Does the Fiat 500 fail the MOT on road wheels more than it should?
The Fiat 500 records 0.10 road wheels failure items per 100 initial MOT tests (2019–2024), against 0.40 expected for a car of the same age mix: about as expected for its class and age (the difference is within its interval or under 0.5 items per 100 tests) (−0.30, 95% interval −0.31 to −0.29). It ranks 474 of 516 models on road wheels (1 = most failures above expected).
Data release dvsa-2024-v2 (24 Sep 2026) · page updated 30 Sep 2026 · all models on road wheels · check a Fiat 500 by registration
What exactly fails on road wheels?
The most frequent DVSA defect wording in this group on the Fiat 500 is “A wheel badly distorted or wear between wheel and hub at spigot mounting”, recorded 1,034 times in 2019–2024.
| DVSA defect wording | Items | Per 100 tests |
|---|---|---|
| A wheel badly distorted or wear between wheel and hub at spigot mounting | 1,034 | 0.06 |
| A wheel with a loose or missing wheel nut, bolt or stud | 657 | 0.04 |
| A wheel with more than one loose or missing wheel nut, bolt or stud | 43 | 0.00 |
| A wheel distorted or worn to the extent the wheel or tyre is likely to become detached | 41 | 0.00 |
| Any fracture or welding defect on a wheel | 31 | 0.00 |
Source: DVSA MOT bulk data (OGL v3.0) · Window: 2019–2024 · n = 1,820,554 (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 Fiat 500 gets a road wheels advisory, how often does it fail next time?
0.9% of Fiat 500 MOTs with a road wheels advisory were followed by a fail in the same group at the next MOT, typically 12 months and 4,666 miles later (13,227 advisories followed).
Source: DVSA MOT bulk data (OGL v3.0) · Window: 2019–2024 · n = 13,227 (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
Fiat 500 2007 · Fiat 500 2008 · Fiat 500 2009 · Fiat 500 2010 · Fiat 500 2011 · Fiat 500 2012 · Fiat 500 2013 · Fiat 500 2014 · Fiat 500 2015 · Fiat 500 2016 · Fiat 500 2017 · Fiat 500 2018 · Fiat 500 2019 · Fiat 500 2020 · Fiat 500 in Finland · Fiat 500 in the Netherlands · Fiat 500 in Norway · Fiat 500 by postcode area · Fiat 500 body, chassis and structure failures · Fiat 500 brakes failures · Fiat 500 vehicle identification failures · Fiat 500 lamps, reflectors and electrics failures · Fiat 500 noise, emissions and leaks failures · Fiat 500 seat belts and airbags failures · Fiat 500 steering failures · Fiat 500 suspension failures · Fiat 500 tyres failures · Fiat 500 visibility failures