Chevrolet Trax — MOT statistics 2024
The Chevrolet Trax failed 37.11% of 1,482 first MOT attempts in 2024 ("first-time", excluding retests). Adjusted for the age of the fleet, its initial-failure ratio is 115.7 (100 = expected for its age profile). This car fails its MOT about 16% more often than expected for its age. Small sample — treat with care.
Age-adjusted peer: DS DS7 (index 115.9) — the two published results are 0.2 index points apart.
Chevrolet Trax common problems: what actually fails the MOT
Suspension stands out at 21.9 per 100 tests, against 10.8 per 100 tests across UK vehicles of the same ages.
higher bar = fails more oftenrate per 100 tests
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, and 1 of these is already inside an interval that includes 1.00×.
| Group | This family | Cases behind it | UK, same ages | Family / national |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Suspension | 21.9 | 2,039 | 10.8 | 2.04×1.95–2.12 |
| Lamps & electrical | 9.1 | 850 | 11.4 | 0.79×0.74–0.85 |
| Brakes | 8.2 | 768 | 8.4 | 0.98×0.92–1.06 · not distinguishable |
| Visibility | 7.5 | 701 | 6.6 | 1.14×1.06–1.23 |
| Tyres | 6.7 | 627 | 8.9 | 0.75×0.70–0.82 |
| Steering | 3.9 | 366 | 2.1 | 1.87×1.69–2.08 |
| What failed | per 100 tests (this family) | per 100 tests (UK average) | ratio family / UK | What to check |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Suspension joint dust cover missing or no longer…A suspension joint dust cover missing or no longer prevents the ingress of dirt etc | 7.02 | 1.78 | 3.93× | Listen for knocks over bumps — worn joints show up on the test |
| Suspension joint dust cover severely deterioratedA suspension joint dust cover severely deteriorated | 5.85 | 1.90 | 3.07× | Listen for knocks over bumps — worn joints show up on the test |
| Spring or spring component fractured or seriously…A spring or spring component fractured or seriously weakened | 4.64 | 2.86 | 1.62× | Ask the seller about: A spring or spring component fractured or seriously weakened |
| Brake lining or pad worn below 1.5mma brake lining or pad worn below 1.5mm | 3.52 | 2.15 | 1.64× | Feel for brake judder and pulling on the test drive |
| Wiper blade missing or obviously not clearing the…Wiper blade missing or obviously not clearing the windscreen | 2.77 | 2.22 | 1.25× | Check wipers, washers and windscreen chips in the driver's view |
| Aim of a headlamp is not within limits laid down…The aim of a headlamp is not within limits laid down in the requirements | 2.32 | 2.57 | 0.90× | Try every light and switch — lamps are a top failure |
| 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 sources | 2.30 | 2.83 | 0.81× | Try every light and switch — lamps are a top failure |
| Windscreen or window damaged or seriously…Windscreen or window damaged or seriously discoloured but not adversely affecting driver's view | 1.78 | 2.36 | 0.75× | 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 requirements | 2.84 | 3.59 | 0.79× | Check tyre tread depth across the full width |
| Suspension pin, bush or joint excessively wornA suspension pin, bush or joint excessively worn | 3.64 | 4.87 | 0.75× | Listen for knocks over bumps — worn joints show up on the test |
Named defects ranked by how much more often they appear than the national average — not by raw rate.
Chevrolet Trax MOT advisories: what gets flagged
Tyres are highest at 41.4 per 100 tests; Body & structure are lowest at 3.9 per 100 tests — the gap is 37.5 per 100 tests.
higher bar = flagged more oftenadvisory items per 100 initial tests
Advisory rates table
| Group | Advisories per 100 |
|---|---|
| Tyres | 41.4 |
| Brakes | 26.9 |
| Suspension | 16.8 |
| Non-component advisories | 8.8 |
| Emissions & leaks | 8.5 |
| Body & structure | 3.9 |
Advisories are wear the tester noted but didn't fail — what will need money soon.
