Nissan Primastar MOT pass rate & common failures

At a glance

Recorded pass rate

We are not publishing a ranking for the Primastar. The examples tested do not cover a wide enough spread of ages and mileages to compare it fairly, and an unadjusted pass rate mostly sorts models by how recently they were bought rather than how well they were built. The failure and advisory patterns below come from the same 8,383 tests and are worth reading on their own terms.

DVSA recorded wording

Most common failure items

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

1. 1.A steering ball joint with excessive wear or free play23.5%

   808 occurrencesBall joint worn explained

2. 2.A suspension pin, bush or joint excessively worn23.1%

   792 occurrencesSuspension arm bush worn explained

3. 3.A lamp missing, inoperative or in the case of a multiple light source more than 1/2 not functioning17.1%

   587 occurrencesLamp not working explained

4. 4.Parking brake efficiency below minimum requirement16.3%

   560 occurrencesParking brake efficiency too low explained

5. 5.Brake pipe damaged or excessively corroded15.0%

   515 occurrencesBrake pipe corroded explained

6. 6.The aim of a headlamp is not within limits laid down in the requirements12.0%

   411 occurrencesHeadlamp aim incorrect explained

7. 7.Stop lamp missing, inoperative or in the case of a multiple light source more than 1/2 not functioning10.8%

   371 occurrencesStop lamp not working explained

8. 8.A transmission shaft constant velocity joint boot missing or no longer prevents the ingress of dirt etc10.8%

   370 occurrencesDriveshaft CV joint gaiter split or missing explained

9. 9.A rear registration plate lamp or light source missing or inoperative in the case of a single lamp or all lamps10.3%

   353 occurrencesLamp not working explained

10. 10.Wiper blade missing or obviously not clearing the windscreen10.1%

    348 occurrencesWiper or washer not working properly explained

Warnings without a failure

Most common advisories

Share of all Nissan Primastar 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.Brake pipe damaged or excessively corroded27.2%

   2,279 testsBrake pipe corroded explained

2. 2.Brake disc or drum excessively weakened, insecure or fractured22.8%

   1,912 testsBrake disc worn, pitted or scored explained

3. 3.Tyre tread depth not in accordance with the requirements21.9%

   1,838 testsTyre worn close to the legal limit explained

4. 4.Fluid leaking excessively and likely to harm the environment or to pose a safety risk to other road users20.1%

   1,681 tests

5. 5.A brake lining or pad worn below 1.5mm10.3%

   862 testsBrake drum or shoe worn or contaminated explained

6. 6.A tyre seriously damaged10.0%

   838 testsTyre damaged or deteriorated explained

7. 7.Play in steering rack inner joint(s)9.7%

   815 tests

8. 8.A spring or spring component fractured or seriously weakened7.8%

   655 testsRoad spring broken or fractured explained

How wear changes the picture

Pass rate by vehicle age

Bands holding too few tests to be meaningful are omitted rather than shown as a rate.

What gets tested

The Primastar fleet

Average mileage recorded at test

137,736

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

Fuel mix of tested cars

Diesel99.9%

Compare within the range

Other Nissan models

• Nissan Qashqai — 67.4% adjusted
• Nissan Juke — 66.5% adjusted
• Nissan Micra — 63.8% adjusted
• Nissan Note — 65.9% adjusted
• Nissan X-Trail — 70.5% adjusted
• Nissan Navara — 68.6% adjusted
• All Nissan models →

Common questions

How reliable is the Nissan Primastar compared with other cars?

We do not publish a comparison for the Nissan Primastar, because the cars of this model that have been tested do not cover a wide enough range of ages and mileages. Its raw pass rate is 51.0% across 8,383 tests, but comparing a raw rate between models mostly ranks them by how new they are rather than how good they are. The failure and advisory patterns further down the page are still drawn from real tests and are worth reading.

What is the most common MOT failure on a Nissan Primastar?

The item recorded most often is "A steering ball joint with excessive wear or free play", which appears in 23.5% of failed Nissan Primastar 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 Nissan Primastar?

The most common advisory is "Brake pipe damaged or excessively corroded", noted on 27.2% of all Nissan Primastar tests. An advisory is not a failure: it flags something that will likely need attention before the next test.

What mileage does a Nissan Primastar usually have at its MOT?

The average odometer reading recorded at test is 137,736 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.

Does a Nissan Primastar get harder to pass as it ages?

Yes. At 3 to 5 years old, 78.6% of Nissan Primastar tests pass. By fifteen years or more, that falls to 48.5%. Nearly every model follows this pattern, which is why comparing raw pass rates between models is misleading unless age is accounted for.

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. No adjusted rate is shown because this model's tested examples do not cover enough of the national age and mileage range for standardisation to mean anything.

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 Nissan