MOT Risk Index.co.uk

Audi A6 — MOT statistics 2024

The Audi A6 failed 20.9% of 126,603 first MOT attempts in 2024 ("first-time", excluding retests). Adjusted for the age of the fleet, its initial-failure ratio is 71.9 (100 = expected for its age profile). This car fails its MOT about 28% less often than expected for its age.

MOT risk index 71.9, 95% CI 71.1–72.6 (100 = national average) 100 71.9 0 200
Index
71.9
100 = age-normal
Raw fail rate
20.9%
n = 126,603
Dangerous /100
10
national ≈11
Diesel − petrol
+4.7 pp
fail-rate gap
Rank
190 of 761
lower index = better

Age-adjusted peer: Land Rover Range Rover Sport (index 72.5) — the two published results are 0.6 index points apart.

Audi A6 common problems: what actually fails the MOT

Suspension is well below the reference at 8.6 per 100 tests, against 14.4 per 100 tests across UK vehicles of the same ages.

higher bar = fails more oftenrate per 100 tests

Audi A6 common problems: what actually fails the MOT — 2024 UK MOT data

family vs national — matched to UK vehicles of the same ages — top component groups, per 100 tests. Legend: This family · National avg. Combined labels: family / national average. A gap here reflects how these vehicles are driven, used and maintained as well as how they were built — an MOT defect is a test outcome, not a breakdown.

Component-group comparison table

Each ratio carries a 95% interval. With 6 groups compared here, roughly one apparent difference in twenty is chance alone.

GroupThis familyCases behind itUK, same agesFamily / national
Lamps & electrical12.496,01616.40.76×0.75–0.76
Tyres10.279,2148.81.15×1.15–1.16
Suspension8.666,32514.40.60×0.59–0.60
Visibility6.752,1307.70.87×0.87–0.89
Brakes5.340,95511.00.48×0.48–0.49
Body & structure3.728,3815.00.74×0.73–0.75
Named defects — items per 100 initial tests, this family vs UK national average; this model measured on 774,370 tests, 2019-2024, national column 2024
What failedper 100 tests (this family)per 100 tests (UK average)ratio family / UKWhat to check
Windscreen or window damaged or seriously…Windscreen or window damaged or seriously discoloured but not adversely affecting driver's view3.612.361.53×Check wipers, washers and windscreen chips in the driver's view
Tyre tread depth not in accordance with the…Tyre tread depth not in accordance with the requirements4.233.591.18×Check tyre tread depth across the full width
Tyre cords visible or damagedA tyre cords visible or damaged2.091.631.28×Check tyre tread depth across the full width
Tyre seriously damagedA tyre seriously damaged2.992.541.18×Check tyre tread depth across the full width
Engine MIL illuminated indicating a malfunctionEngine MIL illuminated indicating a malfunction1.501.191.27×Ask the seller about: Engine MIL illuminated indicating a malfunction
Rear registration plate lamp or light source…A rear registration plate lamp or light source missing or inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources2.592.830.92×Try every light and switch — lamps are a top failure
Suspension pin, bush or joint excessively wornA suspension pin, bush or joint excessively worn4.484.870.92×Listen for knocks over bumps — worn joints show up on the test
Aim of a headlamp is not within limits laid down…The aim of a headlamp is not within limits laid down in the requirements1.892.570.74×Try every light and switch — lamps are a top failure
Brake lining or pad worn below 1.5mma brake lining or pad worn below 1.5mm1.382.150.64×Feel for brake judder and pulling on the test drive
Spring or spring component fractured or seriously…A spring or spring component fractured or seriously weakened1.732.860.61×Ask the seller about: A spring or spring component fractured or seriously weakened

Named defects ranked by how much more often they appear than the national average — not by raw rate.

Audi A6 MOT advisories: what gets flagged

Tyres are highest at 39.2 per 100 tests; Identification is lowest at 2.7 per 100 tests — the gap is 36.5 per 100 tests.

higher bar = flagged more oftenadvisory items per 100 initial tests

Audi A6 MOT advisories: what gets flagged — 2024 UK MOT data
Advisory rates table
GroupAdvisories per 100
Tyres39.2
Suspension26.7
Brakes24.6
Non-component advisories6.7
Emissions & leaks3.2
Identification2.7

Advisories are wear the tester noted but didn't fail — what will need money soon.

Tyres, brakes and suspension: Audi A6 against cars of the same age

AgePartAudi A6Same age, petrol and dieselDifference
3 yearsTyres5.954.171.78
3 yearsBrakes1.11.77-0.67
3 yearsSuspension0.220.63-0.41
4 yearsTyres5.94.541.36
4 yearsBrakes1.472.43-0.96
4 yearsSuspension0.441.21-0.77
5 yearsTyres5.825.060.76
5 yearsBrakes1.553.09-1.54
5 yearsSuspension0.692.19-1.50
6 yearsTyres6.325.540.78
6 yearsBrakes1.783.81-2.03
6 yearsSuspension1.263.72-2.46
7 yearsTyres6.355.950.40
7 yearsBrakes1.924.55-2.63
7 yearsSuspension2.275.68-3.41
8 yearsTyres6.726.310.41
8 yearsBrakes2.145.38-3.24
8 yearsSuspension3.57.78-4.28

Failing items per 100 initial tests, 2019-2024. The comparison group is every petrol or diesel car tested at the same age, so weight and drivetrain show up rather than fleet age.

If a car like this fails, does it fail again?

A failure rate does not say whether a failure is a one-off or the start of something. This follows the same vehicles into their next ordinary MOT a year later — retests after a repair are excluded, because they follow a failure by definition. 2019-2024.

After this year's testFails next yearVehicles followed
It failed29.7%32,725
It passed18.4%452,306

A failed test raises next year's chance of failing again by 11.3 percentage points. The failure most likely to come back is lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment — 32.5% of those vehicles fail again next year. Some of this is the vehicle and some is the owner: a car that was let go once tends to be let go again. One caveat: a car that fails may be sold or scrapped rather than tested again, so these figures describe the vehicles that came back.

Adjusted for how much these are actually driven

The headline index adjusts for the fleet's age. Wear, though, follows mileage: a three-year-old taxi and a three-year-old garage queen sit in the same age band. These two rows compare every car with vehicles of the same age, and then with vehicles of the same age and the same annual mileage, 2019-2024, on 769,831 tests. Both stand on the six-year corpus so they are measured on identical data — compare them with each other, not with the headline index above, which is measured on 2024 alone.

Standardised forIndexReading
Age only73.7fails less often than expected
Age and annual mileage66.0fails less often than vehicles driven as much
Share doing under 3,000 miles a year0.6%a normal spread of use

Mileage matters here: matching on how much these are driven moves the figure by 7.7 points — this fleet works harder than the vehicles it is measured against, so the age-only view penalises it — but it does not change which side of normal the car sits on. One limit to keep in mind: mileage is partly a result of how often a car breaks down — one that spends weeks in the workshop covers fewer miles — so the mileage-matched figure can understate a real weakness. Tests with no usable odometer reading are left out of it.

How the Audi A6 compares with cars of its own age and size

Not against the whole fleet — against cars of the same size class tested at the same age, 2019-2024.

