Volkswagen Passat 2019: reliability & common MOT faults

At a glance

How 6,894 first tests went in 2025.

Passed first time: 86 in every 100
Did not pass first time: 14 in every 100976 failed first-attempt tests
The typical car: 6 yearsabout 66,156 miles
First tests counted: 6,894

What failed most often

Shock absorbers (rear)23 in every 100 failed tests
Tyre condition (rear)16 in every 100 failed tests
Tyre tread depth (front)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 2019 Volkswagen Passat 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.

Suspension

One fault: shock absorbers (rear), 16 times as often as on similar cars.

Figures below are measured across the 975 of 976 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.

Shock absorbers (rear)

Failed on 228 first tests16 times as often as similar carsStrong evidence

What it means

Slight seepage that leaves a film of fluid on a shock absorber does not fail it. Severe leakage, or damage so that it does not function, is Major. A shock absorber missing or likely to become detached is graded Dangerous, though a missing one is only rejected if shock absorbers were fitted as standard.

Also noted as an advisory

Testers also noted it as an advisory, worn but not yet failing, on 93 first tests, 6.0 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.

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. Advisories for the faults above are shown with those faults.

Shock absorbers (front)

Noted on 91 first tests3.1 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: 86in every 100; Passed on the first test.
Fixed at the station: 2in every 100; Failed, then fixed at the test station the same day.
Failed: 12in every 100; Did not pass, and were not fixed at the test station.

First-attempt pass 85.8% of 6,894 first tests (2025): only cars that passed first time count. Official-style pass 87.7%: cars fixed at the test station also count as a pass. The 2 fixed and the 12 not fixed make the 14 in every 100 that did not pass first time.

Petrol and diesel

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

Diesel4,40374,685 miles8585

Petrol2,23452,412 miles8887

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. A year earlier (2024), when these cars were a year younger, 87 in every 100 passed first time.

Year	Passed first time	First tests
2000	56 in every 100	353
2001	58 in every 100	732
2002	61 in every 100	1,268
2003	59 in every 100	2,009
2004	60 in every 100	2,309
2005	60 in every 100	2,817
2006	57 in every 100	3,744
2007	59 in every 100	5,753
2008	60 in every 100	7,149
2009	62 in every 100	9,220
2010	62 in every 100	9,539
2011	64 in every 100	14,564
2012	65 in every 100	12,714
2013	67 in every 100	11,280
2014	69 in every 100	13,875
2015	77 in every 100	14,533
2016	79 in every 100	14,196
2017	81 in every 100	13,102
2018	84 in every 100	10,052
2019 This car	86 in every 100	6,894
2020	88 in every 100	5,426
2021	87 in every 100	3,304
2022	87 in every 100	2,281

If you are buying one

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

Mileage makes a modest difference on a 2019 Passat.

Of 2019 Passat vehicles with under 44,000 miles, 91 in every 100 passed their 2025 MOT first time. With 100,000 miles or more, 84 in every 100 did.

Under 44,0001,377 tests

91

44,000–59,0001,345 tests

88

59,000–75,000 Typical car1,442 tests

84

75,000–100,0001,349 tests

82

100,000 and over1,379 tests

84

Petrol or diesel?

	Typical mileage	Passed first time, as tested	Passed first time, same mileage
Diesel	74,685 miles	85	85
Petrol	52,412 miles	88	87

Figures are in every 100 first tests. Petrol cars look better on the raw figures only because diesel cars have done more miles (typically 74,685 against 52,412). At the same mileage there is no clear difference between the two.

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 44,000	59,000–75,000	100,000 and over
Shock absorbers (rear)	0.1	3.3	5.2
Tyre condition (rear)	2.5	2.6	1.5
Tyre tread depth (front)	0.7	2.4	2.0
Diesel engine warning light	0.2	0.4	2.0
Brake pads (rear)	0.4	0.8	1.4

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

When a car fails

57in every 100

of failed cars had one item to fix.

13in every 100

of failed cars had three or more items to fix.

5in 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 2019 Volkswagen Passat reliable?

The 2019 Volkswagen Passat follows the pattern of the model years either side. Its main cause of failure was Shock absorbers (rear), about 23 in every 100 failed tests. In 2025, 85.8% of 6,894 first MOTs on the 2019 Volkswagen Passat passed first time (PRS: items fixed at the station the same day, counted as a fail). The official-style rate including PRS is 87.7%. Among 976 failed first-attempt MOT tests (test year 2025), Shock absorbers (rear) appears more often than on similar cars (23.4% of those tests; 228 observed failures; about 16× 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.

What is most likely to fail on a 2019 Volkswagen Passat?

Ranked by how often they were actually recorded, the items that most often failed a 2019 Volkswagen Passat at the first attempt were Shock absorbers (rear) (23.4%), Tyre condition (rear) (16.2%) and Tyre tread depth (front) (11.8%), 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 common MOT faults stand out on the Volkswagen Passat 2019?

Among failed first-attempt tests we highlight patterns that appear more often than on similar cars. Top example: Shock absorbers (rear) (23.4% of those tests; 228 observed failures; about 16× more often than similar cars). These are statistical signals, not a diagnosis of any individual car.

Why does Shock absorbers (rear) stand out?

Shock absorbers (rear) shows up more often than on similar cars (23.4% of those tests; 228 observed failures; about 16× 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.

What are common problems with the 2019 Volkswagen Passat?

Common MOT problem areas for the 2019 Volkswagen Passat include Shock absorbers (rear). These are the faults that stand out compared with similar cars, not a complete list of what can go wrong on any individual car.

How should I read advisories vs fails?

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.

What does this Volkswagen Passat 2019 MOT report cover?

This page highlights MOT failure patterns for the 2019 Volkswagen Passat (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.