Suzuki Swift MOT failures and reliability

In 2023 the Suzuki Swift took 133,153 MOT tests in Britain and passed 72% 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: 133,153
First-time pass rate: 72%
All cars: 71%

What the Swift fails on

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

Lights and electrics11.9% (all cars 11.3%)
Brakes9.3% (all cars 6.8%)
Suspension8.8% (all cars 9.0%)
Visibility5.7% (all cars 4.8%)
Tyres5.3% (all cars 6.4%)
Exhaust and emissions2.0% (all cars 3.1%)
Body and structure1.9% (all cars 3.5%)
Seat belts and airbags0.6% (all cars 1.0%)

Most common failure items

Share of tests on which each item was recorded.

Position lamp: not working 4.5%
Stop lamp: not working 3.7%
Wipers: does not clear the windscreen effectively 3.4%
Tread depth: tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm 2.3%
Rigid brake pipes: excessively corroded 2.3%
Suspension arms, ball joint: ball joint excessively worn 2.1%
Rbt (sp): efficiency below requirements 2.0%
Service brake performance: excessively binding 1.8%

Most common advisories

Tread depth: worn close to legal limit/worn on edge 14.6%
Rigid brake pipes: corroded, covered in grease or other material 12.5%
Tyres, condition: slightly damaged/cracking or perishing 12.2%
Brake discs: worn, pitted or scored, but not seriously weakened 7.1%
Suspension arms, pins and bushes: pin or bush worn but not resulting in excessive movement 6.5%
Brake pads: wearing thin 5.4%
Service brake performance: binding but not excessively 3.2%
Coil spring: corroded 3.1%

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
2005	1,619	49%
2006	4,826	49%
2007	8,235	52%
2008	8,262	51%
2009	7,615	54%
2010	6,435	58%
2011	6,477	65%
2012	9,218	68%
2013	8,831	71%
2014	10,117	76%
2015	12,461	79%
2016	10,518	80%
2017	8,082	83%
2018	10,204	85%
2019	11,138	89%
2020	8,162	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	18,991 miles
4 years	25,179 miles
5 years	32,506 miles
6 years	37,994 miles
7 years	45,368 miles
8 years	51,780 miles
9 years	57,377 miles
10 years	64,703 miles
11 years	72,383 miles
12 years	77,535 miles
13 years	79,709 miles
14 years	82,750 miles
15 years	89,054 miles
16 years	90,304 miles
17 years	94,056 miles
18 years	94,381 miles
20 years	52,095 miles

Check a particular Swift

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

Other Suzuki 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.