AgeAudi A6Same class, same ageDifferenceTests
3 years10.27%11.72%-1.45 pp57,533
4 years10.98%13.33%-2.35 pp58,909
5 years11.83%15.12%-3.29 pp64,532
6 years13.53%17.41%-3.87 pp66,206
7 years15.36%20.24%-4.89 pp66,400
8 years17.56%23.33%-5.77 pp64,239
9 years20.14%26.87%-6.73 pp57,865
10 years22.95%30.18%-7.23 pp51,317
11 years26.06%33.6%-7.55 pp48,623
12 years29.11%36.62%-7.51 pp46,846
13 years31.1%39.04%-7.95 pp43,304
14 years32.73%40.99%-8.26 pp38,501
15 years34.33%42.45%-8.12 pp31,791
16 years36.18%43.26%-7.08 pp26,113
17 years37.33%43.61%-6.28 pp18,517
18 years38.87%43.69%-4.82 pp11,170
19 years39.76%43.23%-3.47 pp6,760
20 years43.04%42.42%+0.62 pp4,396

Raw first-time failure rates within each age, so fleet age cannot flatter either side. A positive difference means this model fails more often than its own class at that age.

How does the Audi A6 perform as it gets older?

The A6 at age 12 is well below the reference at 22.1%, against 35.7% for all vehicles of the same age.

higher = larger sharecompare shares in percentage points

How does the Audi A6 perform as it gets older? — 2024 UK MOT data

Chart axes: car age, years · failure-rate scale 0–47%.

Takeaway: a 10-year-old A6 has roughly a 20% chance of failing its MOT.

Data table
AgeAudi A6All vehiclesGap
39.7%12.4%-2.7 pp
49.0%13.1%-4.1 pp
510.8%15.1%-4.3 pp
612.7%17.5%-4.8 pp
714.5%20.2%-5.7 pp
816.0%23.3%-7.3 pp
917.2%26.5%-9.3 pp
1020.2%30.1%-9.9 pp
1120.7%33.2%-12.4 pp
1222.1%35.7%-13.6 pp
1327.7%38.2%-10.5 pp
1430.2%40.4%-10.2 pp
1531.4%41.6%-10.1 pp
1634.4%43.1%-8.7 pp
1734.0%43.1%-9.2 pp
1836.1%43.9%-7.7 pp
1936.3%43.5%-7.2 pp
2039.3%41.0%-1.7 pp

Is an Audi A6 ULEZ compliant?

The share of classifiable 2024 Audi A6 MOT tests likely ULEZ compliant by first-registration date is 45.2%.

Based on 126,080 classifiable initial MOT tests. This describes the tested fleet, not a specific car. MOT data do not record Euro class, so likely compliance is inferred from fuel and first-registration date. For the only authoritative answer, check the registration with TfL's official ULEZ checker.

higher = larger share likely compliantinferred from fuel and first-registration date; not a recorded Euro class

Age-band estimate from classifiable initial MOT tests
Vehicle age at testLikely ULEZ-compliant shareTests
Under 3 years100.0%
Check a registration with TfL
n = 737
3–5 years100.0%
Check a registration with TfL
n = 17,333
6–7 years100.0%
Check a registration with TfL
n = 17,673
8 years100.0%
Check a registration with TfL
n = 13,249
9 years45.1%
Check a registration with TfL
n = 11,272
10–14 years3.1%
Check a registration with TfL
n = 42,748
15–17 years7.8%
Check a registration with TfL
n = 15,432
18 years11.8%
Check a registration with TfL
n = 3,229
19 years0.0%
Check a registration with TfL
n = 1,786
20+ years0.0%
Check a registration with TfL
n = 2,621

Audi A6 petrol vs diesel: which ages best

Diesel is highest at 21.5%; Hybrid is lowest at 5.4% — the gap is 16.1 percentage points.

higher = larger sharecompare shares in percentage points

Audi A6 petrol vs diesel: which ages best — 2024 UK MOT data
Fuel split table
FuelTests% failingGap vs best
Diesel112,89321.5%+16.1 pp
Petrol12,31016.8%+11.4 pp
Hybrid1,3845.4%+0.0 pp

Chart sample sizes: n=113k · n=12k · n=1,384.

How dangerous are Audi A6 MOT failures?

Major defects are well below the reference at 29.7 per 100 tests, against 52.8 per 100 tests nationally.

higher bar = fails more oftenrate per 100 tests

How dangerous are Audi A6 MOT failures? — 2024 UK MOT data
Severity table
SeverityThis family /100National /100Family / national
Minor12.1814.220.86×
Major29.7252.750.56×
Dangerous10.3511.150.93×

Chart values: Minor 12.2 · Major 29.7 · Dangerous 10.3.

Per 100 tests on this family. National average: Minor 14.2 · Major 52.8 · Dangerous 11.2 per 100.

Does the month of an Audi A6 MOT matter?

Jan is highest at 22.9%; Sep is lowest at 20.3% — the gap is 2.6 percentage points.

higher = larger sharecompare shares in percentage points

Does the month of an Audi A6 MOT matter? — 2024 UK MOT data

Chart scale: 19%–33%.

bars: Audi A6 · dashed: all class-4 cars

Month-by-month table
MonthAudi A6All vehiclesGap
Jan22.9%31.12%-8.2 pp
Feb22.11%29.99%-7.9 pp
Mar20.68%28.26%-7.6 pp
Apr21.91%29.78%-7.9 pp
May20.9%28.79%-7.9 pp
Jun20.7%28.15%-7.4 pp
Jul21.42%29.33%-7.9 pp
Aug21.15%29.2%-8.1 pp
Sep20.33%28.19%-7.9 pp
Oct21.61%30.34%-8.7 pp
Nov22.11%30.58%-8.5 pp
Dec21.37%29.33%-8.0 pp

Takeaway: the spread between best and worst month is 2.6 percentage points — booking month barely matters for this family. Seasonality partly reflects registration-date clustering, not weather.

Before reading the shape: most of it is not about cars. Britain changes its registration plates twice a year, and 18.9% of these cars were first registered in March with another17.1% in September — 36% in two months against the 17% an even spread would give. An MOT falls due three years after first registration, so the buying calendar becomes the testing calendar. That shapes how many cars are tested each month — not how often they fail: the busiest months here are not the worst ones, so read the failure line on its own and the volume behind it separately.

Audi A6 average mileage by age

At age 8, the middle half of A6s runs from 64,131 miles to 103,574 miles, against 81,668 miles as the median.

further right = more milesmedian is the typical car; band is p25–p75

Bars: Audi A6 · dashed: all class-4 cars — 2024 UK MOT data

Chart axes: car age, years · odometer scale 0–203k mi.

Does high mileage mean more Audi A6 MOT failures at the same age?

Within the same age group, split by odometer (2024 MOTs), so this separates wear from age: at ages 10–14, 12.1% of those with under 40,000 miles failed first time versus 27.1% of those with over 140,000 miles.Inside this age group, higher mileage goes with more failures.

Does high mileage mean more Audi A6 MOT failures at the same age? — 2024 UK MOT data
Audi A6: first-time failure by mileage within each age group (2024)
AgeOdometer% failing95% intervalTests
3–5<40k miles8.7%8.1–9.3%8,020
3–540-70k miles11.2%10.4–11.9%7,001
3–570-100k miles12.2%10.8–13.8%1,808
3–5100-140k miles11.6%8.9–15%423 (rough estimate)
3–5140k+ miles6.3%2.7–14%79 (rough estimate)
6–9<40k miles8.7%7.8–9.8%2,960
6–940-70k miles13.4%12.8–14%13,979
6–970-100k miles16.2%15.7–16.9%14,346
6–9100-140k miles18.2%17.3–19%8,112
6–9140k+ miles19.2%17.7–20.7%2,786
10–14<40k miles12.1%9.2–15.7%381 (rough estimate)
10–1440-70k miles16.3%15–17.6%3,075
10–1470-100k miles20.6%19.8–21.4%9,561
10–14100-140k miles23.8%23.1–24.4%16,462
10–14140k+ miles27.1%26.4–27.9%13,248
15+<40k miles20.7%13.4–30.7%82 (rough estimate)
15+40-70k miles20.7%17.4–24.6%482 (rough estimate)
15+70-100k miles27.9%25.9–30%1,781
15+100-140k miles32.9%31.7–34.1%5,910
15+140k+ miles36.7%36–37.5%14,804

line: median · band: middle half of the fleet (p25–p75)

Mileage by age (p25 / median / p75)
Agep25Medianp75Tests
322,32730,16540,7564,825
428,92339,16453,0963,628
537,99049,55564,6318,880
644,85158,27875,8598,243
754,73970,83591,5869,430
864,13181,668103,57413,249
973,73293,310117,71111,272
1082,356102,980128,27710,694
1190,265111,888137,50010,438
1299,091123,087149,0968,060
13107,755132,255161,0236,916
14113,941142,000170,8516,641
15119,036149,572180,2314,306
16125,545153,596182,2455,621
17131,594159,793189,3975,505
18135,727163,031193,6643,229
19128,379161,142190,8571,789
20+115,851150,953189,7862,631

A typical 8-year-old A6 has ~81,668 miles on the clock. Much more — ask why; much less — check for gaps in the MOT history.

