Brake MOT failures
Brake faults account for 16.6% of MOT failures. What the tester checks, why cars fail, and which models fail this most.
What are brake MOT failures?
Brake failures cover worn pads and discs, an imbalance between wheels, corroded or scored discs, or a binding caliper. Braking efficiency is measured on a rolling road, so a spongy or pulling brake shows up as a low reading.
How common are brake MOT failures?
Brake faults account for 16.6% of all recorded MOT failures, making them the third most common reason cars fail. That share is drawn from the categorised defect records of 16,764 car models in the DVSA data.
| Failure area | Share of all failures |
|---|---|
| Brakes | 16.6% |
Which cars fail most on brake?
These models lose the largest share of their own MOT failures to brake items. The percentage is the portion of each model's failures that fall in this area, among models with a large test sample.
| Model | Share of its failures | Overall failure rate | Tests |
|---|---|---|---|
| Iveco Turbo | 66.5% | 38.2% | 5,622 |
| Iveco 35.10 | 64.0% | 38.3% | 7,423 |
| Mercedes-Benz 312 | 63.8% | 35.6% | 26,314 |
| Mercedes-Benz 412 | 63.8% | 31.9% | 7,290 |
| Mercedes-Benz 308 | 63.6% | 38.7% | 98,712 |
| Vauxhall Sintra | 61.0% | 39.0% | 31,615 |
| Ssangyong Musso | 60.6% | 31.9% | 40,466 |
| Fiat Coupe | 60.4% | 35.4% | 75,720 |
| Alfa Romeo 155 | 59.5% | 38.4% | 13,890 |
| Chevrolet Gmc Blazer | 58.4% | 29.8% | 6,444 |
| Metrocab Manual | 58.3% | 36.5% | 6,790 |
| Daewoo Musso | 58.2% | 33.4% | 23,804 |
| Mercedes-Benz 310 | 57.4% | 34.7% | 12,732 |
| Austin A35 | 56.8% | 19.1% | 9,846 |
| Fiat Tempra | 56.7% | 39.5% | 14,920 |
Other MOT failure areas
How the other DVSA failure areas break down, each with the models that fail it most.
Sources: DVSA MOT History API: MOT test results and defect data ยท DVSA MOT testing data for Great Britain