Model Reports 4 min read Updated 18 Oct 2026

Vauxhall Antara 2015: reliability & common MOT faults

In 2025, 54 in every 100 first MOTs on a 2015 Vauxhall Antara were passes. Most common reason for a fail: Individual sidelight or tail light (front).

Summary

The 2015 Vauxhall Antara follows the pattern of the model years either side.

At a glance

How 1,907 first tests went in 2025.

Passed first time
54 in every 100
Did not pass first time
46 in every 100878 failed first-attempt tests
The typical car
10 yearsabout 75,839 miles
First tests counted
1,907

What failed most often

  1. Individual sidelight or tail light (front)21 in every 100 failed tests
  2. Coil spring (front)17 in every 100 failed tests
  3. Brake 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 2015 Vauxhall Antara vehicles in 2025, not a prediction that any one car will have them. Faults are grouped by part of the car. They come from MOT defect codes, not manufacturer bulletins, recalls or a diagnosis of any one car.

Lamps and electrical

Four faults. The strongest is the reversing lights (rear): 14 times as often as on similar cars.

Figures below are measured across the 877 of 878 failed first attempts (99.9%) 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.

Reversing lights (rear)

Failed on 47 first tests14 times as often as similar carsLikely evidence

What it means

Reversing lamps must show a white light to the rear, and on some vehicles the engine has to be running before they work. A lamp that does not emit a steady white light, does not face the rear or has its light intensity significantly reduced is Major. A lamp not securely attached is Minor, but one likely to become detached is Major.

Individual sidelight or tail light (front)

Failed on 188 first tests4.8 times as often as similar carsLikely evidence

What it means

A position lamp showing red light to the front or white light to the rear is Major. Rear lamps must show a steady red light, and front ones can show white, predominantly white with a blue tinge, or yellow if combined in a yellow headlamp. With a multiple light source, up to half not working is Minor and more than half is Major.

Brake light (rear)

Failed on 92 first tests3.4 times as often as similar carsLikely evidence

What it means

All stop lamps missing or not working is graded Dangerous, and so is a stop lamp that stays on when the brakes are released. A stop lamp that is missing or not working is Major. On some vehicles with LED rear lamps, part of the stop lamp can go out when the rear fog lamp is lit, which is not regarded as a defect.

Number plate lights (rear)

Failed on 50 first tests2.3 times as often as similar carsPossible evidence

What it means

Registration plate lamps must light up the rear registration plate and operate at the same time as the position lamps. A missing or inoperative lamp is Major when the plate has only one lamp or all its lamps are not working, and Minor when the plate has several lamps or light sources and not all have failed. A lamp throwing direct white light to the rear is also Minor.

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

Noise, emissions and leaks

One fault: diesel emissions test (compression-ignition rules for vehicles from 01/01/2014), 9.3 times as often as on similar cars.

Diesel emissions test (compression-ignition rules for vehicles from 01/01/2014)

Failed on 85 first tests9.3 times as often as similar carsLikely evidence

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

Brakes

Two faults. The strongest is the handbrake performance (roller test): 4.6 times as often as on similar cars.

Handbrake performance (roller test)

Failed on 26 first tests4.6 times as often as similar carsPossible evidence

What it means

A parking brake that is inoperative on one side is Major. When tested on the road, the failure is the vehicle deviating excessively from a straight line. Vehicles whose parking brake was already tested as the secondary brake are not tested again for this.

Handbrake efficiency below minimum (roller test)

Failed on 71 first tests2.2 times as often as similar carsPossible evidence

What it means

A parking brake with efficiency below the minimum requirement is Major, and graded Dangerous where efficiency is less than half of the required value. On a roller brake tester, the requirement counts as met if more than half of the wheels of a brake system lock. The check applies only to vehicles whose parking brake was not already tested as the secondary brake.

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

Suspension

Two faults. The strongest is the coil spring (front): 3.0 times as often as on similar cars.

Coil spring (front)

Failed on 147 first tests3.0 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 pins and bushes (front)

Failed on 84 first tests2.2 times as often as similar carsPossible evidence

What it means

Pins and bushes on suspension arms fail as Major when they are excessively worn. They are graded Dangerous when likely to become detached. DVSA uses the same wording for a suspension joint.

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.

Seat belt condition (front)

Noted on 39 first tests8.1 times as often as similar carsElevated evidence

Engine oil leaks (front)

Noted on 175 first tests4.6 times as often as similar carsElevated evidence

Suspension sub-frame (rear)

Noted on 50 first tests4.4 times as often as similar carsElevated evidence

Suspension arm (rear)

Noted on 40 first tests4.4 times as often as similar carsElevated evidence

Suspension arm pins and bushes (rear)

Noted on 40 first tests3.9 times as often as similar carsElevated evidence

Shock absorbers (front)

Noted on 107 first tests3.5 times as often as similar carsElevated evidence

Suspension sub-frame (front)

Noted on 24 first tests2.3 times as often as similar carsElevated evidence

Rigid brake pipes (rear)

Noted on 38 first tests2.2 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
54in every 100
Passed on the first test.
Fixed at the station
10in every 100
Failed, then fixed at the test station the same day.
Failed
36in every 100
Did not pass, and were not fixed at the test station.

First-attempt pass 54.0% of 1,907 first tests (2025): only cars that passed first time count. Official-style pass 63.5%: cars fixed at the test station also count as a pass. The 10 fixed and the 36 not fixed make the 46 in every 100 that did not pass first time.

Same model, other years

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

406080100201120122013201420152016Older carsNewer cars
406080100201120122013201420152016Older 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, 58 in every 100 passed first time.

YearPassed first timeFirst tests
201151 in every 100661
201251 in every 1004,803
201354 in every 1005,783
201453 in every 1002,352
2015 This car54 in every 1001,907
201656 in every 100754

FAQs

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

The 2015 Vauxhall Antara follows the pattern of the model years either side. Its main cause of failure was Individual sidelight or tail light (front), about 21 in every 100 failed tests. In 2025, 54.0% of 1,907 first MOTs on the 2015 Vauxhall Antara passed first time (PRS: items fixed at the station the same day, counted as a fail). The official-style rate including PRS is 63.5%. Among 878 failed first-attempt MOT tests (test year 2025), Reversing lights (rear) appears more often than on similar cars (5.4% of those tests; 47 observed failures; about 14× 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 2015 Vauxhall Antara at the first attempt were Individual sidelight or tail light (front) (21.4%), Coil spring (front) (16.8%) and Brake 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: Reversing lights (rear) (5.4% of those tests; 47 observed failures; about 14× more often than similar cars). These are statistical signals, not a diagnosis of any individual car.
Reversing lights (rear) shows up more often than on similar cars (5.4% of those tests; 47 observed failures; about 14× 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 2015 Vauxhall Antara include Reversing lights (rear), Individual sidelight or tail light (front), Handbrake performance (roller test). 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 2015 Vauxhall Antara (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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