Does the Fiat 500L fail the MOT on brakes more than it should?

The Fiat 500L records 9.72 brakes failure items per 100 initial MOT tests (2019–2024), against 7.42 expected for a car of the same age mix: more than expected for its class and age (+2.30, 95% interval +2.13 to +2.47). It ranks 210 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 Fiat 500L by registration

What exactly fails on brakes?

The most frequent DVSA defect wording in this group on the Fiat 500L is “a brake lining or pad worn below 1.5mm”, recorded 4,114 times in 2019–2024.

Fiat 500L: most frequent brakes defect wordings, 2019–2024 (30+ items each)
DVSA defect wording	Items	Per 100 tests
a brake lining or pad worn below 1.5mm	4,114	3.16
Parking brake efficiency below minimum requirement	2,703	2.08
Brake disc or drum significantly and obviously worn	1,717	1.32
Brake disc or drum excessively weakened, insecure or fractured	692	0.53
Significant brake effort recorded with no brake applied indicating a binding brake	439	0.34

Source: DVSA MOT bulk data (OGL v3.0) · Window: 2019–2024 · n = 129,994 (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 500L gets a brakes advisory, how often does it fail next time?

11.7% of Fiat 500L MOTs with a brakes advisory were followed by a fail in the same group at the next MOT, typically 12 months and 6,443 miles later (20,978 advisories followed).

Source: DVSA MOT bulk data (OGL v3.0) · Window: 2019–2024 · n = 20,978 (advisories followed) · Method: the same vehicles followed to their next ordinary MOT · Updated: 30 Sep 2026 · Release: dvsa-2024-v2 · CSV

Does the Fiat 500L fail the MOT on brakes more than it should?

What exactly fails on brakes?

If a Fiat 500L gets a brakes advisory, how often does it fail next time?

Related pages

Other pages for this model