Does the Land Rover Defender fail the MOT on brakes more than it should?
The Land Rover Defender records 16.81 brakes failure items per 100 initial MOT tests (2019–2024), against 17.70 expected for a car of the same age mix: less than expected for its class and age (−0.89, 95% interval −0.99 to −0.78). It ranks 388 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 Land Rover Defender by registration
What exactly fails on brakes?
The most frequent DVSA defect wording in this group on the Land Rover Defender is “Brake pipe damaged or excessively corroded”, recorded 27,459 times in 2019–2024.
| DVSA defect wording | Items | Per 100 tests |
|---|---|---|
| Brake pipe damaged or excessively corroded | 27,459 | 4.24 |
| Service brake efficiency below minimum requirement | 9,697 | 1.50 |
| a brake lining or pad worn below 1.5mm | 9,293 | 1.43 |
| Brakes imbalance across an axle such that the braking effort from any wheel is less than 70% of the maximum effort recorded from the other wheel on the same axle. | 5,065 | 0.78 |
| Contaminated with oil, grease etc | 3,584 | 0.55 |
Source: DVSA MOT bulk data (OGL v3.0) · Window: 2019–2024 · n = 648,232 (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 Land Rover Defender gets a brakes advisory, how often does it fail next time?
15.3% of Land Rover Defender MOTs with a brakes advisory were followed by a fail in the same group at the next MOT, typically 12.1 months and 2,850 miles later (107,735 advisories followed).
Source: DVSA MOT bulk data (OGL v3.0) · Window: 2019–2024 · n = 107,735 (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
Land Rover Defender 1998 · Land Rover Defender 1999 · Land Rover Defender 2000 · Land Rover Defender 2001 · Land Rover Defender 2002 · Land Rover Defender 2003 · Land Rover Defender 2004 · Land Rover Defender 2005 · Land Rover Defender 2006 · Land Rover Defender 2007 · Land Rover Defender 2008 · Land Rover Defender 2009 · Land Rover Defender 2010 · Land Rover Defender 2011 · Land Rover Defender 2012 · Land Rover Defender 2013 · Land Rover Defender 2014 · Land Rover Defender 2015 · Land Rover Defender 2016 · Land Rover Defender 2020 · Land Rover Defender in the Netherlands · Land Rover Defender by postcode area · Land Rover Defender body, chassis and structure failures · Land Rover Defender vehicle identification failures · Land Rover Defender lamps, reflectors and electrics failures · Land Rover Defender noise, emissions and leaks failures · Land Rover Defender road wheels failures · Land Rover Defender seat belts and airbags failures · Land Rover Defender steering failures · Land Rover Defender suspension failures · Land Rover Defender tyres failures · Land Rover Defender visibility failures