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 1,342 failed first attempts in 2025 that the age-and-mileage comparison can be computed on.
Standout: Linkage ball joints (rear) — 5.9% of this year's failed first attempts
Recorded on 79 of those tests. It tops the table on elevation — about 34× 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Linkage ball joints (rear)
Suspension > Anti-roll bars > Linkage ball joints
|
Rear | 79 | ×34 | 5.9% | Likely |
|
Individual direction indicators (front)
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment > Direction indicators > Flashing type > Individual direction indicators
|
Front | 37 | ×8.1 | 2.8% | Likely |
|
Individual direction indicators (rear)
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment > Direction indicators > Flashing type > Individual direction indicators
|
Rear | 68 | ×6.2 | 5.1% | Likely |
|
Service brake imbalance (rear)
Brakes > Brake performance > Service Brake Efficiency (sp) > Rbt (sp) > Service brake imbalance
|
Rear | 50 | ×5.8 | 3.7% | Likely |
|
SRS malfunction indicator lamp
Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems > SRS malfunction indicator lamp
|
Any | 88 | ×4.9 | 6.6% | Likely |
|
Linkage ball joints (front)
Suspension > Anti-roll bars > Linkage ball joints
|
Front | 113 | ×3.9 | 8.4% | Likely |
|
Electrical equipment — Horn
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment > Electrical equipment > Horn
|
Any | 66 | ×3.4 | 4.9% | Likely |
|
Position lamp (front)
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment > Position lamps > Position lamp
|
Front | 316 | ×3.3 | 23.5% | Likely |
|
Ball joint (front)
Suspension > Suspension arms > Ball joint
|
Front | 266 | ×3.0 | 19.8% | Likely |
|
Rear fog lamp
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment > Front and rear fog lamps > Rear fog lamp > Rear fog lamp
|
Any | 41 | ×2.8 | 3.1% | 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).