Renault Trafic MOT pass rate & common failures

At a glance

Pass rate, adjusted for age and mileage

The Trafic is 9.4 percentage points below the national pass rate once age and mileage are accounted for, which is well below average. The unadjusted figure is 59.3%; 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 Renault Trafic 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 play31.3%

   11,746 occurrencesBall joint worn explained

2. 2.A suspension pin, bush or joint excessively worn14.8%

   5,561 occurrencesSuspension arm bush worn explained

3. 3.A spring or spring component fractured or seriously weakened13.7%

   5,134 occurrencesRoad spring broken or fractured explained

4. 4.A suspension pin, bush or joint excessively worn13.2%

   4,943 occurrencesSuspension arm bush worn explained

5. 5.A lamp missing, inoperative or in the case of a multiple light source more than 1/2 not functioning11.1%

   4,168 occurrencesLamp not working explained

6. 6.A brake lining or pad worn below 1.5mm9.8%

   3,687 occurrencesBrake drum or shoe worn or contaminated explained

7. 7.Parking brake efficiency below minimum requirement9.2%

   3,463 occurrencesParking brake efficiency too low explained

8. 8.A shock absorber damaged to the extent that it does not function or showing signs of severe leakage9.2%

   3,439 occurrencesShock absorber defective explained

9. 9.Brake pipe damaged or excessively corroded8.2%

   3,077 occurrencesBrake pipe corroded explained

10. 10.A rear registration plate lamp or light source missing or inoperative in the case of a single lamp or all lamps7.8%

    2,939 occurrencesLamp not working explained

Warnings without a failure

Most common advisories

Share of all Renault Trafic 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 requirements20.4%

   22,066 testsTyre worn close to the legal limit explained

2. 2.Brake disc or drum excessively weakened, insecure or fractured17.6%

   18,974 testsBrake disc worn, pitted or scored explained

3. 3.Brake pipe damaged or excessively corroded12.7%

   13,680 testsBrake pipe corroded explained

4. 4.A brake lining or pad worn below 1.5mm11.6%

   12,500 testsBrake drum or shoe worn or contaminated explained

5. 5.Fluid leaking excessively and likely to harm the environment or to pose a safety risk to other road users9.1%

   9,784 tests

6. 6.A shock absorber damaged to the extent that it does not function or showing signs of severe leakage7.8%

   8,431 testsShock absorber defective explained

7. 7.A tyre seriously damaged7.3%

   7,850 testsTyre damaged or deteriorated explained

8. 8.A steering ball joint with excessive wear or free play7.3%

   7,839 testsBall joint worn 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 Trafic fleet

Average mileage recorded at test

112,458

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

Fuel mix of tested cars

Diesel99.1%

Petrol0.9%

Compare within the range

Other Renault models

• Renault Clio — 59.1% adjusted
• Renault Captur — 70.8% adjusted
• Renault Megane — 63.3% adjusted
• Renault Kadjar — 74.0% adjusted
• Renault Kangoo — 59.0% adjusted
• Renault Scenic — 61.8% adjusted
• All Renault models →

Similar test volumes

Compare against other makes

• Peugeot 107 — 60.8% adjusted, ranked 251
• BMW X3 — 79.5% adjusted, ranked 58
• Land Rover Freelander — 72.6% adjusted, ranked 137
• Ford C-Max — 68.7% adjusted, ranked 183

Common questions

Is the Renault Trafic reliable?

On MOT evidence the Renault Trafic is well below average. It passes 62.9% of tests once age and mileage are accounted for, against a national average of 72.3%, which ranks it 239 of 262 models with enough data for a fair comparison. 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 Renault Trafic?

The item recorded most often is "A steering ball joint with excessive wear or free play", which appears in 31.3% of failed Renault Trafic 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 Renault Trafic?

The most common advisory is "Tyre tread depth not in accordance with the requirements", noted on 20.4% of all Renault Trafic tests. An advisory is not a failure: it flags something that will likely need attention before the next test.

What mileage does a Renault Trafic usually have at its MOT?

The average odometer reading recorded at test is 112,458 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 Renault Trafic get harder to pass as it ages?

Yes. At 3 to 5 years old, 77.0% of Renault Trafic tests pass. By fifteen years or more, that falls to 49.1%. Nearly every model follows this pattern, which is why comparing raw pass rates between models is misleading unless age is accounted for.

Are most Renault Trafic models petrol or diesel?

Of the Renault Trafic cars tested, 99% are diesel, 1% are petrol. 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 Renault