Common problems

Smart Fortwo brake problems

How often MOT testers find brake faults on the Smart Fortwo at each age, against all cars of the same age, and which items come up most. From 255,596 DVSA MOT tests taken 2022 to 2025.

MOT data updated 28 September 2026

At 14 years, the most tested age

Brakes fails per 100 MOTs (n=20,567)9.5

All cars at 14 years (n=6,054,526)9.9

Brakes advisories and minor defects per 100 MOTs (n=20,567)25.3

All cars, same age (n=6,054,526)26.4

What stands out

At 14 years, 9.5 of every 100 MOTs of the Smart Fortwo found a brake fail (n=20,567), against 9.9 for all cars of that age (n=6,054,526).
It is above the all-car rate at 3 of the 21 ages with at least 1,000 tests.
The gap is widest at 21 years: 8.6 per 100 MOTs against 13.3 for all cars.
The brake fail item recorded most often at 14 years: service brake performance: excessively binding, on 3.4 per 100 MOTs.
The most common brake advisory or minor defect: rigid brake pipes: corroded, covered in grease or other material, on 14.2 per 100 MOTs.

Brakes fails by age

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

Smart Fortwo: brakes fails and advisories per 100 MOTs, by age, against all cars. Ages with fewer than 1,000 tests are not shown.
Age	Tests (n)	Fails	All cars	Advisories	All cars
3 years	3,800	1.2	1.7	6.3	8.8
4 years	6,662	2.1	2.2	8.8	12.0
5 years	10,711	2.5	2.8	12.0	15.1
6 years	15,887	3.2	3.5	13.1	16.9
7 years	16,164	3.5	4.1	14.6	17.9
8 years	16,607	3.8	4.8	14.6	19.1
9 years	16,407	4.6	5.6	16.3	20.3
10 years	15,419	5.8	6.5	18.5	21.6
11 years	17,243	7.6	7.3	21.0	22.8
12 years	19,227	9.3	8.2	22.6	24.0
13 years	20,535	9.2	9.1	24.1	25.0
14 years	20,567	9.5	9.9	25.3	26.4
15 years	19,221	9.5	10.7	27.1	27.8
16 years	15,642	9.6	11.6	28.3	29.5
17 years	11,415	9.6	12.3	29.4	31.1
18 years	8,588	9.3	12.9	30.3	32.3
19 years	7,467	9.4	13.3	32.4	33.3
20 years	6,110	9.9	13.5	32.3	33.7
21 years	4,358	8.6	13.3	31.7	33.7
22 years	2,448	8.6	13.1	30.8	33.2
23 years	1,118	8.7	12.7	30.2	32.2

Brakes fail items at 14 years

Brakes fail items on the Smart Fortwo at 14 years (n=20,567), per 100 MOTs, with all cars at the same age (n=6,054,526).
Item	Per 100 MOTs	All cars	Typical repair (estimate)
Service brake performance: excessively binding	3.4	1.3	£55 to £267 per wheel (rough guide)
Rigid brake pipes: excessively corroded	2.0	1.1	£137 to £392 per car (rough guide)
Brake pads under 1.5 mm	0.9	2.1	£72 to £174 per axle (rough guide)
Parking brake performance: inoperative on one side	0.8	1.0
Service brake performance: excessively binding	0.8	0.3	£55 to £267 per wheel (rough guide)

Brakes advisories and minor defects at 14 years

Advisories and minor defects are recorded, but the car still passes. Across all cars, a part with an advisory or minor defect failed at the next MOT 5.5 times in 100 (n=88,666,940 pairs of consecutive MOTs), against 0.3 times in 100 when the same part had none (n=12,936,860,350).

Brakes advisories and minor defects on the Smart Fortwo at 14 years (n=20,567), per 100 MOTs, with all cars at the same age (n=6,054,526).
Item	Per 100 MOTs	All cars	If it needs replacing (estimate)
Rigid brake pipes: corroded, covered in grease or other material	14.2	6.0	£137 to £392 per car (rough guide)
Brake pads: wearing thin	5.1	7.2	£72 to £174 per axle (rough guide)
Brake discs: worn, pitted or scored, but not seriously weakened	4.1	11.0	£148 to £376 per axle (rough guide)
Service brake performance: binding but not excessively	3.8	2.2	£55 to £267 per wheel (rough guide)
Service brake performance: binding but not excessively	1.1	0.6	£55 to £267 per wheel (rough guide)
Brake discs: worn, but not excessively	1.0	2.4	£148 to £376 per axle (rough guide)

Repair estimates are a guide for an independent garage: labour at the national median local garage rate (median £78 an hour from 65 garages, ONS price quotes) times estimated labour hours, plus a parts band. Labour hours and most parts bands are estimates, not quotes, and prices vary by model, engine and region. A warning light fault shows the cost of the diagnosis only.

What to check on a viewing

On the Smart Fortwo, the brake items testers fail most are service brake performance: excessively binding; rigid brake pipes: excessively corroded; brake pads under 1.5 mm.

On the test drive the car should stop in a straight line without pulling, juddering or grinding.
Look at the discs through the wheels for a deep lip, heavy rust or scoring.
Check that the handbrake or electronic parking brake holds the car on a slope.
Ask when the pads, discs and brake fluid were last changed, and for the receipts.

Ask for the car's MOT history: a brake advisory that repeats from year to year has not been fixed. GOV.UK MOT history.

Questions

What are the common brake problems on the Smart Fortwo?

At 14 years (20,567 MOTs), the brake fail items testers record most often are service brake performance: excessively binding (3.4 per 100 MOTs), rigid brake pipes: excessively corroded (2.0 per 100 MOTs), brake pads under 1.5 mm (0.9 per 100 MOTs). The most common brake advisories or minor defects are rigid brake pipes: corroded, covered in grease or other material (14.2) and brake pads: wearing thin (5.1).

Does the Smart Fortwo have more brake problems than other cars?

At 14 years it has 9.5 brake fails per 100 MOTs against 9.9 for all cars of the same age (about the same). It is above the all-car rate at 3 of the 21 ages with enough tests.

What does a brake repair cost on the Smart Fortwo?

For service brake performance: excessively binding, an independent garage estimate is £55 to £267 per wheel (rough guide). This is a guide built from the national median garage labour rate and estimated labour hours, not a quote.

Brake problems on other Smart models

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.

The all cars figures cover all class 4 vehicles (cars and light vans) tested at the same age.

Looking at a Smart Fortwo?

These figures describe the model, not the car in front of you. Found one you might buy? See what the VetTheCar Buying Report covers, or use the tools that work without a registration.

See a sample report Car tools · MOT fail rates by model · Compare models by MOT record

Repair estimates: ONS consumer price quotes for local garage labour (09/2025 to 08/2026), the MOT inspection manual for defect wording, and estimated labour hours and parts bands. Not affiliated with or endorsed by ONS.

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 28 September 2026.

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