Volkswagen Passat MOT failures and reliability

In 2023 the Volkswagen Passat took 206,114 MOT tests in Britain and passed 71% 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: 206,114
First-time pass rate: 71%
All cars: 71%

What the Passat fails on

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

Suspension11.4% (all cars 9.0%)
Lights and electrics9.0% (all cars 11.3%)
Tyres8.7% (all cars 6.4%)
Brakes5.4% (all cars 6.8%)
Body and structure4.2% (all cars 3.5%)
Exhaust and emissions3.9% (all cars 3.1%)
Visibility2.9% (all cars 4.8%)
Seat belts and airbags1.8% (all cars 1.0%)

Most common failure items

Share of tests on which each item was recorded.

Coil spring: fractured or broken 3.6%
Tread depth: tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm 3.4%
Tyres, condition: has ply or cords exposed 2.9%
Malfunction indicator lamp: inoperative or indicates a malfunction 2.7%
Suspension arms, pins and bushes: pin or bush excessively worn 2.7%
Joints: constant velocity boot split or insecure, no longer prevents the ingress of dirt 2.2%
Brake pads: less than 1.5 mm thick 1.9%
Shock absorbers: has a serious fluid leak 1.8%

Most common advisories

Tread depth: worn close to legal limit/worn on edge 24.0%
Brake discs: worn, pitted or scored, but not seriously weakened 13.1%
Suspension arms, pins and bushes: pin or bush worn but not resulting in excessive movement 12.2%
Brake pads: wearing thin 8.8%
Shock absorbers: has light misting of oil 6.3%
Tyres, condition: slightly damaged/cracking or perishing 5.8%
Engine oil leaks: leak, but not excessive 4.3%
Coil spring: corroded 4.3%

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
1998	355	58%
1999	505	58%
2000	606	54%
2001	1,304	57%
2002	2,253	57%
2003	3,471	57%
2004	4,141	58%
2005	5,218	58%
2006	7,284	57%
2007	10,490	59%
2008	11,578	61%
2009	13,133	63%
2010	12,596	63%
2011	17,733	66%
2012	14,994	67%
2013	12,822	70%
2014	15,565	73%
2015	16,323	79%
2016	15,614	81%
2017	14,313	84%
2018	11,249	86%
2019	7,815	86%
2020	6,057	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	39,625 miles
4 years	51,829 miles
5 years	65,848 miles
6 years	79,827 miles
7 years	93,927 miles
8 years	104,308 miles
9 years	110,542 miles
10 years	119,579 miles
11 years	130,729 miles
12 years	138,215 miles
13 years	137,908 miles
14 years	138,439 miles
15 years	145,198 miles
16 years	149,157 miles
17 years	150,426 miles
18 years	153,651 miles
19 years	158,972 miles
20 years	159,753 miles

Check a particular Passat

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

Other Volkswagen 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.