Dacia Duster MOT pass rate & common failures

At a glance

Pass rate, adjusted for age and mileage

The Duster is 5.6 percentage points below the national pass rate once age and mileage are accounted for, which is below average. The unadjusted figure is 71.1%; the difference is what the age and mileage of this model’s fleet was hiding.

DVSA recorded wording

Most common failure items

Share of failed Dacia Duster tests in which each item was recorded. One failed test often lists several items, so these do not sum to 100%.

1. 1.Wiper blade missing or obviously not clearing the windscreen15.0%

   2,553 occurrencesWiper or washer not working properly explained

2. 2.Tyre tread depth not in accordance with the requirements14.4%

   2,457 occurrencesTyre worn close to the legal limit explained

3. 3.The aim of a headlamp is not within limits laid down in the requirements11.9%

   2,024 occurrencesHeadlamp aim incorrect explained

4. 4.A steering ball joint with excessive wear or free play11.6%

   1,980 occurrencesBall joint worn explained

5. 5.A spring or spring component fractured or seriously weakened9.8%

   1,667 occurrencesRoad spring broken or fractured explained

6. 6.A headlamp or light source missing, inoperative or more than ½ not functioning in the case of LED9.2%

   1,569 occurrencesHeadlamp not working explained

7. 7.Brake pipe damaged or excessively corroded7.9%

   1,346 occurrencesBrake pipe corroded explained

8. 8.A transmission shaft constant velocity joint boot missing or no longer prevents the ingress of dirt etc6.8%

   1,159 occurrencesDriveshaft CV joint gaiter split or missing explained

9. 9.A tyre seriously damaged6.5%

   1,112 occurrencesTyre damaged or deteriorated explained

10. 10.The aim of a headlamp is not within limits laid down in the requirements5.6%

    964 occurrencesHeadlamp aim incorrect explained

Warnings without a failure

Most common advisories

Share of all Dacia Duster tests carrying each advisory. The denominator differs from the failure list above because an advisory can be issued on a car that passed.

1. 1.Tyre tread depth not in accordance with the requirements22.7%

   18,553 testsTyre worn close to the legal limit explained

2. 2.A tyre seriously damaged16.8%

   13,727 testsTyre damaged or deteriorated explained

3. 3.Brake disc or drum excessively weakened, insecure or fractured12.1%

   9,864 testsBrake disc worn, pitted or scored explained

4. 4.Brake pipe damaged or excessively corroded8.4%

   6,861 testsBrake pipe corroded explained

5. 5.A brake lining or pad worn below 1.5mm6.4%

   5,248 testsBrake drum or shoe worn or contaminated explained

6. 6.A spring or spring component fractured or seriously weakened5.0%

   4,043 testsRoad spring broken or fractured explained

7. 7.Brake disc or drum significantly and obviously worn4.6%

   3,763 testsBrake disc worn, pitted or scored explained

8. 8.Child Seat fitted not allowing full inspection of adult belt3.1%

   2,544 tests

The rest of the record

Everything else recorded on the Dacia Duster

The 18 other defects testers recorded on this model, beyond the most common listed above. Each links to what it means and what it takes to put right.

• Suspension arm bush worn4.9%
• Tyre ply or cord exposed, or the casing separating4.8%
• Shock absorber defective4.4%
• Lamp not working4.2%
• Horn not working, or of the wrong type4.1%
• Stop lamp not working3.9%
• Parking brake efficiency too low3.3%
• Brake binding or imbalanced across an axle3.1%
• Engine management light on, or not working2.5%
• Exhaust leaking or insecure2.3%
• Tyre pressure monitoring system inoperative1.9%
• Emissions above the permitted limit1.5%
• Registration plate missing, insecure or illegible1.4%
• Parking brake lever or cable travel excessive1.2%
• Suspension mounting corroded or insecure1.1%
• Brake hose deteriorated, damaged or chafing0.3%
• Seat belt anchorage corroded or weakened0.3%
• Corrosion in a structural area0.3%

How wear changes the picture

Duster pass rate by age and registration year

How often the Dacia Duster passes at each age, with the years those cars were first registered. Tests are from 2025, so a car aged 3 to 5 was first used in 2020–2022.

