Suzuki Swift MOT pass rate & common failures

At a glance

Pass rate, adjusted for age and mileage

The Swift is 1.9 percentage points below the national pass rate once age and mileage are accounted for, which is below average. The unadjusted figure is 72.3%; 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 Suzuki Swift tests in which each item was recorded. One failed test often lists several items, so these do not sum to 100%.

1. 1.Brake pipe damaged or excessively corroded18.2%

   5,039 occurrencesBrake pipe corroded explained

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

   4,728 occurrencesLamp not working explained

3. 3.Tyre tread depth not in accordance with the requirements12.9%

   3,574 occurrencesTyre worn close to the legal limit explained

4. 4.Wiper blade missing or obviously not clearing the windscreen12.8%

   3,550 occurrencesWiper or washer not working properly explained

5. 5.Stop lamp missing, inoperative or in the case of a multiple light source more than 1/2 not functioning12.2%

   3,375 occurrencesStop lamp not working explained

6. 6.A spring or spring component fractured or seriously weakened11.0%

   3,039 occurrencesRoad spring broken or fractured explained

7. 7.Parking brake efficiency below minimum requirement8.9%

   2,458 occurrencesParking brake efficiency too low explained

8. 8.A suspension pin, bush or joint excessively worn8.2%

   2,264 occurrencesSuspension arm bush worn explained

9. 9.A suspension pin, bush or joint excessively worn7.3%

   2,033 occurrencesSuspension arm bush worn explained

10. 10.A suspension joint dust cover missing or no longer prevents the ingress of dirt etc6.9%

    1,904 occurrencesSuspension joint dust cover missing or split explained

Warnings without a failure

Most common advisories

Share of all Suzuki Swift 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 corroded22.4%

   30,255 testsBrake pipe corroded explained

2. 2.A tyre seriously damaged20.8%

   28,111 testsTyre damaged or deteriorated explained

3. 3.Tyre tread depth not in accordance with the requirements19.2%

   25,951 testsTyre worn close to the legal limit explained

4. 4.A suspension pin, bush or joint excessively worn10.5%

   14,145 testsSuspension arm bush worn explained

5. 5.Brake disc or drum excessively weakened, insecure or fractured9.0%

   12,194 testsBrake disc worn, pitted or scored explained

6. 6.A brake lining or pad worn below 1.5mm6.2%

   8,342 testsBrake drum or shoe worn or contaminated explained

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

   6,818 testsRoad spring broken or fractured explained

8. 8.A brake hose ferrule excessively corroded4.3%

   5,767 testsBrake hose deteriorated, damaged or chafing 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 Swift fleet

Average mileage recorded at test

62,626

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

Fuel mix of tested cars

Petrol79.7%

Hybrid18.6%

Diesel1.7%

Compare within the range

Other Suzuki models

• Suzuki Vitara — 76.2% adjusted
• Suzuki Alto — 58.8% adjusted
• Suzuki SX4 — 70.7% adjusted
• Suzuki Ignis — 73.5% adjusted
• Suzuki Celerio — 82.9% unadjusted
• Suzuki Jimny — 73.0% adjusted
• All Suzuki models →

Similar test volumes

Compare against other makes

• BMW 2 Series — 82.9% adjusted, ranked 29
• Hyundai I20 — 70.0% adjusted, ranked 171
• Audi Q3 — 81.5% adjusted, ranked 44
• Mazda 2 — 69.8% adjusted, ranked 173

Common questions

Is the Suzuki Swift reliable?

On MOT evidence the Suzuki Swift is below average. It passes 70.4% of tests once age and mileage are accounted for, against a national average of 72.3%, which ranks it 169 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 Suzuki Swift?

The item recorded most often is "Brake pipe damaged or excessively corroded", which appears in 18.2% of failed Suzuki Swift 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 Suzuki Swift?

The most common advisory is "Brake pipe damaged or excessively corroded", noted on 22.4% of all Suzuki Swift tests. An advisory is not a failure: it flags something that will likely need attention before the next test.

What mileage does a Suzuki Swift usually have at its MOT?

The average odometer reading recorded at test is 62,626 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 Suzuki Swift get harder to pass as it ages?

Yes. At 3 to 5 years old, 89.9% of Suzuki Swift tests pass. By fifteen years or more, that falls to 52.9%. Nearly every model follows this pattern, which is why comparing raw pass rates between models is misleading unless age is accounted for.

Are most Suzuki Swift models petrol or diesel?

Of the Suzuki Swift cars tested, 80% are petrol, 19% are hybrid, 2% are diesel. 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 Suzuki