Tyres, brakes and suspension: Chevrolet Trax against cars of the same age
| Age | Part | Chevrolet Trax | Same age, petrol and diesel | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 years | Tyres | 4.97 | 5.54 | -0.57 |
| 6 years | Brakes | 4.28 | 3.81 | 0.47 |
| 6 years | Suspension | 4.41 | 3.72 | 0.69 |
| 7 years | Tyres | 3.73 | 5.95 | -2.22 |
| 7 years | Brakes | 5.09 | 4.55 | 0.54 |
| 7 years | Suspension | 10.11 | 5.68 | 4.43 |
| 8 years | Tyres | 4.64 | 6.31 | -1.67 |
| 8 years | Brakes | 5.34 | 5.38 | -0.04 |
| 8 years | Suspension | 14.3 | 7.78 | 6.52 |
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 test | Fails next year | Vehicles followed |
|---|---|---|
| It failed | 32.2% | 519 |
| It passed | 27.0% | 5,499 |
A failed test raises next year's chance of failing again by 5.2 percentage points. The failure most likely to come back is suspension — 29.9% 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 9,288 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 for | Index | Reading |
|---|---|---|
| Age only | 104.0 | fails more often than expected |
| Age and annual mileage | 104.2 | fails more often than vehicles driven as much |
| Share doing under 3,000 miles a year | 3.4% | a normal spread of use |
Mileage changes little here (+0.2 points): this fleet is driven about as much as the vehicles it is compared with. 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 Chevrolet Trax 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.
| Age | Chevrolet Trax | Same class, same age | Difference | Tests |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 years | 16.19% | 17.41% | -1.23 pp | 556 |
| 6 years | 19.95% | 20.75% | -0.8 pp | 1,589 |
| 7 years | 26.46% | 24.32% | +2.14 pp | 1,553 |
| 8 years | 28.29% | 28.15% | +0.14 pp | 1,573 |
| 9 years | 30.06% | 32.03% | -1.96 pp | 1,540 |
| 10 years | 33.07% | 35.6% | -2.53 pp | 1,506 |
| 11 years | 39.98% | 38.65% | +1.33 pp | 973 |
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 Chevrolet Trax perform as it gets older?
The Trax at age 11 stands out at 40.0%, against 33.2% for all vehicles of the same age.
higher = larger sharecompare shares in percentage points
Chart axes: car age, years · failure-rate scale 0–43%.
Takeaway: a 10-year-old Trax has roughly a 31% chance of failing its MOT.
Data table
| Age | Chevrolet Trax | All vehicles | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 | 31.0% | 30.1% | +0.9 pp |
| 11 | 40.0% | 33.2% | +6.8 pp |
Is a Chevrolet Trax ULEZ compliant?
The share of classifiable 2024 Chevrolet Trax MOT tests likely ULEZ compliant by first-registration date is 56.1%.
Based on 1,479 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
| Vehicle age at test | Likely ULEZ-compliant share | Tests |
|---|---|---|
| Under 3 years | Suppressed — sample below publication threshold Check a registration with TfL | n = 1 |
| 3–5 years | Suppressed — sample below publication threshold Check a registration with TfL | n = 0 |
| 6–7 years | Suppressed — sample below publication threshold Check a registration with TfL | n = 3 |
| 8 years | Suppressed — sample below publication threshold Check a registration with TfL | n = 2 |
| 9 years | Suppressed — sample below publication threshold Check a registration with TfL | n = 1 |
| 10–14 years | 55.8% Check a registration with TfL | n = 1,472 |
| 15–17 years | Suppressed — sample below publication threshold Check a registration with TfL | n = 0 |
| 18 years | Suppressed — sample below publication threshold Check a registration with TfL | n = 0 |
| 19 years | Suppressed — sample below publication threshold Check a registration with TfL | n = 0 |
| 20+ years | Suppressed — sample below publication threshold Check a registration with TfL | n = 0 |
How dangerous are Chevrolet Trax MOT failures?
Major defects are well below the reference at 40.8 per 100 tests, against 52.8 per 100 tests nationally.
higher bar = fails more oftenrate per 100 tests
Severity table
| Severity | This family /100 | National /100 | Family / national |
|---|---|---|---|
| Minor | 14.04 | 14.22 | 0.99× |
| Major | 40.83 | 52.75 | 0.77× |
| Dangerous | 8.81 | 11.15 | 0.79× |
Chart values: Minor 14.0 · Major 40.8 · Dangerous 8.8.
