MOTindex

Common Volkswagen Polo MOT failures

Based on 6,574,884 Volkswagen Polo tests on record carrying an official DVSA defect code, so every category below is counted from real failures rather than estimated.

Full Volkswagen Polo MOT data, pass rate and models →

Real DVSA defect codes

Every category comes from the official MOT Inspection Manual section code DVSA attaches to each defect, not guessed from keywords.

Choose a make or model

Filter the chart below to one make or one specific model, and it updates without leaving the page.

The whole national record

Built from DVSA's published MOT data for Great Britain, not only from vehicles looked up here.

See the breakdown for one make or model

Defaults to every make on record.

Where MOT tests find problems: Volkswagen Polo

Axles, wheels, tyres and suspension 3,793,670 tests (57.7%)
Brakes 1,460,456 tests (22.2%)
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 1,020,018 tests (15.5%)
Body, structure and attachments 719,940 tests (10.9%)
Nuisance (emissions and noise) 523,200 tests (8.0%)
Visibility 345,795 tests (5.3%)
Steering 283,420 tests (4.3%)
Registration plates and vehicle identification 219,435 tests (3.3%)

A test can find problems in more than one category, so the figures above do not sum to 100%. Each percentage is the share of classifiable tests that found at least one defect in that category. Based on 6,574,884 classifiable tests for Volkswagen Polo.

View the full Volkswagen Polo page →

What Volkswagen Polo failures look like

6,574,884 Volkswagen Polo tests on record carry the manual reference DVSA attaches to each defect. The most frequent problems were with axles, wheels, tyres and suspension on 3,793,670 tests (57.7%), with brakes on 1,460,456 tests (22.2%) and with lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment on 1,020,018 tests (15.5%). A test can fail on more than one thing, and an MOT can be failed on one defect while another is only advised, so these counts do not add up to the number of tests.

Narrowed down from the categories to the individual defects themselves, three come up on more than one test:

  • Tyre worn close to legal limit/worn on edge

    MOT inspection manual reference 5.2.3, in axles, wheels, tyres and suspension

    Recorded on 1,871,245 of the 6,574,884 tests: 303,444 failures and 1,567,801 advisories or minors.

  • Suspension arm pin or bush worn but not resulting in excessive movement

    MOT inspection manual reference 5.3.4, in axles, wheels, tyres and suspension

    Recorded on 955,772 of the 6,574,884 tests: 314,639 failures and 641,133 advisories or minors.

  • Brake disc worn, pitted or scored, but not seriously weakened

    MOT inspection manual reference 1.1.14, in brakes

    Recorded on 684,773 of the 6,574,884 tests: 36,431 failures and 648,342 advisories or minors.

Where there is enough data to compare: Volkswagen Golf (9,364,231 tests), Volkswagen Transporter (3,016,040 tests), Volkswagen Passat (2,340,118 tests), Volkswagen Tiguan (1,616,920 tests), every Volkswagen model (33,000,442 tests).

Clauses are read from the manual reference at the end of every defect on the cached test records, and a defect shown here has to appear on at least two of them before it is named. The site-wide breakdown explains how that works and compares every make.