Where in Britain the Audi A6 fails its MOT most

Llandrindod Wells area is highest at 31.3%; London E area is lowest at 14.9% — the gap is 16.4 percentage points.

higher = larger sharecompare shares in percentage points

Where in Britain the Audi A6 fails its MOT most — 2024 UK MOT data
Toughest areas% failingvs model overall
Llandrindod Wells (LD)31.31%+9.9 pp
Plymouth (PL)31.05%+9.6 pp
Exeter (EX)30.59%+9.2 pp
Dorchester (DT)30.2%+8.8 pp
Truro (TR)30.11%+8.7 pp
Easiest areas% failingvs model overall
London E (E)14.9%-6.5 pp
Uxbridge (UB)14.96%-6.5 pp
Bradford (BD)16.29%-5.1 pp
Outer Hebrides (HS)16.49%-4.9 pp
Croydon (CR)16.67%-4.8 pp

Why do areas differ?

For each external factor we correlate the area fail rate with the factor across postcode areas that have ≥800 tests of this family, then compare the bottom vs top fifth (quintile) of the factor. Correlation, not causation — factors travel together (the north is colder and often poorer; urban areas are denser and less salted). Road surface condition is joined now, for the 91 English areas the DfT publishes, and it explains nothing: the correlation with suspension failures is −0.01 and with body and structure failures 0.07. Potholes wreck wheels and tyres between tests, but by the time a car reaches the bay the road it drives on leaves no measurable trace.

In areas with the highest urban share this model fails 5.6 pp less often than in the lowest fifth (r=-0.52, n=114 areas with ≥800 tests).

In areas with the highest mot centre density this model fails 5.1 pp more often than in the lowest fifth (r=0.43, n=114 areas with ≥800 tests).

In the most coastal fifth of areas this model fails 4.1 pp more often than in the most inland fifth (r=-0.37, n=114 areas with ≥800 tests).

Audi A6 Why do areas differ? — 2024 UK MOT data
Values shown in the quintile chart
FactorLow QHigh QGapCorrelation
Urban share24.6%19.0%-5.6 ppr=-0.52
MOT centre density19.3%24.3%+5.0 ppr=0.43
Distance to coast24.6%20.5%-4.1 ppr=-0.37

Factors that only mean something combined

Some conditions are useless on their own and informative multiplied together. Frost days alone say little — Britain barely freezes. Salt tonnage alone says little — it tracks frost. Distance to the sea alone says little. Multiply the first two and divide by the third and you get an index of how hard an area attacks a car's underside, and it lines up with the corrosion defects we actually record. We built five such combinations and tested each against our own data. Three survived; two did not, and the failures are listed here on purpose — a proxy that was never checked is decoration. One survivor only survived on the second attempt: built from a crude stand-in for street parking it failed outright, and rebuilt from the census — terraced streets carrying more cars than they have driveways — it works, and carries information the salt index does not.

Composite area indicators, each tested against a defect rate we measure
CompositeBuilt fromTested againstrVerdict
Underbody corrosionfrost days × salt load ÷ (distance to coast + 1)share of tests with a corrosion defect+0.42holds (116 areas)
Tyre wearrain days × annual miles ÷ age at first tyre advisoryshare of tests failing on tyres+0.45holds (116 areas)
Overnight corrosionterraced housing × cars per household × frost daysshare with a corrosion defect+0.41holds (102 areas) — and adds signal beyond the first index
Deferred maintenancedeprivation × advisory-to-failure conversion ÷ labour ratecars repeating the same advisory−0.26fails (118 areas)
Powertrain stressengine capacity ÷ kerb weightsuspension, brake and emissions failures−0.16fails (22 models)

The deprivation result is the one worth dwelling on. The intuition that poorer areas defer repairs is strong enough that most people treat it as established. We tested it twice — once on raw failure rates (r = 0.04) and again, more fairly, on whether an advisory turns into a failure — and it did not hold any of the three times we tried it — on raw failure rates, on advisory-to-failure conversion, and again with deprivation measured properly inside each nation rather than England alone. We are closing it. What does predict local failure rates is the density of test centres, which is a statement about testing, not about cars.

All external-factor correlations (machine-readable)
Factorrn areasLow-Q fail %High-Q fail %Gap ppLow-Q factorHigh-Q factor
Urban share (0–1)-0.52411424.619.0-5.60.41
MOT centre density (per 10k vehicles)0.43111419.324.3+5.158.7
Distance to coast (km)-0.37011424.620.5-4.16.279.5
Income deprivation (score)-0.3169722.419.7-2.80.10.2
Terrain gradient (% grade)0.1446721.423.3+1.90.53.7
Frost days (days/year)0.01011423.321.9-1.411.638.1
Road-salt proxy (g/m²-yr)0.01011421.921.8-0.1221.2675.1

Deprivation uses England IMD 2019 income score only (Scotland SIMD is a different scale). Salt proxy is a simplified NWSRG-style dry-salt sum from air Tmin; coastalness is distance from the area centroid to the nearest coastline.

Every dot is a postcode area — size = how many were tested there, colour = share failing. These figures are not age-adjusted: coastal and rural areas often run older fleets and salted roads, so higher raw fail rates do not automatically mean a worse local stock of this model.

Map labels: Scotland · N. England · Wales · London · S. West. Colour scale: 17%–29% failing.

Audi A6 survival: which cars are still on the road

By age 19 is well below the reference at 10.7%, against 100.0% at the ages 4–6 reference level.

higher = larger sharecompare shares in percentage points

Audi A6 survival: which cars are still on the road — 2024 UK MOT data

Chart axes: car age, years · survival vs ages 4–6 · scale 0–105%.

Survival vs fail rate by age
AgeTestsSurvival vs ages 4–6Fail %
357,53391%10.27%
458,90993.2%10.98%
564,532100%11.83%
666,206100%13.53%
766,400100%15.36%
864,239100%17.56%
957,86591.5%20.14%
1051,31781.2%22.95%
1148,62376.9%26.06%
1246,84674.1%29.11%
1343,30468.5%31.1%
1438,50160.9%32.73%
1531,79150.3%34.33%
1626,11341.3%36.18%
1718,51729.3%37.33%
1811,17017.7%38.87%
196,76010.7%39.76%

By age 19, only about 11% as many cars of this family present for MOT as at ages 4–6 (reference n≈63,215); survivors still fail at 39.8% vs 11.0% at age 4. Older cars that still appear are a selected subset — weaker ones have already left.

How many miles does an Audi A6 last?