Per 100 tests on this family. National average: Minor 14.2 · Major 52.8 · Dangerous 11.2 per 100.
Does the month of a Chevrolet Trax MOT matter?
May is highest at 35.1%; Feb is lowest at 21.9% — the gap is 13.2 percentage points.
higher = larger sharecompare shares in percentage points
Chart scale: 20%–37%.
bars: Chevrolet Trax · dashed: all class-4 cars
Month-by-month table
| Month | Chevrolet Trax | All vehicles | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 27.2% | 31.12% | -3.9 pp |
| Feb | 21.85% | 29.99% | -8.1 pp |
| Mar | 25.74% | 28.26% | -2.5 pp |
| Apr | 32.04% | 29.78% | +2.3 pp |
| May | 35.09% | 28.79% | +6.3 pp |
| Jun | 31.57% | 28.15% | +3.4 pp |
| Jul | 28.55% | 29.33% | -0.8 pp |
| Aug | 29.34% | 29.2% | +0.1 pp |
| Sep | 27.53% | 28.19% | -0.7 pp |
| Oct | 28.3% | 30.34% | -2.0 pp |
| Nov | 29.9% | 30.58% | -0.7 pp |
| Dec | 28.62% | 29.33% | -0.7 pp |
Takeaway: the spread between best and worst month is 13.2 percentage points — noticeable seasonality. 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.
Chevrolet Trax average mileage by age
At age 11, the middle half of Trax models runs from 63,199 miles to 99,293 miles, against 80,063 miles as the median.
further right = more milesmedian is the typical car; band is p25–p75
Does high mileage mean more Chevrolet Trax 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, 16.5% of those with under 40,000 miles failed first time versus 45.9% of those with 100,000–140,000 miles.Inside this age group, higher mileage goes with more failures.
| Age | Odometer | % failing | 95% interval | Tests |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10–14 | <40k miles | 16.5% | 10.6–24.9% | 103 (rough estimate) |
| 10–14 | 40-70k miles | 32% | 27.9–36.3% | 472 (rough estimate) |
| 10–14 | 70-100k miles | 38.6% | 34.7–42.7% | 572 |
| 10–14 | 100-140k miles | 45.9% | 40.2–51.8% | 283 (rough estimate) |
line: median · band: middle half of the fleet (p25–p75)
Mileage by age (p25 / median / p75)
| Age | p25 | Median | p75 | Tests |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10 | 56,554 | 72,042 | 91,192 | 500 |
| 11 | 63,199 | 80,063 | 99,293 | 973 |
A typical 11-year-old Trax has ~80,063 miles on the clock. Much more — ask why; much less — check for gaps in the MOT history.
Where in Britain the Chevrolet Trax fails its MOT most
Northampton area is highest at 41.2%; Liverpool area is lowest at 15.7% — the gap is 25.5 percentage points.
higher = larger sharecompare shares in percentage points
| Toughest areas | % failing | vs model overall |
|---|---|---|
| Northampton (NN) | 41.22% | +13.1 pp |
| Motherwell (ML) | 38.61% | +10.4 pp |
| Glasgow (G) | 38.46% | +10.3 pp |
| Easiest areas | % failing | vs model overall |
|---|---|---|
| Liverpool (L) | 15.69% | -12.5 pp |
| Coventry (CV) | 17% | -11.2 pp |
| Bolton (BL) | 17.39% | -10.8 pp |
| Southend-on-Sea (SS) | 20.97% | -7.2 pp |
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: 21%–38% failing.
Chevrolet Trax survival: which cars are still on the road
By age 11 is well below the reference at 90.7%, against 100.0% at the ages 4–6 reference level.
higher = larger sharecompare shares in percentage points
Chart axes: car age, years · survival vs ages 4–6 · scale 0–105%.
Survival vs fail rate by age
| Age | Tests | Survival vs ages 4–6 | Fail % |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5 | 556 | 51.8% | 16.19% |
| 6 | 1,589 | 100% | 19.95% |
| 7 | 1,553 | 100% | 26.46% |
| 8 | 1,573 | 100% | 28.29% |
| 9 | 1,540 | 100% | 30.06% |
| 10 | 1,506 | 100% | 33.07% |
| 11 | 973 | 90.7% | 39.98% |
By age 11, only about 91% as many cars of this family present for MOT as at ages 4–6 (reference n≈1,072); survivors still fail at 40.0% vs 16.2% at age 5. Older cars that still appear are a selected subset — weaker ones have already left.
