MOT failure results have been published for the first time today following a freedom of information request by the BBC.

The data collected was based on MOTs of popular vehichles taken in 2007. Of the cars, the Renault Megane tops the MOT failure table with a failure rate of 28% for cars registered with 53, 04 and 54 registration plates. The Vauxhall Corsa and Peugeot 307 were equal second with a first MOT failure rate of 24,7%. Next was the Renault Scenic with a first MOT failure rate of 23%.
The vehichle with the biggest first MOT test failure rate of all was the Ford Transit Connect with a failure rate of 30.5%.

In reverse order, the Toyota Corolla showed itself to be least likely to fail its first MOT with a failure rate of 11.2%, the Honda Jazz showed a failure rate of 13.3%  and the Honda Civic showed a failure rate of 14.1%.

The figures were released by VOSA (the Vehicle and Operator Services Agency) after resistance for a reported 18 months due to concerns that it may offer a commercial advantage to those who fared better and harm those who fared worse in the list that would be compiled using the data.
VOSA have now published the data on their website and the BBC have compiled a league table.

However, the BBC’s list only includes cars that were tested 20,000 times or more in 2007 and does not take into account the ratio of sales vs MOT failures. For example if a bespoke sports car manufacturer made ony 2 cars and one of them failed its first MOT, this table would show them at the top with a 50% failure rate if it took into account every single MOT taken.

As the report is purely data, it doesn’t take into account the intended use and milage of the vehichles listed, so it wouldn’t necessarily reflect on the build quality of Ford’s Transit Connect, which is generally a workhorse and often subjected to tougher terrain and more far stress than a road car, or mileage of the Renault Megane and the Vauxhall Corsa, both of which were sold in huge volumes as fleet cars. Other contributing factors such as tyres & brakes, which are produced by different manufacturers were not taken into account.

On its website, the BBC notes that it’s rare for a dataset as large as this not to contain some errors and you can see this one isn’t perfect. For example, one MOT testing station seems to think there’s an Audi 80 out there which was first used in 1883.

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