Fiat 500 MOT failures and reliability

In 2023 the Fiat 500 took 314,692 MOT tests in Britain and passed 69% of them first time, close to the national average of 71% for all cars. The figures below come from the DVSA's record of every test, so they show what testers actually found on these cars rather than what owners report.

MOT tests in 2023: 314,692
First-time pass rate: 69%
All cars: 71%

What the 500 fails on

Share of tests with at least one failure in each area, against the figure for all cars.

Suspension13.5% (all cars 9.0%)
Lights and electrics9.8% (all cars 11.3%)
Brakes6.7% (all cars 6.8%)
Tyres6.4% (all cars 6.4%)
Visibility5.2% (all cars 4.8%)
Body and structure3.2% (all cars 3.5%)
Exhaust and emissions2.5% (all cars 3.1%)
Steering0.5% (all cars 1.8%)

Most common failure items

Share of tests on which each item was recorded.

Suspension arms, pins and bushes: pin or bush excessively worn 4.7%
Shock absorbers: has an excessively worn bush 3.1%
Shock absorbers: has a serious fluid leak 2.5%
Wipers: does not clear the windscreen effectively 2.4%
Tread depth: tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm 2.3%
Washers: provides insufficient washer liquid 2.1%
Suspension arms, ball joint: ball joint excessively worn 1.9%
Rbt (sp): efficiency below requirements 1.8%

Most common advisories

Tread depth: worn close to legal limit/worn on edge 18.7%
Tyres, condition: slightly damaged/cracking or perishing 11.1%
Brake discs: worn, pitted or scored, but not seriously weakened 9.9%
Coil spring: corroded 7.3%
Shock absorbers: has light misting of oil 6.6%
Suspension arms, pins and bushes: pin or bush worn but not resulting in excessive movement 6.5%
Exhaust system: has a minor leak of exhaust gases 5.8%
Brake pads: wearing thin 5.0%

Pass rate by year of registration

Older cars fail more often whatever the model, so compare a car with others of the same age.

First registered	Tests	Pass rate
2008	11,570	55%
2009	19,713	55%
2010	20,378	58%
2011	19,062	60%
2012	27,075	63%
2013	32,819	65%
2014	38,793	67%
2015	37,018	68%
2016	31,399	74%
2017	22,719	78%
2018	23,624	83%
2019	19,851	88%
2020	10,119	88%

Typical mileage by age

Average odometer reading at the MOT, by the car's age in years at the test.

Age at test	Average mileage
3 years	16,086 miles
4 years	21,126 miles
5 years	27,399 miles
6 years	33,898 miles
7 years	38,864 miles
8 years	45,536 miles
9 years	52,298 miles
10 years	57,392 miles
11 years	62,442 miles
12 years	67,237 miles
13 years	72,165 miles
14 years	77,714 miles
15 years	82,632 miles
16 years	86,631 miles

Check a particular 500

Model figures tell you what to look out for. To see one car's own MOT history, mileage and tax, enter its registration.

Other Fiat models

Source: Department for Transport, Anonymised MOT tests and results, 2023, cars and light vans, normal tests only. Pass rates are first-time passes; a pass after repair at the test station counts as a fail. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.