100,000+ miles is highest at 45.1%; 200,000+ miles is lowest at 4.6% — the gap is 40.5 percentage points.

higher = larger sharecompare shares in percentage points

OdometerTests ≥ thresholdShare of sample
100,000+ miles347,84245.14%
150,000+ miles140,12718.19%
200,000+ miles35,6344.62%

Of 770,560 tests of this family with a usable odometer in 2024, 45.1% had reached 100k miles, 18.2% had reached 150k miles, 4.6% had reached 200k miles. This is a cross-section of cars still presenting for MOT, not a full birth cohort.

How many years is an Audi A6 likely to last?

Bought at age 5 is highest at 9.5 years; Bought at age 15 is lowest at 2.5 years — the gap is 7.0 years.

bigger number = longer remaining lifeyears on the observed survival curve

Age nowTypical mileage (p50)Expected years left
5—9.5
8—6.5
10—5.8
12—4.3
15—at least 2.5

estimateEstimate only — not a warranty: a typical 10-year-old example of this family has about 5.8 expected years of further MOT-present life on the 2024 survival curve. Derived from how many cars of each age still appear for test, not from a longitudinal panel.

Audi A6 faults that come together

Road Wheels + Seatbelts & SRS stand out at 7.79×, against 1.00× if the faults were independent.

above 1.0× = more than expectedbelow 1.0× = less

Group AGroup BTogetherLift
Road WheelsSeat belts and supplementary restraint systems2247.79× (rough estimate)
Noise, emissions and leaksSeat belts and supplementary restraint systems1,2557.27×
Identification of the vehicleRoad Wheels767.24× (rough estimate)
Body, chassis, structureSteering1,2097.12×
BrakesSteering1,2436.74×
Noise, emissions and leaksRoad Wheels3756.27× (rough estimate)
Noise, emissions and leaksSteering7336.2×
SteeringSuspension1,8566.12×
Seat belts and supplementary restraint systemsSteering3395.97× (rough estimate)
Body, chassis, structureNoise, emissions and leaks3,0365.88×
BrakesNoise, emissions and leaks3,2215.75×
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipmentSeat belts and supplementary restraint systems3,6495.69×
BrakesSeat belts and supplementary restraint systems1,5155.62×
Identification of the vehicleSeat belts and supplementary restraint systems1635.38× (rough estimate)
Identification of the vehicleNoise, emissions and leaks3385.36× (rough estimate)
Road WheelsSteering1025.18× (rough estimate)
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipmentSteering2,2705.17×
BrakesRoad Wheels4695.02× (rough estimate)
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipmentNoise, emissions and leaks6,5884.93×
Identification of the vehicleSteering1014.87× (rough estimate)
Seat belts and supplementary restraint systemsSuspension2,1404.83×
BrakesSuspension6,9224.81×
Noise, emissions and leaksSuspension4,3834.75×
Body, chassis, structureBrakes3,7794.69×
Body, chassis, structureSeat belts and supplementary restraint systems1,1544.65×
BrakesIdentification of the vehicle4314.38× (rough estimate)
BrakesLamps, reflectors and electrical equipment9,0234.33×
Road WheelsSuspension6624.31×
Body, chassis, structureSuspension5,6954.3×
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipmentSuspension14,1074.12×
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipmentRoad Wheels9114.1×
Road WheelsTyres7984.08×
Body, chassis, structureLamps, reflectors and electrical equipment7,7074.02×
Body, chassis, structureRoad Wheels3413.97× (rough estimate)
Identification of the vehicleLamps, reflectors and electrical equipment8853.78×
Body, chassis, structureIdentification of the vehicle3323.67× (rough estimate)
Identification of the vehicleSuspension5823.6×
Noise, emissions and leaksTyres4,0503.45×
Seat belts and supplementary restraint systemsTyres1,9483.45×
Seat belts and supplementary restraint systemsVisibility1,6463.44×
Identification of the vehicleTyres7013.4×
BrakesTyres6,1833.37×
Noise, emissions and leaksVisibility3,0263.04×
Road WheelsVisibility4902.95× (rough estimate)
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipmentVisibility10,6072.86×
Identification of the vehicleVisibility5002.86×
SteeringVisibility9112.78×
SuspensionTyres8,2662.74×
SteeringTyres1,0552.73×
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipmentTyres11,7502.69×
BrakesVisibility4,0352.59×
Body, chassis, structureVisibility3,5452.48×
SuspensionVisibility6,3292.47×
Body, chassis, structureTyres3,8772.3×
TyresVisibility7,1912.21×
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipmentSeat belt installation check18too few (rough estimate)
Seat belt installation checkSuspension9too few (rough estimate)
Seat belt installation checkTyres9too few (rough estimate)
Body, chassis, structureSeat belt installation check8too few (rough estimate)
Seat belt installation checkVisibility8too few (rough estimate)
Noise, emissions and leaksSeat belt installation check7too few (rough estimate)
BrakesSeat belt installation check7too few (rough estimate)
BrakesSpeedometer and speed limiter6too few (rough estimate)
Noise, emissions and leaksSpeedometer and speed limiter5too few (rough estimate)
Seat belt installation checkSeat belts and supplementary restraint systems5too few (rough estimate)
Speedometer and speed limiterSuspension5too few (rough estimate)
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipmentSpeedometer and speed limiter5too few (rough estimate)

Defects in «Noise, emissions and leaks» and «Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems» appear together 7.27× more often than chance (1,255 co-occurrences in the same test; lift≥1.3, n≥500).

Lift = how many times more often both groups appear on the same test than if independent. A pair is listed from 5 tests with both faults; the lift is shown from 20, and called above chance only when its 95% interval excludes 1 (see rough estimates).

Is low mileage better for an Audi A6?

Cars driven under 5,000 miles a year is well below the reference at 12.0%, against 19.5% for cars driven 8,000–12,000 miles a year.

higher = larger sharecompare shares in percentage points

BandFail %Tests
<5k miles/year12.02%18,051
8–12k miles/year19.46%230,006
Gap (low − normal)-7.44 pp—
By fuel and age

Diesel

AgeLow-use fail %nNormal fail %nGap pp
57.922,18312.0421,697-4.11 pp
68.771,91513.2223,475-4.45 pp
78.21,83015.425,349-7.21 pp
810.421,72817.6125,564-7.2 pp
912.461,48519.8923,416-7.43 pp
1014.261,31822.7521,365-8.48 pp
11161,10025.6620,765-9.66 pp
1220.0496828.2220,163-8.18 pp
1320.6981231.0219,349-10.33 pp
1421.6270332.817,655-11.18 pp

Petrol

AgeLow-use fail %nNormal fail %nGap pp
58.2876111.662,067-3.38 pp
67.965812.261,909-4.35 pp
76.5246010.761,115-4.24 pp
85.0335812.06854-7.03 pp
98.9329116.35691-7.42 pp
1011.4225418.92613-7.51 pp
1116.4624326.79657-10.33 pp
1217.2727828.08869-10.81 pp
1318.9430130.341,101-11.4 pp
1418.5336732.231,303-13.7 pp

At matched ages 5–14, cars averaging under 5k miles/year fail at 12.0% vs 19.5% for 8–12k miles/year — 7.4 pp lower (n_low=18,051, n_normal=230,006). In this family low annual use is associated with fewer MOT fails, not more — the ‘garage queen’ penalty is not visible in overall fail rates. Diesel alone: 12.3% low-use vs 19.5% normal (-7.1 pp).

