable?

The 2022 Mercedes-Benz C-Class follows the pattern of the model years either side. Its main cause of failure was Tyre condition (front), about 38 in every 100 failed tests. In 2025, 88.7% of 4,378 first MOTs on the 2022 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 90.0%. Among 494 failed first-attempt MOT tests (test year 2025), we highlight MOT failure patterns that show up more often than on cars of a similar age and mileage when the sample is large enough to trust. 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.

What is most likely to fail on a 2022 Mercedes-Benz C-Class?

Ranked by how often they were actually recorded, the items that most often failed a 2022 Mercedes-Benz C-Class at the first attempt were Tyre condition (front) (38.1%) and Tyre tread depth (rear) (11.7%), 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.

What does this Mercedes-Benz C-Class 2022 MOT report cover?

This page highlights MOT failure patterns for the 2022 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.

Does this include engine and gearbox problems?

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.