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 1,700 failed first attempts in 2025 that the age-and-mileage comparison can be computed on.
Standout: Electrical equipment — Horn — 11.8% of this year's failed first attempts
Recorded on 201 of those tests. It tops the table on elevation — about 19× 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Electrical equipment — Horn
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment > Electrical equipment > Horn
|
Any | 201 | ×19 | 11.8% | Strong |
|
Registration plate lamp(s) (rear)
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment > Registration plate lamp(s)
|
Rear | 153 | ×4.2 | 9.0% | Likely |
|
Track rod end (front)
Steering > Steering linkage components > Track rod end
|
Front | 37 | ×3.6 | 2.2% | Likely |
|
Drive shafts — Joints (front)
Body, chassis, structure > Transmission > Drive shafts > Joints
|
Front | 64 | ×3.6 | 3.8% | Likely |
|
Headlamp (front)
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment > Headlamps > Headlamp
|
Front | 121 | ×3.3 | 7.1% | Likely |
|
Service brake performance (rear)
Brakes > Brake performance > Service brake performance > Rbt > Service brake performance
|
Rear | 40 | ×3.0 | 2.4% | Likely |
Only patterns that clear minimum sample and elevation thresholds are shown (at least 20 failures and about 2.0× more often than similar cars).