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 7,244 of 7,264 failed first attempts (99.7%) that recorded an odometer reading in 2025 — the subset the age-and-mileage comparison can be computed on.
Standout: Linkage ball joints (front) — 8.5% of this year's failed first attempts
Recorded on 618 of those tests. It tops the table on elevation — about 5.6× 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Linkage ball joints (front)
Suspension > Anti-roll bars > Linkage ball joints
|
Front | 618 | ×5.6 | 8.5% | Strong |
|
Ball joint (front)
Suspension > Anti-roll bars > Ball joint
|
Front | 178 | ×5.5 | 2.5% | Strong |
|
Ball joint dust cover (front)
Suspension > Anti-roll bars > Ball joint dust cover
|
Front | 204 | ×4.1 | 2.8% | Likely |
|
Linkage ball joint dust cover (front)
Suspension > Anti-roll bars > Linkage ball joint dust cover
|
Front | 469 | ×3.8 | 6.5% | Likely |
|
Ball joint (front)
Suspension > Suspension arms > Ball joint
|
Front | 1,355 | ×3.3 | 18.7% | Likely |
|
Parking brake performance (rear)
Brakes > Brake performance > Parking brake performance > Rbt > Parking brake performance
|
Rear | 156 | ×3.0 | 2.2% | Possible |
|
Service brake performance (rear)
Brakes > Brake performance > Service brake performance > Rbt > Service brake performance
|
Rear | 411 | ×2.7 | 5.7% | Possible |
|
Drive shafts — Joints (front)
Body, chassis, structure > Transmission > Drive shafts > Joints
|
Front | 550 | ×2.2 | 7.6% | 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).