Which Audi A6 engine is best?

petrol 1.5–1.8 is highest at 107.3; petrol over 2.0 is lowest at 84.7 — the gap is 22.6 points.

below 100 is betterabove 100 is worse100 = normal for this model at that age

Engine bands against this model's own failure rate at the same ages
FuelCapacityvs own age normRaw fail %Tests
petrolover 2.0 litre84.721.27%40,766
dieselover 2.0 litre92.222.32%188,289
petrol1.8–2.0 litre97.221.84%14,173
diesel1.8–2.0 litre104.821.13%518,972
petrol1.5–1.8 litre107.322.25%9,394

Splitting this model by fuel alone hides the thing that actually differs. Within the same badge, the petrol 1.5–1.8 runs at 107.3 against this model's own age norm while the petrol over 2.0 runs at 84.7 — a spread of 22.6 points between two cars that share a name.

Read this one with more care than the rest of the page. Age is held constant, but who buys which engine is not: the largest capacity in a range is often a performance or executive variant that is garaged, cherished and lightly driven, while the smallest is frequently a fleet or entry car worked hard from new. The gap below is real in the test records; how much of it is the engine and how much is the owner, this data cannot separate. Bands under 100 tests are not shown; bands under 5,000 tests are rough estimates.

Best year for an Audi A6, and the years to avoid

Build year 1998 is highest at 108.6; Build year 2020 is lowest at 88.4 — the gap is 20.2 points.

below 100 is betterabove 100 is worse100 = normal for this model at that age

build year vs the same model at the same age · 100 = as expected

Audi A6 build year vs the same model at the same age · 100 = as expected — 2024 UK MOT data
Audi A6 by build year, tests 2019–2024. Below 100 is better than the model's own age norm.
Every build year with its confidence interval
Build yearvs own age norm95% CIRaw fail %TestsVerdict
202088.481.8–95.19.1%7,498better
201998.394.7–101.810.47%27,962no different
201899.296.1–102.311.24%34,408no different
201795.292.8–97.611.41%52,435better
201699.898–101.713.06%84,662no different
201594.592.6–96.413.89%71,208better
2014100.798.9–102.616.79%67,246no different
201394.492.7–96.117.94%65,564better
20129290.3–93.819.79%52,516better
2011103101.1–104.924.82%45,852worse
2010105.1103.3–10728%44,486worse
2009103.9101.8–10630.09%30,208worse
2008105.1103.5–106.832.71%45,260worse
2007101.8100.2–103.333.61%48,503worse
200697.595.6–99.433.78%30,937better
2005100.898.5–103.136.37%19,936no different
2004106.5103.6–109.540.15%12,433worse
2003105.2101.8–108.741.18%8,717worse
2002107.7103.5–111.943.48%5,881worse
2001105.199.2–11143.75%2,766no different
2000106.6100–113.245.6%2,180no different
1999106.197.9–114.347.25%1,365no different
1998108.695.4–121.848.6%535no different

The best build year here is 2020 and the weakest is 2002. Comparing build years sounds simple and is not: within a single year of testing, a car's build year and its age are the same number, so a naive comparison of years is a comparison of ages wearing a disguise. Each year below is measured against the same model at the same age in other cohorts, across six years of testing — 14 of 23 years come out distinguishable from their own model's age norm.

Two limits worth knowing before you act on this. Age, test year and build year are locked together by arithmetic, so the test-year effect is taken from the observed national failure level of each year rather than estimated — it is an adjustment, not a solution.

Audi A6 MOT repair costs

The MOT-failure repair budget per test runs from £49.97 to £94.94, against £54.85 for the test itself.

bigger number = costs morepounds per test, MOT-failing faults only

MOT repairs, budget
£50–95
per test, repairs only
The test itself
£54.85
statutory cap, unchanged since 2010
How the figure is built: chance of failing × typical price of that repair
ComponentFails per 100 testsTypical repairIts priceContribution
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment12.4 (nat. 18.09)Battery replacement (standard 12V lead-acid)£140£17.36
Suspension8.6 (nat. 15.36)Suspension coil spring (single corner)£180£15.48
Tyres10.2 (nat. 8.7)Tyre (single mid-range 16" fitted)£90£9.18
Brakes5.3 (nat. 11.25)Front brake pads (parts + labour, typical hatchback)£150£7.95

Multiply how often each component fails on this model by what that repair usually costs, and you get the amount an owner should expect to budget per test for MOT-failing faults only — roughly £50 to £95, on top of the test fee itself. It is a budgeting figure, not a quote: the spread between a set of pads and a set of discs is most of the range.

Prices are modal quotes from a hand-kept catalogue of published UK garage guides — we do not scrape the booking sites, their terms forbid it, so this list is short and updated by hand with a source and date against each line. Each line prices one typical repair in that group, not a full remedy, and only groups our catalogue actually covers are counted. The contrast worth noticing is the second card: the legal maximum for the test has been £54.85 since 2010, while the repairs it uncovers have followed inflation the whole time.

For scale from a different direction: Warrantywise, which sees used-car warranty claims rather than test failures, puts the average claim at £2,052 across the ten highest-claim models it ranks and £539 for Honda, the lowest-claim make in its index (Warrantywise index 2026, 1.6 million claims, cars aged 3–15). Those sit an order of magnitude above the figures in this table, and the gap is the point: a warranty claim is a gearbox or an engine, which almost never fails an MOT, while the faults that do fail one are corrosion, lamps and tyres, which no warranty pays for. The two numbers answer different questions and neither replaces the other.

Audi A6 running costs for a fleet

Vehicles failing at age 10 stand out at 20.0%, against 11.0% at age 5, tested in the same year.

higher = larger sharecompare shares in percentage points

Fails per 100 at age 5
11
vehicles needing work
At age 10
20
other cars of this model tested at age 10 in 2024
Repairs per 100
£4,997
plus £5,485 in test fees
Off the road
1d
median; 39.12% cleared same day
Failure rate and typical odometer by age
AgeFailsMedian odometerTestsGap vs age 5
39.68%30,1654,825-1.1 pp
48.96%39,1643,628-1.9 pp
510.82%49,5558,880+0.0 pp
612.73%58,2788,243+1.9 pp
714.49%70,8359,430+3.7 pp
815.99%81,66813,249+5.2 pp
917.19%93,31011,272+6.4 pp
1020.22%102,98010,694+9.4 pp
1120.73%111,88810,438+9.9 pp
1222.12%123,0878,060+11.3 pp
1327.66%132,2556,916+16.8 pp
1430.21%142,0006,641+19.4 pp
1531.44%149,5724,306+20.6 pp
1634.35%153,5965,621+23.5 pp
1733.95%159,7935,505+23.1 pp
1836.14%163,0313,229+25.3 pp
1936.33%161,1421,789+25.5 pp

The number a fleet manager needs is not the failure rate, it is the year the car starts costing more. Between cars aged 12 and cars aged 13, both tested in 2024, the failure rate of this model is 5.54 percentage points higher — the steepest one-year step in this cross-section of different cars, and a natural planning point for replacement.

Repair spend uses the same modal prices as the section above, so it inherits the same limits: one typical repair per component group, not a full remedy. Downtime is the gap between the failed test and the passed re-test, which is the window a vehicle is legally off the road.

Audi A6 rust problems: where they corrode

Age-standardised corrosion susceptibility is well below the reference at 0.6×, against 1.00× for the national age-standardised rate.

above 1.0× = rusts more than averagebelow 1.0× = rusts less

How it rusts
0.6×
0.46% of tests record a corrosion defect vs 0.77% typical — age-standardised
Salt Belt exposure
57th
percentile among the models published here, from its tests across 114 postcode areas

This Audi A6 fails on corrosion much less often than average once age is held constant, and its owners live in areas that are about typical for the models we publish. Both point the same way and reinforce each other: it resists corrosion even though its owners live in saltier areas than most.

Corrosion is the one failure mode that is as much about geography as about the car. We keep the two apart on purpose: a model can look rusty simply because it is popular in Scotland, and a model can look clean simply because it is bought in Surrey. Blending them into a single score would hide which of the two is doing the work.

