Land Rover Defender 1999: MOT failure rate for its age

40.3% of 9,575 MOT tests of the Land Rover Defender first registered in 1999 failed at the first attempt (2019–2024; retests excluded). Against this model's own normal rate at the same ages the index is 101.9 (95% CI 98.6–105.1; 100 = normal for this model at that age): the 1999 build year is no different from other years of the same model at the same age.

Land Rover Defender built in 1999 at a glance
Measure	Value	Unit	Compared with	Years	Tests
Failed first time	40.3	%	all ages tested	2019–2024	9575
Index against this model at the same age (95% CI 98.6–105.1)	101.9	index	100 = normal for this model at that age	2019–2024	9575
Rank among this model's 20 build years	13	of 20	1 = fails least for its age	2019–2024	9575
Tested in 2024	628	tests	median 124,013 miles	2024	628

Built 1999 against Land Rover Defender normal for the age: first-time MOT failure share at each age, age 20: 42.2% vs 41.6%; age 21: 39.5% vs 39.1%; age 22: 39.2% vs 37.9%. Axis from 0% to 50%. DVSA MOT bulk data, 2019–2024.

Check a 1999 Land Rover Defender by registration · All Land Rover Defender MOT statistics · Download the build-year table (CSV)

Data release dvsa-2024-v2 (24 Sep 2026) · page updated 30 Sep 2026 · full dataset (v5).

How does the 1999 Land Rover Defender fail at each age?

Cars built in 1999 were tested at ages 20 to 22 between 2019 and 2024. Each row compares their first-time failure share with what this model normally shows at that age, after allowing for the overall failure level of each test year.

Land Rover Defender built 1999: first-time MOT failure by age, against the model's normal rate at that age (2019–2024)
Age	Tests	Failed, %	95% interval	Normal for this model at that age, %	Index (100 = normal)
20	3,364	42.2	40.5–43.8	41.6	101.3
21	3,083	39.5	37.8–41.2	39.1	101
22	3,128	39.2	37.5–40.9	37.9	103.5

Source: DVSA MOT bulk data · Window: 2019–2024 · n = 9,575 (initial tests) · Method: normal rate = this model's first-time failure share at that age across its build years (cells of 400+ tests), adjusted for each test year's overall level; cells of 30+ tests, under 500 marked rough · Updated: 30 Sep 2026 · Release: dvsa-2024-v2 · CSV

What fails most on the 1999 Land Rover Defender?

The most common failure group on cars built in 1999 is lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment: 33.6 items per 100 first tests, against 30.5 across all build years of the Land Rover Defender. These counts are not age-adjusted: cars built in 1999 were tested at ages 20 to 22.

Failure items per 100 first tests, Land Rover Defender built 1999 against the Land Rover Defender in all build years (2019–2024, not age-adjusted)
Failure group	Built 1999, per 100	All build years, per 100	Items
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment	33.6	30.5	5,498
Suspension	30.7	20.3	5,026
Steering	27.4	18.8	4,489
Body, chassis, structure	26	13.5	4,247
Brakes	18.7	16.8	3,059

Source: DVSA MOT bulk data · Window: 2019–2024 · n = 16,360 (initial tests of this build year) · Method: failure items grouped by DVSA's top-level defect groups, per 100 initial tests; groups with 30+ items · Updated: 30 Sep 2026 · Release: dvsa-2024-v2 · CSV

How does 1999 compare with the years around it?

Among the 20 published build years of the Land Rover Defender, 1999 ranks 13 (1 = fails least for its age). 1998: index 99.4. 2000: index 106.1.

Land Rover Defender build years: index against the model at the same age (2019–2024)
Build year	Index (100 = normal)	95% interval	Verdict	Tests
1998	99.4	95.8–103.0	no different	7,279
1999	101.9	98.6–105.1	no different	9,575
2000	106.1	103.2–109.0	worse	12,676
2001	104.9	102.4–107.4	worse	16,495
2002	99.0	96.9–101.1	no different	23,814
2003	101.7	99.7–103.7	no different	26,548
2004	99.1	97.1–101.1	no different	25,597
2005	98.5	96.5–100.6	no different	24,914
2006	100.8	98.6–103.0	no different	22,628
2007	98.5	96.3–100.6	no different	23,970
2008	98.5	96.3–100.8	no different	22,292
2009	102.9	100.5–105.3	worse	21,117
2010	102.0	99.8–104.3	no different	24,195
2011	104.2	101.8–106.6	worse	23,871
2012	104.4	102.0–106.9	worse	23,451
2013	102.2	99.8–104.6	no different	26,255
2014	96.6	94.5–98.7	better	35,231
2015	91.5	89.5–93.5	better	40,349
2016	87.7	83.7–91.6	better	11,357
2020	80.8	75.2–86.5	better	8,187

Source: DVSA MOT bulk data · Window: 2019–2024 · n = 429,801 (initial tests) · Method: observed failures against those expected for the same model at the same ages, test-year level adjusted; verdict follows the printed one-decimal bound · Updated: 30 Sep 2026 · Release: dvsa-2024-v2 · CSV

How to cite this page

MOT Risk Index (2026). Land Rover Defender 1999 MOT statistics (data release dvsa-2024-v2; full dataset motriskindex-families-2024-v5, DOI 10.5281/zenodo.22975051), updated 30 September 2026. motriskindex.co.uk/cars/land-rover-defender/1999/

How every figure is calculated: methodology. Age, test year and build year are tied together (age = test year − build year), so the test-year level is taken as observed, not estimated.

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