Honda Civic MOT failures and reliability

In 2023 the Honda Civic took 297,276 MOT tests in Britain and passed 67% of them first time, below 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: 297,276
First-time pass rate: 67%
All cars: 71%

What the Civic fails on

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

Lights and electrics17.6% (all cars 11.3%)
Suspension10.7% (all cars 9.0%)
Brakes8.2% (all cars 6.8%)
Tyres6.4% (all cars 6.4%)
Visibility5.4% (all cars 4.8%)
Body and structure3.1% (all cars 3.5%)
Exhaust and emissions3.0% (all cars 3.1%)
Steering1.8% (all cars 1.8%)

Most common failure items

Share of tests on which each item was recorded.

Position lamp: not working 5.3%
Headlamp aim: projected beam image is obviously incorrect 3.7%
Stop lamp: not working 3.5%
Tread depth: tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm 2.7%
Brake pads: less than 1.5 mm thick 2.7%
Wipers: does not clear the windscreen effectively 2.3%
Shock absorbers: has a serious fluid leak 2.1%
Headlamp: not working on dipped beam 2.1%

Most common advisories

Tread depth: worn close to legal limit/worn on edge 18.1%
Brake pads: wearing thin 10.0%
Tyres, condition: slightly damaged/cracking or perishing 9.4%
Brake discs: worn, pitted or scored, but not seriously weakened 8.4%
Suspension arms, pins and bushes: pin or bush worn but not resulting in excessive movement 5.6%
Coil spring: corroded 5.0%
Shock absorbers: has light misting of oil 4.8%
Registration plates: deteriorated but not likely to be misread 4.5%

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
1995	455	69%
1996	709	62%
1997	1,046	57%
1998	1,278	59%
1999	1,763	63%
2000	2,108	61%
2001	5,499	54%
2002	7,927	54%
2003	9,077	54%
2004	12,310	56%
2005	14,629	56%
2006	17,745	55%
2007	26,467	56%
2008	23,602	56%
2009	20,587	57%
2010	17,552	58%
2011	11,455	60%
2012	13,361	74%
2013	15,491	76%
2014	14,495	79%
2015	15,078	82%
2016	16,224	85%
2017	14,724	86%
2018	13,702	86%
2019	12,837	89%
2020	5,736	92%

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	22,546 miles
4 years	30,516 miles
5 years	38,395 miles
6 years	43,955 miles
7 years	54,890 miles
8 years	64,790 miles
9 years	73,210 miles
10 years	83,033 miles
11 years	86,313 miles
12 years	86,069 miles
13 years	98,705 miles
14 years	105,743 miles
15 years	113,261 miles
16 years	118,135 miles
17 years	121,856 miles
18 years	106,664 miles
19 years	109,022 miles
20 years	105,360 miles

Check a particular Civic

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

Other Honda 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.