How many miles does a Chevrolet Trax last?
100,000+ miles stands out at 10.1%.
higher = larger sharecompare shares in percentage points
| Odometer | Tests ≥ threshold | Share of sample |
|---|---|---|
| 100,000+ miles | 936 | 10.07% |
Of 9,294 tests of this family with a usable odometer in 2024, 10.1% had reached 100k miles. This is a cross-section of cars still presenting for MOT, not a full birth cohort.
How many years is a Chevrolet Trax likely to last?
Bought at age 5 is highest at 11.9 years; Bought at age 10 is lowest at 1.4 years — the gap is 10.5 years.
bigger number = longer remaining lifeyears on the observed survival curve
| Age now | Typical mileage (p50) | Expected years left |
|---|---|---|
| 5 | — | at least 11.9 |
| 8 | — | at least 3.4 |
| 10 | — | at least 1.4 |
estimateEstimate only — not a warranty: a typical 10-year-old example of this family has at least 1.4 expected years of further MOT-present life. The curve is observed only until age 11, so the true figure is likely higher.
Chevrolet Trax faults that come together
Body & structure + Emissions & leaks stand out at 10.93×, against 1.00× if the faults were independent.
above 1.0× = more than expectedbelow 1.0× = less
| Group A | Group B | Together | Lift |
|---|---|---|---|
| Body, chassis, structure | Noise, emissions and leaks | 42 | 10.93× (rough estimate) |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems | 26 | 6.59× (rough estimate) |
| Steering | Suspension | 163 | 3.75× (rough estimate) |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Steering | 74 | 3.69× (rough estimate) |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Noise, emissions and leaks | 55 | 3.66× (rough estimate) |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | Tyres | 39 | 3.56× (rough estimate) |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | Visibility | 48 | 3.42× (rough estimate) |
| Body, chassis, structure | Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 37 | 3.36× (rough estimate) |
| Brakes | Noise, emissions and leaks | 40 | 3.27× (rough estimate) |
| Brakes | Tyres | 81 | 3.17× (rough estimate) |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Tyres | 98 | 3.12× (rough estimate) |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Suspension | 277 | 2.96× (rough estimate) |
| Brakes | Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 102 | 2.91× (rough estimate) |
| Body, chassis, structure | Brakes | 26 | 2.9× (rough estimate) |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Visibility | 113 | 2.81× (rough estimate) |
| Tyres | Visibility | 81 | 2.76× (rough estimate) |
| Steering | Visibility | 48 | 2.57× (rough estimate) |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | Suspension | 81 | 2.49× (rough estimate) |
| Body, chassis, structure | Visibility | 25 | 2.43× (rough estimate) |
| Brakes | Steering | 39 | 2.39× (rough estimate) |
| Body, chassis, structure | Suspension | 54 | 2.26× (rough estimate) |
| Brakes | Visibility | 72 | 2.2× (rough estimate) |
| Brakes | Suspension | 165 | 2.17× (rough estimate) |
| Steering | Tyres | 31 | 2.12× (rough estimate) |
| Suspension | Visibility | 180 | 2.07× (rough estimate) |
| Suspension | Tyres | 141 | 2.07× (rough estimate) |
| Body, chassis, structure | Tyres | 19 | too few (rough estimate) |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | Steering | 18 | too few (rough estimate) |
| Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems | Suspension | 16 | too few (rough estimate) |
| Body, chassis, structure | Steering | 14 | too few (rough estimate) |
| Identification of the vehicle | Suspension | 13 | too few (rough estimate) |
| Identification of the vehicle | Tyres | 11 | too few (rough estimate) |
| Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems | Visibility | 10 | too few (rough estimate) |
| Identification of the vehicle | Visibility | 9 | too few (rough estimate) |
| Identification of the vehicle | Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 9 | too few (rough estimate) |
| Brakes | Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems | 9 | too few (rough estimate) |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems | 7 | too few (rough estimate) |
| Brakes | Identification of the vehicle | 7 | too few (rough estimate) |
| Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems | Tyres | 7 | too few (rough estimate) |
| Road Wheels | Suspension | 6 | too few (rough estimate) |
Defects in «Body, chassis, structure» and «Noise, emissions and leaks» appear together 10.93× more often than chance (42 co-occurrences in the same test; 78 pairs compared).
