Does the BMW 5 Series fail the MOT on brakes more than it should?
The BMW 5 Series records 7.62 brakes failure items per 100 initial MOT tests (2019–2024), against 11.68 expected for a car of the same age mix: less than expected for its class and age (−4.06, 95% interval −4.12 to −4.00). It ranks 540 of 712 models on brakes (1 = most failures above expected).
Data release dvsa-2024-v2 (24 Sep 2026) · page updated 30 Sep 2026 · all models on brakes · check a BMW 5 Series by registration
What exactly fails on brakes?
The most frequent DVSA defect wording in this group on the BMW 5 Series is “a brake lining or pad worn below 1.5mm”, recorded 15,336 times in 2019–2024.
| DVSA defect wording | Items | Per 100 tests |
|---|---|---|
| a brake lining or pad worn below 1.5mm | 15,336 | 1.20 |
| Parking brake efficiency below minimum requirement | 13,788 | 1.08 |
| Brake pipe damaged or excessively corroded | 12,198 | 0.96 |
| A flexible brake hose excessively damaged, deteriorated, chafed, twisted or stretched | 7,805 | 0.61 |
| Brake disc or drum significantly and obviously worn | 3,947 | 0.31 |
Source: DVSA MOT bulk data (OGL v3.0) · Window: 2019–2024 · n = 1,273,419 (initial tests) · Method: failure items (major and minor) grouped by DVSA's defect tree; wordings with 30+ items · Updated: 30 Sep 2026 · Release: dvsa-2024-v2 · CSV
If a BMW 5 Series gets a brakes advisory, how often does it fail next time?
9.7% of BMW 5 Series MOTs with a brakes advisory were followed by a fail in the same group at the next MOT, typically 12.1 months and 5,934 miles later (161,370 advisories followed).
Source: DVSA MOT bulk data (OGL v3.0) · Window: 2019–2024 · n = 161,370 (advisories followed) · Method: the same vehicles followed to their next ordinary MOT · Updated: 30 Sep 2026 · Release: dvsa-2024-v2 · CSV
Other pages for this model
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