Exposure is this model's tests weighted by an area corrosion index built from frost days, salt load and distance to the coast — the composite validated at r = 0.42 against corrosion defects we actually record. It is published as a rank, not a raw score, because every mainstream model skews towards low-corrosion areas for the simple reason that most of Britain's cars are in the south. Susceptibility is standardised to the national age profile, so an old fleet does not get labelled a rusty model.

Does an Audi A6 advisory become a failure?

Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment are highest at 29.2%; Road wheels are lowest at 1.0% — the gap is 28.2 percentage points.

higher = more likelypercentage is the observed transition probability

chance the same component fails at the next MOT, given an advisory now

Audi A6 chance the same component fails at the next MOT, given an advisory now — 2024 UK MOT data
Audi A6, advisory → failure conversion by component group, chained tests 2019–2024. Chart labels and rates: Lamps & electrical 29.2% · Steering 13.6% · Suspension 12.6% · Body & chassis 11.1% · Tyres 9.4% · Brakes 6.8% · Noise, emissions, leaks 6.2% · Seat belts & restraints 3.8%.
Advisory today → failure at the next test, with how long you have
ComponentFails next timeTypical lead timeMiles of warningAdvisories tracked
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment29.2%12 months6,5658,287
Steering13.6%12.1 months6,7422,871
Suspension12.6%12.1 months7,22578,594
Body, chassis, structure11.1%12.1 months5,7596,975
Tyres9.4%12 months7,880139,132
Brakes6.8%12.1 months6,74287,531
Noise, emissions and leaks6.2%12.1 months6,10614,867
Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems3.8%12 months7,5011,921
Identification of the vehicle2.4%12.1 months7,79113,625
Road wheels1.0%12.2 months9,8801,825

This is the question an advisory note actually raises, and it needs six years of test history to answer. We followed the same vehicles from one MOT to the next across 2019–2024 and measured how often a component that was merely advised came back as a genuine failure at the next test.

Read it as a budgeting horizon, not a prophecy: the most likely component above turns into a failure for about 29 in 100 cars, and the median gap is 12 months and roughly 6,565 miles. The rest were repaired, sold, scrapped, or simply held. Rows with fewer than 500 tracked advisories are not shown.

What will fail next on an Audi A6?

Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment after a failure at age 15-19 are highest at 29.7%; Brakes after a passed at age <3 are lowest at 1.1% — the gap is 28.7 percentage points.

higher = more likelypercentage is the observed transition probability

Probability of each component failing at the next test, by age and last result
AgeLast testMost likely next failuresCars tracked
<3passedTyres 5.0% · Visibility 3.3% · Brakes 1.1%25,154
<3advisoryTyres 6.5% · Visibility 4.9% · Brakes 1.8%8,356
<3failureTyres 6.3% · Visibility 4.0% · Brakes 2.1%3,504
3-5passedTyres 5.1% · Visibility 3.4% · Brakes 1.3%96,964
3-5advisoryTyres 6.8% · Visibility 4.8% · Brakes 2.0%40,022
3-5failureTyres 7.3% · Visibility 5.1% · Brakes 2.3%18,114
6-8passedTyres 5.4% · Visibility 4.0% · Suspension 3.3%83,645
6-8advisoryTyres 7.7% · Visibility 6.4% · Suspension 4.6%44,958
6-8failureTyres 9.1% · Visibility 7.1% · Suspension 6.0%25,998
9-11passedLamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 7.6% · Suspension 6.4% · Tyres 6.1%50,122
9-11advisoryLamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 11.1% · Suspension 9.3% · Tyres 8.5%36,116
9-11failureLamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 15.2% · Suspension 11.2% · Tyres 10.1%29,267
12-14passedLamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 13.9% · Suspension 8.0% · Tyres 6.0%31,130
12-14advisoryLamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 19.1% · Suspension 11.4% · Visibility 9.0%31,403
12-14failureLamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 24.3% · Suspension 13.9% · Tyres 10.5%29,750
15-19passedLamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 15.7% · Suspension 9.0% · Body, chassis, structure 8.3%13,714
15-19advisoryLamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 23.6% · Suspension 12.8% · Body, chassis, structure 11.2%17,496
15-19failureLamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 29.7% · Suspension 16.8% · Body, chassis, structure 14.3%18,519
20+passedBody, chassis, structure 12.6% · Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 11.1% · Suspension 8.2%1,465
20+advisoryLamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 20.6% · Body, chassis, structure 16.5% · Suspension 12.6%2,001
20+failureLamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 26.6% · Body, chassis, structure 21.2% · Suspension 19.1%2,425

The same chains, cut differently: given a car's age and how its last test went, which component most often causes trouble at the following one.

The pattern that repeats across every family: a failure at one test roughly doubles the chance of a failure on the same component at the next one, and an advisory sits about half-way between a clean pass and a failure. Age bands in years; probabilities are per car, not per defect item.

Audi A6 ownership: what six years of MOTs show

The ten-day re-test pass rate is highest at 57.5%; The later re-test pass rate is lowest at 3.4% — the gap is 54.2 percentage points.

higher = larger sharecompare shares in percentage points

Fixed same day
39.12%
of failures re-tested
Fails /10k miles
0.246
miles actually driven
Clean streaks
41.31%
3+ tests, nothing noted
Odometer anomaly
1.71%
reading went backwards

Failing is usually a same-week event, not a disaster. Of 120,674 failures followed through to their re-test, 39.12% were repaired and passed the same day and 57.54% within ten days; the median gap is 1 day. 269,257 defect items were cleared in the process.

Per mile driven, not per year. Dividing failures by the miles that actually went onto the odometers between consecutive tests gives 0.246 failures per 10,000 miles, on a median of 7,526 miles a year across 149,341 chains. This is the number to compare between models — an annual rate quietly rewards cars that barely leave the drive.

Two populations hide inside one model. 41.31% of these cars strung together three or more tests with nothing recorded at all, while 24.72% carried the same advisory three times or more — the same fault, noted, ignored, noted again. When you buy used you are buying one of those two histories, and the MOT record shows which.

Odometer anomalies: 1.71% of 149,491 chains show a reading lower than the previous test, with a median drop of 55,482 miles. We call this an anomaly and not fraud on purpose — instrument swaps, imports, unit mix-ups and keying errors all land in the same bucket. Obvious typos (drops under 100 miles or over 90% of the reading) are already excluded.

Audi A6 safety recalls and how to check yours

DVSA recall campaigns stand out at 36.

bigger number = more recorded casescompare like-for-like scope, not sample size alone