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 a Chevrolet Trax?
Cars driven under 5,000 miles a year is well below the reference at 16.2%, against 34.3% for cars driven 8,000–12,000 miles a year.
higher = larger sharecompare shares in percentage points
| Band | Fail % | Tests |
|---|---|---|
| <5k miles/year | 16.22% | 1,375 |
| 8–12k miles/year | 34.34% | 3,164 |
| Gap (low − normal) | -18.13 pp | — |
By fuel and age
Diesel
| Age | Low-use fail % | n | Normal fail % | n | Gap pp |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 | 11.29 | 62 | 20.74 | 270 | -9.45 pp |
| 7 | 9.68 | 62 | 32.63 | 285 | -22.95 pp |
| 8 | 7.14 | 70 | 32 | 300 | -24.86 pp |
| 9 | 14.49 | 69 | 39.8 | 299 | -25.31 pp |
| 10 | 28.77 | 73 | 40.14 | 289 | -11.37 pp |
| 11 | 22 | 50 | 48.65 | 222 | -26.65 pp |
Petrol
| Age | Low-use fail % | n | Normal fail % | n | Gap pp |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 | 8.96 | 67 | 22.12 | 104 | -13.16 pp |
| 6 | 11.92 | 151 | 21.76 | 262 | -9.84 pp |
| 7 | 16.88 | 154 | 38.34 | 253 | -21.46 pp |
| 8 | 20.48 | 166 | 36.89 | 244 | -16.4 pp |
| 9 | 15.88 | 170 | 33.47 | 236 | -17.59 pp |
| 10 | 13.86 | 166 | 39.13 | 230 | -25.28 pp |
| 11 | 28 | 100 | 40 | 110 | -12 pp |
At matched ages 5–14, cars averaging under 5k miles/year fail at 16.2% vs 34.3% for 8–12k miles/year — 18.1 pp lower (n_low=1,375, n_normal=3,164). 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: 15.5% low-use vs 35.4% normal (-19.8 pp).
Which Chevrolet Trax engine is best?
diesel 1.5–1.8 is highest at 106.6; petrol 1.5–1.8 is lowest at 92.9 — the gap is 13.7 points.
below 100 is betterabove 100 is worse100 = normal for this model at that age
| Fuel | Capacity | vs own age norm | Raw fail % | Tests |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| petrol | 1.5–1.8 litre | 92.9 | 25.72% | 3,207 (rough estimate) |
| petrol | 1.2–1.5 litre | 97.4 | 27.37% | 1,984 (rough estimate) |
| diesel | 1.5–1.8 litre | 106.6 | 30.45% | 4,112 (rough estimate) |
Splitting this model by fuel alone hides the thing that actually differs. Within the same badge, the diesel 1.5–1.8 runs at 106.6 against this model's own age norm while the petrol 1.5–1.8 runs at 92.9 — a spread of 13.7 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.
Chevrolet Trax MOT repair costs
The MOT-failure repair budget per test runs from £70.49 to £133.93, against £54.85 for the test itself.
bigger number = costs morepounds per test, MOT-failing faults only
| Component | Fails per 100 tests | Typical repair | Its price | Contribution |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Suspension | 21.9 (nat. 15.36) | Suspension coil spring (single corner) | £180 | £39.42 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 9.1 (nat. 18.09) | Battery replacement (standard 12V lead-acid) | £140 | £12.74 |
| Brakes | 8.2 (nat. 11.25) | Front brake pads (parts + labour, typical hatchback) | £150 | £12.30 |
| Tyres | 6.7 (nat. 8.7) | Tyre (single mid-range 16" fitted) | £90 | £6.03 |
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 £70 to £134, 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.
Chevrolet Trax running costs for a fleet
Failure rate and typical odometer by age
| Age | Fails | Median odometer | Tests | Gap vs age 5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10 | 31% | 72,042 | 500 | — |
| 11 | 39.98% | 80,063 | 973 | — |
No single year stands out as the point where this model starts costing more: the year-to-year steps in its failure rate are too small or rest on too few tests to name one (D1 rule: a step is named only with at least 2,000 tests on both sides and a jump above 3 percentage points).