Read this as an age curve rather than a verdict on particular model years. Nearly every car passes less often as it gets older, so a newer Duster outscoring an older one says more about wear than about how that year’s cars were built. Bands holding too few tests to be meaningful are omitted rather than shown as a rate.

What gets tested

The Duster fleet

Average mileage recorded at test

52,990

Across examples of every age, so this is a description of the fleet rather than an annual figure.

Fuel mix of tested cars

Petrol55.1%

Diesel40.9%

Petrol and gas bi-fuel4.0%

Compare within the range

Other Dacia models

• Dacia Sandero — 64.4% adjusted
• Dacia Logan — 72.6% adjusted
• Dacia Jogger — 84.3% unadjusted
• All Dacia models →

Similar test volumes

Compare against other makes

• Vauxhall Meriva — 62.2% adjusted, ranked 245
• Mitsubishi L200 — 72.0% adjusted, ranked 151
• Fiat Panda — 65.2% adjusted, ranked 220
• Mercedes-Benz GLC — 85.9% adjusted, ranked 14

Common questions

Is the Dacia Duster reliable?

On MOT evidence the Dacia Duster is below average. It passes 66.7% of tests once age and mileage are accounted for, against a national average of 72.3%. That figure covers 78% of the national age and mileage range, which is enough to quote but not to rank. This measures how often the car meets the MOT standard, not how often it breaks down or what a repair costs.

What is the most common MOT failure on a Dacia Duster?

The item recorded most often is "Wiper blade missing or obviously not clearing the windscreen", which appears in 15.0% of failed Dacia Duster tests. Because one failed test can list several items, these shares do not add up to 100%.

What do testers most often warn about on a Dacia Duster?

The most common advisory is "Tyre tread depth not in accordance with the requirements", noted on 22.7% of all Dacia Duster tests. An advisory is not a failure: it flags something that will likely need attention before the next test.

What mileage does a Dacia Duster usually have at its MOT?

The average odometer reading recorded at test is 52,990 miles. This is the mileage across all tested examples of every age, not an annual figure, so treat it as a description of the fleet rather than a target for one car.

Which Dacia Duster years are the most reliable?

Going by MOT pass rate, Dacia Duster cars first registered 2020–2022 do best at 80.6%, and those registered 2011–2013 do worst at 56.5%. But that ordering is mostly age, not build year: almost every model passes less often as it wears, so the newest cars top this list whatever they are. A specific year looking strong here means little on its own; the failure items above, and the individual car's own MOT history, tell you far more.

Does a Dacia Duster get harder to pass as it ages?

Yes. At 3 to 5 years old, 80.6% of Dacia Duster tests pass. By 12 to 14 years, that falls to 56.5%. Nearly every model follows this pattern, which is why comparing raw pass rates between models is misleading unless age is accounted for.

Are most Dacia Duster models petrol or diesel?

Of the Dacia Duster cars tested, 55% are petrol, 41% are diesel, 4% are petrol and gas bi-fuel. Fuel type affects which items tend to fail, particularly emissions and exhaust components.

How this was worked out

Method and limits

Figures come from the DVSA anonymised MOT testing dataset, published under the Open Government Licence. Only class 4 initial tests are counted: retests are excluded so a car appears once, and abandoned tests are excluded entirely. The adjusted rate is directly standardised across twenty-five age and mileage bands and reweighted onto the national distribution, so this model is compared against cars that have lived a similar life rather than against a younger or lighter-used fleet.

An MOT measures whether a car met a legal standard on the day. It is not a breakdown record, a service history or a running-cost estimate, and a pass rate is a property of a fleet rather than a prediction about one car.

Further reading

Make sense of the numbers

• How to judge reliability from evidence rather than reputation
• What counts as high or low mileage for a car’s age
• The most common MOT failures and how to avoid them
• What to check before buying a used Dacia