recall campaigns launched per year

Audi A6 recall campaigns launched per year — 2024 UK MOT data
Campaigns launched per year for the Audi A6. Source: DVSA vehicle safety recalls. Chart values: 2011: 1 · 2012: 0 · 2013: 0 · 2014: 1 · 2015: 1 · 2016: 0 · 2017: 2 · 2018: 1 · 2019: 3 · 2020: 3 · 2021: 4 · 2022: 3 · 2023: 3 · 2024: 2 · 2025: 4.
Most recent safety recall campaigns for the Audi A6
ReferenceLaunchedVehiclesConcern
R/2025/50814/11/20254Belt buckle rivet missing
R/2025/46324/10/20251,458Software update for battery control unit
R/2025/42630/09/202528Replacing front seat belt
R/2025/38708/08/202574Stop-drive TAKATA PSAN
R/2024/49509/12/2024596Servicing high-voltage battery
All 36 campaigns
ReferenceLaunchedBuild datesVehiclesConcern
R/2025/50814/11/202524/03/2025 – 02/04/20254Belt buckle rivet missing
R/2025/46324/10/202526/02/2021 – 10/06/20241,458Software update for battery control unit
R/2025/42630/09/202511/07/2025 – 17/07/202528Replacing front seat belt
R/2025/38708/08/202527/07/2004 – 10/12/201074Stop-drive TAKATA PSAN
R/2024/49509/12/202419/03/2021 – 17/10/2022596Servicing high-voltage battery
R/2024/15804/04/202410/03/2004 – 30/08/201174,226Replacing Takata passenger airbag
R/2023/31727/10/202304/07/2023 – 04/07/20235On certain vehicles an incorrect bracket for the side airbag was fitted in the left front
R/2023/05301/02/202318/05/2004 – 22/02/201039If a front airbag is deployed it is possible that the gas generator housing in which the p
R/2023/02720/01/202307/04/2018 – 06/10/20215,487The fuel gauge may not show the drop in fuel level correctly during vehicle operation
R/2022/16910/06/202223/01/2022 – 09/02/2022109ENGINE CONTROL UNITS MIGHT BE FITTED WITH SEMICONDUCTOR COMPONENTS THAT DO NOT MEET SPECIF
R/2022/13204/05/202210/05/2012 – 30/03/20174,690THE MESH SIZE OF THE OIL STRAINER IN THE OIL SUPPLY FOR BOTH TURBOCHARGERS IS TOO SMALL
R/2022/03614/02/202207/11/2019 – 20/02/20215,327FOLLOWING A PREVIOUS CAMPAIGN THE TOE AND/OR CAMBER VALUES ON THE REAR AXLE MAY IN CERTAIN
R/2021/23422/09/202114/04/1997 – 23/12/199957,169THE DEPLOYMENT OF THE TAKATA AIRBAG MAY BE DELAYED OR INSUFFICIENTLY POWERFUL DUE TO A POT
R/2021/33022/09/202110/01/2000 – 13/08/20019,536FUNCTION OF THE DRIVER AIRBAG MIGHT BE RESTRICTED DUE TO ITS AGE
R/2021/23625/06/202107/11/2019 – 18/02/202110,089REAR AXLE SUSPENSION LINKS NUTS DO NOT MEET SPECIFICATIONS
R/2021/11726/03/202107/02/2018 – 14/12/20201,298THE FRONT PASSENGER AIRBAG MIGHT NOT INFLATE FULLY IN THE EVENT OF AN ACCIDENT
R/2020/37208/12/202001/07/2020 – 15/09/202031FAULTY CRASH SENSORS FOR AIRBAG/RESTRAINT SYSTEMS MAY HAVE BEEN FITTED IN BOTH OF THE FRON
R/2020/26502/10/202010/08/2018 – 11/03/202011,936MOISTURE MAY ENTER THE BELT DRIVEN STARTER-ALTERNATOR
R/2020/13830/06/202001/06/2017 – 31/03/202034,982MOISTURE MAY ENTER THE BELT-DRIVEN STARTER-ALTERNATOR
R/2019/17503/06/201902/12/2015 – 17/12/2018135THE LOCKING MECHANISM IN THE HINGED TOWING BRACKET COULD BE FAULTY
R/2019/09918/03/201918/02/2014 – 02/09/20162,763FUEL MAY ESCAPE FROM ONE OR BOTH FUEL RAILS
R/2019/06022/02/201908/07/2014 – 31/10/20144,907THE AUXILIARY HEATER ELEMENT IN THE AIR CONDITIONER MAY FAIL
R/2018/36317/12/201816/07/2018 – 10/10/201859REAR FIXED GLASS LID BONDING MAY NOT MEET CORRECT SPECIFICATION
R/2017/11501/05/201701/05/2011 – 31/10/20162,844COOLANT PUMP MAY OVERHEAT
R/2017/07820/02/201701/05/2016 – 31/10/20162,622AIRBAG/BELT TENSIONERS MAY NOT TRIGGER IN EVENT OF AN ACCIDENT
R/2015/03120/04/201501/04/2011 – 30/04/20121,073FUEL MAY LEAK
R/2014/09801/10/201401/01/2012 – 27/08/20145,755REDUCTION IN BRAKING PERFORMANCE
R/2012/01412/12/201111CURTAIN AIRBAG MAY NOT INFLATE
R/2007/12025/09/200701/06/2004 – 31/12/20058,468TAILGATE MAY CLOSE WITHOUT WARNING
R/2007/12025/09/200701/06/2004 – 31/07/20078,468TAILGATE MAY CLOSE WITHOUT WARNING
R/2005/13511/11/200501/02/2004 – 31/03/20055,767AIR BAGS MAY DEPLOY TOO LATE
R/2002/14326/10/2002541AIRBAG MAY NOT DEPLOY
R/2002/11201/08/200221/11/2001 – 26/11/200156BRAKE PEDAL BRACKET MAY CRACK
R/1999/07201/11/199901/03/1998 – 31/08/199838,307POTENTIAL PREMATURE WEAR OF STEERING BALL JOINTS
R/1997/07526/11/199701/01/1995 – 31/12/199650,523UNSCHEDULED DEPLOYMENT OF DRIVERS AIR BAG
R/1997/04928/06/199701/02/1997 – 31/03/19971,097FRONT SEAT BELT HEIGHT ADJUSTER

DVSA lists 36 safety recall campaigns for the Audi A6, covering roughly 350,480 vehicles in total. A recall is the manufacturer fixing a fault for free, so an open recall on your car costs nothing to clear.

Counter-intuitive, and measured on our own data: across the 25 families published here, more recalls go with a lower MOT Risk Index (r = −0.52). Heavily recalled models are not worse cars in the test bay — an active manufacturer removes the fault before it becomes an MOT failure.

Check whether a specific car has an outstanding recall — free, by registration — at DVSA's recall service. Source: DVSA vehicle safety recalls (check-vehicle-recalls.service.gov.uk), OGL.

Audi A6 technical service bulletins: what dealers are told

US market, Audi A6 and its variants, model years 2015–2021 only. A count of bulletins, not a UK failure rate.

NHTSA manufacturer communications are 2,896.

bigger number = more recorded dealer communicationsnot affected vehicles or confirmed faults

These are the issues the manufacturer fixes quietly: service communications sent to dealers without a public recall campaign. They show what the service network has been told even when the issue never became news.

United States · NHTSA manufacturer communications

US technical service bulletins by communication year; leading subjects cover the full file
Communication yearBulletinsLeading subjects across all years
20123
  • Electrical system (928)
  • Equipment (920)
  • Other / uncategorised (218)
  • Engine and cooling (213)
  • Structure (158)
  • Engine (148)
  • Powertrain (128)
  • Adaptive and mobility equipment (110)
201347
2014196
2015188
2016175
2017154
201891
2019308
2020299
2021264
2022191
2023272
2024395
2025204
2026109

Caveat worth stating plainly: this is NHTSA data about US-specification cars. British cars sold under the same name often use different gearboxes, engines and equipment, so a bulletin may describe a component that was never fitted here. The file counts dealer communications, not affected vehicles or confirmed failures, and it cannot tell you whether an individual UK car has the issue. A communication can carry more than one subject tag, so topic counts do not have to add up to the total. Source: NHTSA Manufacturer Communications API (US-market vehicles; queried model years 2015-2022). Licence: U.S. Government work / public domain · retrieved 2026-09-25.

Audi A6 owner complaints: what goes wrong

US market, Audi A6 and its variants, model years 2015–2021 only. A count of owner complaints, not a UK failure rate; NHTSA has no UK denominator.

