Mercedes Benz C Class MOT failures and reliability

In 2023 the Mercedes Benz C Class took 385,823 MOT tests in Britain and passed 75% of them first time, above 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: 385,823
First-time pass rate: 75%
All cars: 71%

What the C Class fails on

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

Suspension9.6% (all cars 9.0%)
Tyres7.8% (all cars 6.4%)
Lights and electrics6.5% (all cars 11.3%)
Brakes6.3% (all cars 6.8%)
Exhaust and emissions3.4% (all cars 3.1%)
Visibility2.6% (all cars 4.8%)
Body and structure1.0% (all cars 3.5%)
Seat belts and airbags1.0% (all cars 1.0%)

Most common failure items

Share of tests on which each item was recorded.

Suspension arms, ball joint: ball joint excessively worn 3.9%
Tread depth: tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm 3.3%
Malfunction indicator lamp: inoperative or indicates a malfunction 2.6%
Coil spring: fractured or broken 2.6%
Tyres, condition: has ply or cords exposed 1.7%
Tyres, condition: has a cut in excess of the requirements deep enough to reach the ply or cords 1.5%
Rigid brake pipes: excessively corroded 1.4%
Linkage ball joint dust cover: ball joint dust cover no longer prevents the ingress of dirt 1.3%

Most common advisories

Tread depth: worn close to legal limit/worn on edge 20.7%
Rigid brake pipes: corroded, covered in grease or other material 8.5%
Brake pads: wearing thin 7.4%
Brake discs: worn, pitted or scored, but not seriously weakened 7.3%
Tyres, condition: slightly damaged/cracking or perishing 4.7%
Suspension arms, ball joint: ball joint has slight play 4.1%
Suspension arms, pins and bushes: pin or bush worn but not resulting in excessive movement 3.2%
Brake discs: worn, but not excessively 3.0%

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
1994	316	70%
1995	389	69%
1996	493	73%
1997	874	72%
1998	1,124	71%
1999	1,020	69%
2000	838	65%
2001	1,689	62%
2002	3,256	61%
2003	5,769	58%
2004	8,163	57%
2005	10,841	58%
2006	11,886	59%
2007	14,554	61%
2008	15,862	64%
2009	15,027	64%
2010	15,589	67%
2011	21,763	69%
2012	28,520	70%
2013	25,294	73%
2014	26,545	78%
2015	35,500	80%
2016	37,943	82%
2017	40,474	84%
2018	29,036	86%
2019	24,902	88%
2020	7,765	87%

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	26,329 miles
4 years	33,157 miles
5 years	43,416 miles
6 years	53,380 miles
7 years	66,548 miles
8 years	77,761 miles
9 years	82,705 miles
10 years	90,816 miles
11 years	97,001 miles
12 years	104,133 miles
13 years	106,870 miles
14 years	113,803 miles
15 years	116,906 miles
16 years	116,154 miles
17 years	116,067 miles
18 years	119,867 miles
19 years	115,499 miles
20 years	111,192 miles

Check a particular C Class

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

Other Mercedes Benz 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.