MOT fail rates

Honda Accord MOT fail rate by age

How often the Honda Accord fails its MOT at each age, compared with all cars of the same age, and what it fails on. From 111,371 DVSA MOT tests taken 2022 to 2025.

MOT data updated 22 September 2026

At 16 years, the most tested age

MOT fail rate at age 16 (n=13,258)40.0%

All cars at 16 years (n=4,858,625)42.6%

Median mileage at test130,044

All cars, median mileage102,757

106 of 264 model groups with enough tests fail less often at 16 years.

What stands out

At 9 years the Honda Accord fails 21.1% of MOTs (1,114 tests), 6.0 points below the 27.1% for all cars that age. At 25 years it fails 40.4% (1,389 tests), 4.1 points above the 36.3% average.
The gap is widest at 13 years: 8.3 points below all cars.
Its most common structural or mechanical fail item at 16 years: Suspension ball joint worn, at 5.5 per 100 MOTs.

MOT fail rate by age

Solid line: this model. Dashed line: all cars at the same age.

Honda Accord: share of MOT tests that failed, by age, against all cars. Ages with fewer than 1,000 tests are not shown.
Age	MOT fail rate	Tests (n)	All cars	Difference	Median mileage
9 years	21.1%	1,114	27.1%	−6.0 pts	73,541 miles
10 years	25.6%	2,363	30.3%	−4.7 pts	87,862 miles
11 years	27.0%	3,492	33.3%	−6.2 pts	97,099 miles
12 years	29.2%	4,390	36.0%	−6.8 pts	106,956 miles
13 years	30.0%	7,181	38.3%	−8.3 pts	115,629 miles
14 years	33.4%	9,286	40.3%	−6.8 pts	121,147 miles
15 years	37.8%	11,713	41.6%	−3.8 pts	126,395 miles
16 years	40.0%	13,258	42.6%	−2.6 pts	130,044 miles
17 years	42.0%	13,143	43.1%	−1.1 pts	129,897 miles
18 years	43.2%	12,319	43.3%	−0.1 pts	130,090 miles
19 years	42.8%	10,398	43.2%	−0.4 pts	128,857 miles
20 years	44.3%	7,614	42.8%	+1.5 pts	124,241 miles
21 years	45.9%	5,258	42.1%	+3.8 pts	117,271 miles
22 years	43.7%	3,808	41.0%	+2.7 pts	107,519 miles
23 years	45.8%	2,664	39.6%	+6.2 pts	98,972 miles
24 years	43.7%	1,981	37.8%	+5.9 pts	97,688 miles
25 years	40.4%	1,389	36.3%	+4.1 pts	98,383 miles

Most common fail items at 16 years

Split into structural or mechanical items and wear items. Wear items (tyres, brake pads, wipers, bulbs) say more about upkeep than about the design.

Structural and mechanical

Fail item	Per 100 MOTs
Suspension ball joint worn Major	5.5
Suspension arm bush worn Major	3.3
Handbrake too weak Major	3.1

Out of 13,258 MOTs. A test with two faults counts twice.

Wear and upkeep

Fail item	Per 100 MOTs
Headlamp aim: projected beam image is obviously incorrect Major	9.2
Side/position light not working Major	9.1
Dipped headlight not working Major	4.2
Brake pads under 1.5 mm Dangerous	3.8
Brake light not working Major	3.6
Wipers not clearing screen Major	3.5
Tyre tread below 1.6 mm Dangerous	3.4

Out of 13,258 MOTs. A test with two faults counts twice.

Other models at 16 years

Model	MOT fail rate	Tests (n)	All cars
Honda Jazz	40.1%	88,276	42.6%
Honda Civic	44.6%	86,175	42.6%
Honda CR-V	39.3%	46,581	42.6%

MOT fail rate by first-use year

Each year has its own page: the fail rate for cars first used that year at each MOT from 2022 to 2025 with at least 1,000 tests, the most common faults at that age, and the car tax and ULEZ rules for that year.

First-use year data updated 28 September 2026.

Latest MOT age with at least 1,000 tests for each first-use year.
First used	Age at test	MOT fail rate	Tests (n)	All cars
2003	22 years in 2025	43.6%	1,347	41.0%
2004	21 years in 2025	44.0%	2,084	42.1%
2005	20 years in 2025	41.9%	2,400	42.8%
2006	19 years in 2025	41.5%	2,323	43.2%
2007	18 years in 2025	42.4%	2,620	43.3%
2008	17 years in 2025	38.7%	2,559	43.1%
2009	16 years in 2025	35.9%	2,766	42.6%
2010	15 years in 2025	32.8%	1,179	41.6%
2011	14 years in 2025	30.2%	1,203	40.3%
2012	13 years in 2025	28.1%	1,100	38.3%

More on the Honda Accord

Read this with care. A fail rate is not a measure of build quality. How far cars are driven, how they are used and how well owners maintain them all change it, and wear items such as tyres and brake pads are common fails. Compare a model only with cars of the same age. Methodology and limits.

Looking at one Honda Accord?

These are figures for the model, not for one car. The VetTheCar Buying Report looks at a single car: its MOT tests, defects, advisories and mileage readings.

See an example report Browse the car tools

Source

Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: DVSA anonymised MOT test data, class 4 normal MOT tests, 2022 to 2025. MOT data updated 22 September 2026.

Not affiliated with or endorsed by DVSA. How we calculate these figures · Data sources