Lamps & electrical are highest at 139; Brakes are lowest at 13 — the gap is 126.

bigger number = more recorded casescompare like-for-like scope, not sample size alone

Owner complaints (US) against actual MOT failures (UK) for the same component groups
ComponentComplaintsShareMOT fail items per 100MOT rankAgreement
Lamps & electrical13951.9%12.4#1complained about and fails often
Engine (not MOT-tested)7126.5%not in top 6—complained about, rarely an MOT failure
Transmission (not MOT-tested)269.7%not in top 6—complained about, rarely an MOT failure
Steering249.0%not in top 6—complained about, rarely an MOT failure
Restraints217.8%not in top 6—complained about, rarely an MOT failure
Brakes134.9%5.3#5complained about, fails occasionally

Two different populations answering two different questions: the MOT records what an inspector can measure once a year, the complaint file records what annoyed or frightened an owner on the road. A component high in one column and absent from the other is the interesting case — driver-assistance and electronics dominate complaints while almost never appearing as an MOT failure item.

What the reports actually say
P2067 engine check code which shows faulty fuel sensor. Audi has recalled other year Audi a6 sedan vehicles with the same issue and this seems to be a safety issue as it can show incorrect fuel gauge and in the event of car out of fuel, engine can stall and can cause accident.
NHTSA complaint, filed 12/31/2023 · FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM
Coolant sprayed on engine components due to leaking Coolant /Water pump. Coolant level is falling below minimum level - Problem confirmed by the dealer 1. Water pump 2. Coolant sprayed onto engine components - potential fire hazard 3. Confirmed by dealer 4. Unknown 5, Umknown
NHTSA complaint, filed 11/17/2023 · ENGINE

US owners have filed 268 complaints about the equivalent Audi A6 to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, including 4 that mention a crash, 4 a fire and 5 an injury. These are owner reports, not verified findings — but they are the only large public record of what drivers themselves notice, and they cover the years between MOT tests.

Caveat worth stating plainly: US-specification cars, self-selected reporters, no denominator — complaint counts scale with how many cars were sold there and how motivated owners are to file. The mechanical gap matters as much as the statistical one: American cars of the same name often carry different gearboxes, engines and equipment — automatics where Britain buys manuals — so a drivetrain complaint filed in Ohio may describe a part that was never fitted here. Read the ranking inside a model, not between models, and treat drivetrain entries with particular caution. Source: NHTSA ODI consumer complaints (US market, public domain) — US-spec vehicles, indicative only.

Audi A6 inspection results in other countries

Netherlands APK is well below the reference at 43.2%, against 50.8% nationally.

higher = larger sharecompare shares in percentage points

Same model, different national inspection regimes
CountryTestThis model failsNational averagePositionSample
United KingdomMOT (class 4)20.9%26.01%-5.1 pp126,603
NetherlandsAPK43.2%50.8%-7.6 pp22,104
FinlandKatsastus21.6%26.3%-4.7 pp17,745
NorwayPKK35%33.7%+1.3 pp11,256

The countries disagree about this car, and that is worth saying out loud rather than averaging away. A model can sit above its national average in one country and below it in another because the fleets are not the same cars: different model years, different engines, different roads and salt, and inspection rules that weight components differently. Treat each row as evidence from one regime, not as a verdict.

The exact faults Netherlands records — APK defect codes, 2024
CodeFaultRecordedType
210Tyre pressure not at the correct value3,862failure
205Tyre with insufficient tread2,794failure
516Dipped headlight incorrectly aimed1,649failure
AC1Tyre down to 1.6–2.5 mm of tread1,578advisory
RA2Excessive leak of other fluids1,140advisory
203Tyre damaged729failure
AC5Mechanical brake parts showing wear644advisory
497Number-plate light not working or missing504failure

Worth dwelling on how mundane the top of that list is: tyre pressure, tread depth, headlight aim. The Dutch APK records 0.978 defects per inspection against a much higher national failure rate than Britain's, and the reason is not that Dutch cars are worse — it is that the two regimes draw the line between "note it" and "fail it" in different places. Codes are the RDW's own; the English wording here is our translation of the Dutch original.

Britain is not the only country that inspects every car every year, and the Audi A6 is on the road in all of them. Each national regime writes its own rules, so the pass rates below are not comparable to each other — what does travel across a border is whether a model sits above or below its own country's average.

Rows with fewer than 500 inspections are not published. Sources: RDW open data — Meldingen Keuringsinstantie + Geconstateerde Gebreken + Gekentekende voertuigen (2024), CC0. Not an RDW endorsement.; Traficom — Periodic inspections of cars by model / by model and fault object 2024, CC BY 4.0; Statens vegvesen — Periodisk kjøretøykontroll (PKK) 2024, CC BY 4.0. Adapted; licences and full notice.

Audi A6 MOT: quick answers

Audi A6 MOT Risk Index is well below the reference at 71.9, against 100 for a car with the same age profile.

below 100 is betterabove 100 is worse100 = normal for this model at that age

What is the Audi A6 first-time MOT pass rate?
79.1% of first attempts passed in 2024 (126,603 tests). This is the first-time figure: retests after repair are excluded. Basis: first-time, excluding retests.
Why does this number differ from other sites?
Other sites often report a pass rate that includes retests or counts all attempts. Our 20.9% figure is the first-time initial failure rate, using 126,603 primary tests as the denominator (first-time, excluding retests). The age-adjusted MOT initial-failure ratio 71.9 is shown separately because raw rates compare fleet age as well as cars.

Compare the Audi A6 with other cars

Audi TT is highest at 73.4; Land Rover Range Rover is lowest at 70.9 — the gap is 2.5 points.

below 100 is betterabove 100 is worse100 = normal for this model at that age

Same brand

All Audi MOT statisticsAudi TT MOT statsAudi Q5 MOT stats

Similar risk

Land Rover Range Rover Sport (index 72.5)Land Rover Range Rover (index 70.9)Audi TT (index 73.4)

Same size class

how Audi A5 compareshow Toyota RAV4 compareshow Audi Q3 compares

By build year

Audi A6 1998Audi A6 1999Audi A6 2000Audi A6 2001Audi A6 2002Audi A6 2003Audi A6 2004Audi A6 2005Audi A6 2006Audi A6 2007Audi A6 2008Audi A6 2009Audi A6 2010Audi A6 2011Audi A6 2012Audi A6 2013Audi A6 2014Audi A6 2015Audi A6 2016Audi A6 2017Audi A6 2018Audi A6 2019Audi A6 2020

By area

Audi A6 MOT failure rate by postcode area

By failure group

Audi A6 body, chassis and structure failuresAudi A6 brakes failuresAudi A6 vehicle identification failuresAudi A6 lamps, reflectors and electrics failuresAudi A6 noise, emissions and leaks failuresAudi A6 road wheels failuresAudi A6 seat belts and airbags failuresAudi A6 steering failuresAudi A6 suspension failuresAudi A6 tyres failuresAudi A6 visibility failures

Inspections abroad

Audi A6 in NorwayAudi A6 in FinlandAudi A6 in the Netherlands


Data details & how to cite

Scope: class-4 vehicles (cars), initial tests only, outcomes pass / fail / fixed-on-the-spot at the station (PRS counts towards the failure rate — the defect was present at arrival). Index = observed initial failures ÷ failures expected for this fleet's exact age profile, ×100; margin of error is a 95% confidence interval. Covers ALL generations together — a 3-year-old and a 15-year-old are very different cars; a generation split is on the roadmap. Dataset release dataset_release_id=dvsa-2024-v2, frozen baseline; headline claim_id=family-stats:audi-a6:dvsa-2024-v2. Full method: methodology.

Cite: MOT Risk Index (2026). Audi A6 MOT statistics 2024 (data release dvsa-2024-v2; downloadable dataset motriskindex-families-2024-v5, doi:10.5281/zenodo.22975051). https://motriskindex.co.uk/cars/audi-a6/ · Published 2026-07-30.