Suspension MOT failures
Suspension faults account for 18.7% of MOT failures. What the tester checks, why cars fail, and which models fail this most.
What are suspension MOT failures?
Suspension failures usually mean a worn or snapped coil spring, a leaking shock absorber, or play in a lower arm ball joint or bush. The tester checks for corrosion, fractures and excessive movement. A broken front spring is one of the most common failures on higher-mileage cars and is a straightforward replacement.
How common are suspension MOT failures?
Suspension faults account for 18.7% of all recorded MOT failures, making them the second 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 |
|---|---|
| Suspension | 18.7% |
Which cars fail most on suspension?
These models lose the largest share of their own MOT failures to suspension 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Renault Wind | 61.9% | 28.0% | 39,222 |
| Chrysler-Jeep Patriot | 60.1% | 32.6% | 24,053 |
| Jeep Patriot | 59.6% | 32.9% | 57,858 |
| Dodge Caliber | 58.2% | 33.5% | 69,348 |
| Dodge (Usa) Caliber | 57.5% | 32.9% | 28,752 |
| Chrysler-Jeep Pt | 56.0% | 32.0% | 69,504 |
| Chrysler Pt | 55.8% | 31.4% | 282,300 |
| Chrysler-Jeep Compass | 54.4% | 28.9% | 6,336 |
| Vauxhall Astramax | 53.3% | 41.1% | 6,925 |
| Renault Ll29 | 51.4% | 34.4% | 18,953 |
| Nissan Primastar | 50.5% | 33.9% | 383,507 |
| Chrysler Ypsilon | 50.5% | 24.5% | 73,814 |
| Mitsubishi Delicia | 50.5% | 35.4% | 5,238 |
| Rover 115 | 49.9% | 41.9% | 16,962 |
| Peugeot 504 | 49.4% | 34.2% | 5,587 |
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