Volkswagen Sharan MOT failures and reliability

In 2023 the Volkswagen Sharan took 37,521 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: 37,521
First-time pass rate: 75%
All cars: 71%

What the Sharan fails on

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

Suspension9.0% (all cars 9.0%)
Lights and electrics8.7% (all cars 11.3%)
Tyres7.3% (all cars 6.4%)
Brakes4.7% (all cars 6.8%)
Body and structure3.7% (all cars 3.5%)
Visibility3.1% (all cars 4.8%)
Exhaust and emissions3.1% (all cars 3.1%)
Seat belts and airbags1.4% (all cars 1.0%)

Most common failure items

Share of tests on which each item was recorded.

Suspension arms, pins and bushes: pin or bush excessively worn 3.4%
Tyres, condition: has ply or cords exposed 2.5%
Tread depth: tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm 2.4%
Malfunction indicator lamp: inoperative or indicates a malfunction 2.3%
Position lamp: not working 2.2%
Brake pads: less than 1.5 mm thick 1.6%
Joints: constant velocity boot split or insecure, no longer prevents the ingress of dirt 1.4%
Tyres, condition: has a cut in excess of the requirements deep enough to reach the ply or cords 1.4%

Most common advisories

Tread depth: worn close to legal limit/worn on edge 21.7%
Suspension arms, pins and bushes: pin or bush worn but not resulting in excessive movement 12.3%
Brake discs: worn, pitted or scored, but not seriously weakened 9.1%
Brake pads: wearing thin 7.3%
Tyres, condition: slightly damaged/cracking or perishing 5.9%
Engine oil leaks: leak, but not excessive 3.6%
Non-component advisories: Child Seat fitted not allowing full inspection of adult belt 3.3%
Registration plates: deteriorated but not likely to be misread 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
2003	368	46%
2004	590	53%
2005	911	49%
2006	901	47%
2007	922	48%
2008	705	48%
2009	567	50%
2010	741	58%
2011	2,159	69%
2012	2,023	70%
2013	2,271	70%
2014	2,946	73%
2015	3,223	77%
2016	3,389	79%
2017	3,607	83%
2018	3,369	85%
2019	6,566	88%
2020	1,620	85%

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	30,014 miles
4 years	72,579 miles
5 years	65,858 miles
6 years	86,579 miles
7 years	101,657 miles
8 years	108,613 miles
9 years	115,855 miles
10 years	114,914 miles
11 years	111,360 miles
12 years	115,965 miles
13 years	137,246 miles
14 years	139,124 miles
15 years	142,631 miles
16 years	141,489 miles
17 years	142,876 miles
18 years	142,969 miles
19 years	149,121 miles
20 years	143,140 miles

Check a particular Sharan

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.