Toyota Prius MOT failures and reliability

In 2023 the Toyota Prius took 160,051 MOT tests in Britain and passed 79% 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: 160,051
First-time pass rate: 79%
All cars: 71%

What the Prius fails on

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

Lights and electrics11.4% (all cars 11.3%)
Tyres4.7% (all cars 6.4%)
Suspension4.2% (all cars 9.0%)
Visibility3.8% (all cars 4.8%)
Brakes3.5% (all cars 6.8%)
Body and structure1.4% (all cars 3.5%)
Exhaust and emissions1.3% (all cars 3.1%)
Steering0.5% (all cars 1.8%)

Most common failure items

Share of tests on which each item was recorded.

Position lamp: not working 3.6%
Registration plate lamp(s): inoperative in the case of a single lamp or all lamps 2.6%
Wipers: does not clear the windscreen effectively 2.3%
Tread depth: tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm 2.0%
Brake pads: less than 1.5 mm thick 1.3%
Headlamp: not working on dipped beam 1.3%
Malfunction indicator lamp: inoperative or indicates a malfunction 1.2%
Headlamp aim: projected beam image is obviously incorrect 1.1%

Most common advisories

Tread depth: worn close to legal limit/worn on edge 11.9%
Brake discs: worn, pitted or scored, but not seriously weakened 5.4%
Brake pads: wearing thin 4.7%
Tyres, condition: slightly damaged/cracking or perishing 4.3%
Rigid brake pipes: corroded, covered in grease or other material 3.1%
Registration plates: deteriorated but not likely to be misread 2.5%
Headlamp: has a product on the lens but not seriously reducing light output 2.2%
Suspension arms, pins and bushes: pin or bush worn but not resulting in excessive movement 2.2%

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
2004	952	62%
2005	2,540	62%
2006	3,665	62%
2007	6,784	64%
2008	6,848	67%
2009	6,940	67%
2010	9,551	68%
2011	7,049	70%
2012	7,971	76%
2013	9,957	78%
2014	11,891	79%
2015	13,696	81%
2016	15,561	85%
2017	15,405	87%
2018	13,827	87%
2019	16,984	85%
2020	8,226	85%
2021	1,159	87%
2022	436	90%

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	50,672 miles
4 years	85,634 miles
5 years	91,612 miles
6 years	95,025 miles
7 years	121,547 miles
8 years	136,397 miles
9 years	141,006 miles
10 years	159,859 miles
11 years	158,076 miles
12 years	170,531 miles
13 years	170,982 miles
14 years	157,817 miles
15 years	151,210 miles
16 years	145,663 miles
17 years	152,742 miles
18 years	153,143 miles
19 years	154,989 miles
20 years	139,821 miles

Check a particular Prius

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

Other Toyota 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.