Toyota Vellfire MOT pass rate & common failures

At a glance

Recorded pass rate

We are not publishing a ranking for the Vellfire. 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 3,351 tests and are worth reading on their own terms.

DVSA recorded wording

Most common failure items

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

1. 1.A suspension joint dust cover missing or no longer prevents the ingress of dirt etc22.4%

   103 occurrencesSuspension joint dust cover missing or split explained

2. 2.Wiper blade missing or obviously not clearing the windscreen12.6%

   58 occurrencesWiper or washer not working properly explained

3. 3.An obligatory rear fog lamp missing, or a front or rear fog lamp inoperative or in the case of a multiple light source more than 1/2 not functioning12.2%

   56 occurrencesLamp not working explained

4. 4.A lamp missing, inoperative or in the case of a multiple light source more than 1/2 not functioning9.6%

   44 occurrencesLamp not working explained

5. 5.A brake lining or pad worn below 1.5mm9.2%

   42 occurrencesBrake drum or shoe worn or contaminated explained

6. 6.A stub axle swivel pin and/or bush excessively worn8.7%

   40 occurrencesBall joint worn explained

7. 7.An obligatory rear fog lamp missing, or a front or rear fog lamp inoperative or in the case of a multiple light source more than 1/2 not functioning8.5%

   39 occurrencesLamp not working explained

8. 8.A shock absorber damaged to the extent that it does not function or showing signs of severe leakage8.1%

   37 occurrencesShock absorber defective explained

9. 9.A headlamp or light source missing, inoperative or more than ½ not functioning in the case of LED7.6%

   35 occurrencesHeadlamp not working explained

10. 10.A suspension joint dust cover missing or no longer prevents the ingress of dirt etc7.2%

    33 occurrencesSuspension joint dust cover missing or split explained

Warnings without a failure

Most common advisories

Share of all Toyota Vellfire 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 requirements12.9%

   433 testsTyre worn close to the legal limit explained

2. 2.A tyre seriously damaged8.7%

   291 testsTyre damaged or deteriorated explained

3. 3.A brake lining or pad worn below 1.5mm8.1%

   271 testsBrake drum or shoe worn or contaminated explained

4. 4.A stub axle swivel pin and/or bush excessively worn6.0%

   200 testsBall joint worn explained

5. 5.Brake disc or drum excessively weakened, insecure or fractured4.5%

   150 testsBrake disc worn, pitted or scored explained

6. 6.A suspension pin, bush or joint excessively worn4.3%

   143 testsSuspension arm bush worn explained

7. 7.A shock absorber damaged to the extent that it does not function or showing signs of severe leakage3.9%

   130 testsShock absorber defective explained

8. 8.Play in steering rack inner joint(s)2.5%

   85 tests

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 Vellfire fleet

Average mileage recorded at test

70,329

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

Fuel mix of tested cars

Petrol92.4%

Hybrid7.2%

Compare within the range

Other Toyota models

• Toyota Yaris — 72.3% adjusted
• Toyota Aygo — 70.4% adjusted
• Toyota Prius — 81.4% adjusted
• Toyota Auris — 72.6% adjusted
• Toyota Corolla — 78.8% adjusted
• Toyota RAV4 — 79.0% adjusted
• All Toyota models →

Common questions

How reliable is the Toyota Vellfire compared with other cars?

We do not publish a comparison for the Toyota Vellfire, 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 83.2% across 3,351 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 Toyota Vellfire?

The item recorded most often is "A suspension joint dust cover missing or no longer prevents the ingress of dirt etc", which appears in 22.4% of failed Toyota Vellfire 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 Toyota Vellfire?

The most common advisory is "Tyre tread depth not in accordance with the requirements", noted on 12.9% of all Toyota Vellfire tests. An advisory is not a failure: it flags something that will likely need attention before the next test.

What mileage does a Toyota Vellfire usually have at its MOT?

The average odometer reading recorded at test is 70,329 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 Toyota Vellfire get harder to pass as it ages?

Yes. At 6 to 8 years old, 85.7% of Toyota Vellfire tests pass. By fifteen years or more, that falls to 80.0%. Nearly every model follows this pattern, which is why comparing raw pass rates between models is misleading unless age is accounted for.

Are most Toyota Vellfire models petrol or diesel?

Of the Toyota Vellfire cars tested, 92% are petrol, 7% are hybrid. 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. 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 Toyota