Model Reports 4 min read Updated 18 Oct 2026

Volkswagen Touareg 2015: reliability & common MOT faults

In 2025, 77 in every 100 first MOTs on a 2015 Volkswagen Touareg were passes. Most common reason for a fail: Rear fog light.

Summary

The 2015 Volkswagen Touareg follows the pattern of the model years either side.

At a glance

How 3,919 first tests went in 2025.

Passed first time
77 in every 100
Did not pass first time
23 in every 100917 failed first-attempt tests
The typical car
10 yearsabout 90,176 miles
First tests counted
3,919

What failed most often

  1. Rear fog light18 in every 100 failed tests
  2. Coil spring (rear)17 in every 100 failed tests
  3. Diesel engine warning 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 Volkswagen Touareg 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

Two faults. The strongest is the headlight levelling device (front): 21 times as often as on similar cars.

Figures below are measured across the 916 of 917 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.

Headlight levelling device (front)

Failed on 23 first tests21 times as often as similar carsPossible evidence

What it means

A headlamp levelling device that is inoperative is graded Major, and so is a manual levelling device that cannot be operated from the driver's seat. Vehicles with high intensity discharge or LED dipped beam headlamps may have a self-levelling system, and if fitted it must work. Where it is not easy to tell, testers give the benefit of the doubt, and motor caravans are not checked.

Rear fog light

Failed on 165 first tests18 times as often as similar carsStrong evidence

What it means

A missing obligatory rear fog lamp, one that is not working, or one that does not emit a steady red light is graded Major. A rear fog lamp adversely affected by the operation of any other lamp is Major too. The manual allows it to go out when main beam is switched on or when dipped beam headlamps are switched off.

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

Noise, emissions and leaks

One fault: diesel engine warning light, 3.4 times as often as on similar cars.

Diesel engine warning light

Failed on 96 first tests3.4 times as often as similar carsLikely evidence

What it means

An engine malfunction indicator lamp that is illuminated to show a malfunction is graded Major on a diesel, but only on the diesels the test covers, which depends on the vehicle type and when it was first used. DVSA lists it under exhaust emissions for compression ignition engines, and the detail line for the row also names an inoperative lamp.

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

Suspension

Two faults. The strongest is the coil spring (rear): 3.1 times as often as on similar cars.

Coil spring (rear)

Failed on 157 first tests3.1 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.

Coil spring (front)

Failed on 139 first tests2.9 times as often as similar carsPossible 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.

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.

Exhaust system (front)

Noted on 21 first tests2.3 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
77in 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
21in every 100
Did not pass, and were not fixed at the test station.

First-attempt pass 76.6% of 3,919 first tests (2025): only cars that passed first time count. Official-style pass 79.2%: cars fixed at the test station also count as a pass. The 2 fixed and the 21 not fixed make the 23 in every 100 that did not pass first time.

Same model, other years

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

4060801002005201020152020Older carsNewer cars
406080100201020152020Older carsNewer 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, 76 in every 100 passed first time.

YearPassed first timeFirst tests
200464 in every 100454
200565 in every 100866
200662 in every 1001,300
200763 in every 1001,575
200862 in every 1001,149
200964 in every 100950
201067 in every 100654
201172 in every 1001,563
201276 in every 1001,728
201379 in every 1002,190
201478 in every 1002,884
2015 This car77 in every 1003,919
201678 in every 1003,647
201776 in every 1003,128
201884 in every 1001,486
201984 in every 1002,730
202092 in every 1001,857
202191 in every 1001,848
202292 in every 100965

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 2015 Touareg.

Of 2015 Touareg vehicles with under 70,000 miles, 80 in every 100 passed their 2025 MOT first time. With 114,000 miles or more, 76 in every 100 did.

Under 70,000793 tests
80
70,000–84,000762 tests
78
84,000–96,000 Typical car783 tests
74
96,000–114,000802 tests
75
114,000 and over776 tests
76

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 70,00084,000–96,000114,000 and over
Rear fog light3.25.14.1
Coil spring (rear)3.83.74.5
Diesel engine warning light1.02.23.2
Tyre condition (rear)1.31.11.9
Tyre tread depth (rear)0.61.91.2

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

When a car fails

54in every 100

of failed cars had one item to fix.

20in 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.

The 2015 Volkswagen Touareg follows the pattern of the model years either side. Its main cause of failure was Rear fog light, about 18 in every 100 failed tests. In 2025, 76.6% of 3,919 first MOTs on the 2015 Volkswagen Touareg passed first time (PRS: items fixed at the station the same day, counted as a fail). The official-style rate including PRS is 79.2%. Among 917 failed first-attempt MOT tests (test year 2025), Rear fog light appears more often than on similar cars (18.0% of those tests; 165 observed failures; about 18× 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 Volkswagen Touareg at the first attempt were Rear fog light (18.0%), Coil spring (rear) (17.1%) and Diesel engine warning 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: Rear fog light (18.0% of those tests; 165 observed failures; about 18× more often than similar cars). These are statistical signals, not a diagnosis of any individual car.
Rear fog light shows up more often than on similar cars (18.0% of those tests; 165 observed failures; about 18× 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 Volkswagen Touareg include Rear fog light, Headlight levelling device (front), Diesel engine warning light. 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 Volkswagen Touareg (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.

Check any vehicle’s MOT history

Full MOT history, mileage records, and reliability insights for any UK vehicle.

Run a free check