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MOT fail rates

Honda Civic MOT fail rate by age

How often the Honda Civic fails its MOT at each age, compared with all cars of the same age, and what it fails on. From 1,140,581 DVSA MOT tests taken 2022 to 2025.

MOT data updated

At 15 years, the most tested age

MOT fail rate at age 15 (n=88,735)43.8%
All cars at 15 years (n=5,591,675)41.6%
Median mileage at test109,585
All cars, median mileage100,157

165 of 280 model groups with enough tests fail less often at 15 years.

What stands out

  • At 3 years the Honda Civic fails 7.9% of MOTs (25,317 tests), 4.2 points below the 12.1% for all cars that age. At 25 years it fails 38.9% (5,377 tests), 2.6 points above the 36.3% average.
  • It moves from below to above the all-car rate between 12 and 13 years.
  • Its most common structural or mechanical fail item at 15 years: Shock absorber leaking, at 6.1 per 100 MOTs.

MOT fail rate by age

3 years 25 years 49.5%

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

Honda Civic: share of MOT tests that failed, by age, against all cars. Ages with fewer than 1,000 tests are not shown.
AgeMOT fail rateTests (n)All carsDifferenceMedian mileage
3 years7.9%25,31712.1%−4.2 pts20,311 miles
4 years11.0%37,32813.4%−2.3 pts27,697 miles
5 years13.7%46,91915.3%−1.6 pts34,868 miles
6 years14.5%57,43117.8%−3.3 pts42,660 miles
7 years15.3%59,71120.6%−5.4 pts50,648 miles
8 years17.7%60,57623.8%−6.0 pts58,620 miles
9 years20.3%61,33227.1%−6.8 pts68,425 miles
10 years22.8%58,49230.3%−7.5 pts76,494 miles
11 years28.1%54,79133.3%−5.2 pts82,282 miles
12 years34.5%57,96536.0%−1.5 pts88,860 miles
13 years39.3%63,50438.3%+1.0 pts94,965 miles
14 years43.0%74,10040.3%+2.7 pts102,310 miles
15 years43.8%88,73541.6%+2.2 pts109,585 miles
16 years44.6%86,17542.6%+2.1 pts114,788 miles
17 years44.7%76,14643.1%+1.6 pts115,422 miles
18 years44.5%62,74443.3%+1.2 pts114,023 miles
19 years44.8%47,64543.2%+1.6 pts110,057 miles
20 years44.6%40,28942.8%+1.8 pts106,714 miles
21 years44.5%31,44842.1%+2.5 pts104,967 miles
22 years45.0%21,22641.0%+4.0 pts101,695 miles
23 years43.7%14,51939.6%+4.1 pts99,432 miles
24 years40.1%8,81137.8%+2.3 pts95,319 miles
25 years38.9%5,37736.3%+2.6 pts92,494 miles

Most common fail items at 15 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 itemPer 100 MOTs
Shock absorber leaking Major6.1
Coil spring broken Major3.4
Anti-roll bar link worn Major3.4
Linkage ball joint dust cover: ball joint dust cover no longer prevents the ingress of dirt Major3.2

Out of 88,735 MOTs. A test with two faults counts twice.

Wear and upkeep

Fail itemPer 100 MOTs
Headlamp aim: projected beam image is obviously incorrect Major9.6
Side/position light not working Major9.6
Brake light not working Major6.8
Tyre tread below 1.6 mm Dangerous4.6
Brake pads under 1.5 mm Dangerous3.2
Washers: provides insufficient washer liquid Major3

Out of 88,735 MOTs. A test with two faults counts twice.

Other models at 15 years

ModelMOT fail rateTests (n)All cars
Honda Jazz36.6%90,28941.6%
Honda CR-V34.9%47,19541.6%
Honda Accord37.8%11,71341.6%

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 .

Latest MOT age with at least 1,000 tests for each first-use year.
First usedAge at testMOT fail rateTests (n)All cars
199825 years in 202340.4%1,27636.3%
199925 years in 202438.0%1,42536.3%
200025 years in 202534.9%1,47736.3%
200124 years in 202543.6%3,79637.8%
200223 years in 202544.5%5,59839.6%
200322 years in 202545.7%6,43541.0%
200421 years in 202542.3%9,14342.1%
200520 years in 202543.1%11,09542.8%
200619 years in 202546.1%11,67443.2%
200718 years in 202545.5%19,16343.3%
200817 years in 202545.6%18,44843.1%
200916 years in 202545.3%17,60642.6%
201015 years in 202544.8%15,96941.6%
201114 years in 202542.4%10,88140.3%
201213 years in 202530.9%12,90138.3%
201312 years in 202528.3%15,16036.0%
201411 years in 202524.0%14,36333.3%
201510 years in 202520.6%14,96530.3%
20169 years in 202519.1%16,14927.1%
20178 years in 202516.6%14,55823.8%
20187 years in 202515.1%13,56320.6%
20196 years in 202513.9%12,66017.8%
20205 years in 202512.9%5,57015.3%
20214 years in 202511.9%4,90613.4%

More on the Honda Civic

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 Civic?

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