An MOT failure is not one thing. Brakes and suspension are the heavy hitters at every age. Corrosion and structural faults barely register on young cars but grow as they get older, while consumable wear like tyres rises steadily with use. Toggle the age bands to watch the mix shift.
A fault with the car itself Wear and consumable items
Share of first-time MOT failures by test section, fleet-wide across 340 models. Bars in the darker tone are genuine faults, like corrosion or a failed component; bars in grey are wear items, like tyres or brake pads, that are as much about how a car is driven as how well it was built. Switch the age band above to watch the mix shift.