Vauxhall Corsa MOT pass rate & common failures

At a glance

Pass rate, adjusted for age and mileage

The Corsa is 7.9 percentage points below the national pass rate once age and mileage are accounted for, which is well below average. The unadjusted figure is 64.6%; 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 Vauxhall Corsa tests in which each item was recorded. One failed test often lists several items, so these do not sum to 100%.

1. 1.A spring or spring component fractured or seriously weakened24.1%

   61,266 occurrencesRoad spring broken or fractured explained

2. 2.Steering rack gaiter or ball joint dust cover missing or no longer prevents the ingress of dirt etc15.6%

   39,603 occurrencesSteering rack gaiter split, damaged or missing explained

3. 3.Tyre tread depth not in accordance with the requirements9.3%

   23,659 occurrencesTyre worn close to the legal limit explained

4. 4.A shock absorber damaged to the extent that it does not function or showing signs of severe leakage8.6%

   21,805 occurrencesShock absorber defective explained

5. 5.Wiper blade missing or obviously not clearing the windscreen8.0%

   20,389 occurrencesWiper or washer not working properly explained

6. 6.Stop lamp missing, inoperative or in the case of a multiple light source more than 1/2 not functioning8.0%

   20,285 occurrencesStop lamp not working explained

7. 7.Engine MIL illuminated indicating a malfunction7.5%

   18,993 occurrencesEngine management light on, or not working explained

8. 8.A lamp missing, inoperative or in the case of a multiple light source more than 1/2 not functioning6.0%

   15,148 occurrencesLamp not working explained

9. 9.A headlamp or light source missing, inoperative or more than ½ not functioning in the case of LED5.9%

   14,945 occurrencesHeadlamp not working explained

10. 10.The aim of a headlamp is not within limits laid down in the requirements5.5%

    13,928 occurrencesHeadlamp aim incorrect explained

Warnings without a failure

Most common advisories

Share of all Vauxhall Corsa 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 requirements21.2%

   190,556 testsTyre worn close to the legal limit explained

2. 2.A tyre seriously damaged19.9%

   178,550 testsTyre damaged or deteriorated explained

3. 3.Brake disc or drum excessively weakened, insecure or fractured11.2%

   100,749 testsBrake disc worn, pitted or scored explained

4. 4.Fluid leaking excessively and likely to harm the environment or to pose a safety risk to other road users10.3%

   92,380 tests

5. 5.A shock absorber damaged to the extent that it does not function or showing signs of severe leakage8.6%

   76,723 testsShock absorber defective explained

6. 6.A spring or spring component fractured or seriously weakened7.0%

   63,139 testsRoad spring broken or fractured explained

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

   57,950 testsBrake drum or shoe worn or contaminated explained

8. 8.A suspension component excessively damaged or corroded5.1%

   45,741 testsSuspension mounting corroded or insecure explained

The rest of the record

Everything else recorded on the Vauxhall Corsa

The 15 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.

• Driveshaft CV joint gaiter split or missing5.2%
• Exhaust leaking or insecure4.7%
• Ball joint worn4.1%
• Tyre ply or cord exposed, or the casing separating4.1%
• Suspension arm bush worn3.6%
• Registration plate missing, insecure or illegible3.5%
• Parking brake efficiency too low3.2%
• Lamp of the wrong colour, position or intensity3.2%
• Suspension joint dust cover missing or split3.0%
• Emissions above the permitted limit2.9%
• Brake pipe corroded2.3%
• Brake hose deteriorated, damaged or chafing1.9%
• Tyre pressure monitoring system inoperative1.8%
• Brake binding or imbalanced across an axle1.7%
• Road wheel damaged, distorted or cracked0.8%

How wear changes the picture

Corsa pass rate by age and registration year

How often the Vauxhall Corsa 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 Corsa 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 Corsa fleet

Average mileage recorded at test

65,275

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

Fuel mix of tested cars

Petrol91.7%

Diesel6.9%

Electric1.4%

Compare within the range

Other Vauxhall models

• Vauxhall Astra — 71.0% adjusted
• Vauxhall Mokka — 68.6% adjusted
• Vauxhall Vivaro — 62.2% adjusted
• Vauxhall Insignia — 72.5% adjusted
• Vauxhall Zafira — 66.0% adjusted
• Vauxhall Combo — 63.5% adjusted
• All Vauxhall models →

Similar test volumes

Compare against other makes

• Ford Focus — 71.6% adjusted, ranked 155
• Volkswagen Golf — 78.3% adjusted, ranked 72
• Volkswagen Polo — 67.5% adjusted, ranked 201
• Nissan Qashqai — 67.4% adjusted, ranked 204

Common questions

Is the Vauxhall Corsa reliable?

On MOT evidence the Vauxhall Corsa is well below average. It passes 64.4% of tests once age and mileage are accounted for, against a national average of 72.3%, which ranks it 225 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 Vauxhall Corsa?

The item recorded most often is "A spring or spring component fractured or seriously weakened", which appears in 24.1% of failed Vauxhall Corsa 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 Vauxhall Corsa?

The most common advisory is "Tyre tread depth not in accordance with the requirements", noted on 21.2% of all Vauxhall Corsa tests. An advisory is not a failure: it flags something that will likely need attention before the next test.

What mileage does a Vauxhall Corsa usually have at its MOT?

The average odometer reading recorded at test is 65,275 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 Vauxhall Corsa years are the most reliable?

Going by MOT pass rate, Vauxhall Corsa cars first registered 2020–2022 do best at 84.3%, and those registered 2010 and earlier do worst at 53.4%. 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 Vauxhall Corsa get harder to pass as it ages?

Yes. At 3 to 5 years old, 84.3% of Vauxhall Corsa tests pass. By fifteen years or more, that falls to 53.4%. Nearly every model follows this pattern, which is why comparing raw pass rates between models is misleading unless age is accounted for.

Are most Vauxhall Corsa models petrol or diesel?

Of the Vauxhall Corsa cars tested, 92% are petrol, 7% are diesel, 1% are electric. 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 Vauxhall