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.
Chevrolet Trax rust problems: where they corrode
Salt-belt exposure stands out at 92nd percentile, against 50th percentile as the middle of published models.
higher = larger sharecompare shares in percentage points
This Chevrolet Trax has too few tests to judge for corrosion once age is held constant, and its owners live in areas that are saltier than most for the models we publish.
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 a Chevrolet Trax advisory become a failure?
Suspension is highest at 24.1%; Non-component advisories are lowest at 0.0% — the gap is 24.1 percentage points.
higher = more likelypercentage is the observed transition probability
chance the same component fails at the next MOT, given an advisory now
| Component | Fails next time | Typical lead time | Miles of warning | Advisories tracked |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Suspension | 24.1% | 12 months | 7,070 | 700 |
| Brakes | 9.0% | 12 months | 6,309 | 1,317 |
| Tyres | 7.4% | 12 months | 6,156 | 1,849 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 4.8% | 12 months | 7,298 | 539 |
| Non-component advisories | 0.0% | — | — | 587 |
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 24 in 100 cars, and the median gap is 12 months and roughly 7,070 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 a Chevrolet Trax?
Suspension after a failure at age 9-11 is highest at 29.5%; Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment after a passed at age 3-5 are lowest at 4.1% — the gap is 25.4 percentage points.
higher = more likelypercentage is the observed transition probability
| Age | Last test | Most likely next failures | Cars tracked |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3-5 | passed | Suspension 6.8% · Visibility 4.7% · Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 4.1% | 933 |
| 3-5 | advisory | Suspension 8.4% · Visibility 8.0% · Brakes 7.2% | 475 (rough estimate) |
| 3-5 | failure | Suspension 8.0% · Brakes 5.9% · Visibility 5.9% | 286 (rough estimate) |
| 6-8 | passed | Suspension 14.0% · Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 5.0% · Brakes 4.3% | 1,898 |
| 6-8 | advisory | Suspension 18.3% · Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 8.0% · Visibility 8.0% | 1,362 |
| 6-8 | failure | Suspension 21.6% · Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 11.6% · Visibility 8.6% | 1,230 |
| 9-11 | passed | Suspension 21.5% · Steering 7.9% · Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 7.4% | 554 |
| 9-11 | advisory | Suspension 27.9% · Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 10.6% · Brakes 7.7% | 492 (rough estimate) |
| 9-11 | failure | Suspension 29.5% · Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 14.0% · Steering 11.8% | 516 |
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.
Chevrolet Trax ownership: what six years of MOTs show
The ten-day re-test pass rate is highest at 53.8%; The later re-test pass rate is lowest at 2.2% — the gap is 51.6 percentage points.
higher = larger sharecompare shares in percentage points
Failing is usually a same-week event, not a disaster. Of 1,988 failures followed through to their re-test, 44.06% were repaired and passed the same day and 53.77% within ten days; the median gap is 1 day. 4,384 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 0.45 failures per 10,000 miles, on a median of 5,855 miles a year across 1,582 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. 39.83% of these cars strung together three or more tests with nothing recorded at all, while 30.82% 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: 0.506% of 1,582 chains show a reading lower than the previous test, with a median drop of 17,834 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.
Chevrolet Trax safety recalls and how to check yours
DVSA recall campaigns stand out at 3.
bigger number = more recorded casescompare like-for-like scope, not sample size alone
recall campaigns launched per year
| Reference | Launched | Vehicles | Concern |
|---|---|---|---|
R/2025/036 | 04/02/2025 | 0 | Chevrolet Takata Driver’s Airbag |
R/2021/125 | 14/04/2021 | 783 | THE BRAKE PEDAL MAY POTENTIALLY STICK AS A RESULT OF HIGH VEHICLE INTERIOR TEMPERATURES |
R/2015/125 | 17/07/2015 | 38 | FRONT SEAT LAP BELT PRE-TENSIONER MAY NOT FUNCTION AS INTENDED |
DVSA lists 3 safety recall campaigns for the Chevrolet Trax, covering roughly 821 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.
Chevrolet Trax technical service bulletins: what dealers are told
US market, Chevrolet TRAX, model years 2015–2022 only. A count of bulletins, not a UK failure rate.
NHTSA manufacturer communications are 1,728.
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
| Communication year | Bulletins | Leading subjects across all years |
|---|---|---|
| 2014 | 167 |
|
| 2015 | 157 | |
| 2016 | 216 | |
| 2017 | 219 | |
| 2018 | 125 | |
| 2019 | 144 | |
| 2020 | 124 | |
| 2021 | 85 | |
| 2022 | 147 | |
| 2023 | 132 | |
| 2024 | 135 | |
| 2025 | 62 | |
| 2026 | 15 |
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.
Chevrolet Trax owner complaints: what goes wrong
US market, Chevrolet TRAX, model years 2015–2022 only. A count of owner complaints, not a UK failure rate; NHTSA has no UK denominator.
Engine (not MOT-tested) is highest at 219; Restraints are lowest at 71 — the gap is 148.
bigger number = more recorded casescompare like-for-like scope, not sample size alone
| Component | Complaints | Share | MOT fail items per 100 | MOT rank | Agreement |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Engine (not MOT-tested) | 219 | 31.9% | not in top 6 | — | complained about, rarely an MOT failure |
| Lamps & electrical | 157 | 22.9% | 9.1 | #2 | complained about and fails often |
| Suspension | 87 | 12.7% | 21.9 | #1 | complained about and fails often |
| Transmission (not MOT-tested) | 81 | 11.8% | not in top 6 | — | complained about, rarely an MOT failure |
| Steering | 75 | 10.9% | 3.9 | #6 | complained about, fails occasionally |
| Restraints | 71 | 10.3% | not in top 6 | — | complained about, rarely an MOT failure |
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
The contact owns a 2015 Chevrolet Trax. The vehicle was recently purchased. The contact stated that on three separate occasions, the vehicle lost steering functionality, with several unknown warning lights illuminated. The contact stated that the vehicle had not started since the failure. The vehicle was taken back to the dealer; however, the dealer was unable to duplicate the failure.
Dash shuts down shutting off power steering, and power breaks, no dash readout, no turn signals breaklights or headlights, happens suddenly
US owners have filed 687 complaints about the equivalent Chevrolet Trax to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, including 54 that mention a crash, 14 a fire and 34 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.
Chevrolet Trax MOT: quick answers
Chevrolet Trax MOT Risk Index stands out at 115.7, 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 Chevrolet Trax first-time MOT pass rate?
- 62.89% of first attempts passed in 2024 (1,482 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 37.11% figure is the first-time initial failure rate, using 1,482 primary tests as the denominator (first-time, excluding retests). The age-adjusted MOT initial-failure ratio 115.7 is shown separately because raw rates compare fleet age as well as cars.
Compare the Chevrolet Trax with other cars
Volkswagen Fox is highest at 116.0; Fiat 500X is lowest at 115.3 — the gap is 0.7 points.
below 100 is betterabove 100 is worse100 = normal for this model at that age
Same brand
All Chevrolet MOT statisticsChevrolet Orlando MOT statsChevrolet Matiz MOT stats
Similar risk
DS DS7 (index 115.9)Volkswagen Fox (index 116.0)Fiat 500X (index 115.3)
Same size class
how Honda e compareshow Ferrari California compareshow Ferrari 458 compares
By build year
Chevrolet Trax 2013Chevrolet Trax 2014
By area
Chevrolet Trax MOT failure rate by postcode area
By failure group
Chevrolet Trax body, chassis and structure failuresChevrolet Trax brakes failuresChevrolet Trax vehicle identification failuresChevrolet Trax lamps, reflectors and electrics failuresChevrolet Trax noise, emissions and leaks failuresChevrolet Trax seat belts and airbags failuresChevrolet Trax steering failuresChevrolet Trax suspension failuresChevrolet Trax tyres failuresChevrolet Trax visibility failures
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:chevrolet-trax:dvsa-2024-v2. Full method: methodology.
Cite: MOT Risk Index (2026). Chevrolet Trax MOT statistics 2024 (data release dvsa-2024-v2; downloadable dataset motriskindex-families-2024-v5, doi:10.5281/zenodo.22975051). https://motriskindex.co.uk/cars/chevrolet-trax/ · Published 2026-07-30.