Does the Mazda 3 fail the MOT on brakes more than it should?

The Mazda 3 records 10.60 brakes failure items per 100 initial MOT tests (2019–2024), against 11.61 expected for a car of the same age mix: less than expected for its class and age (−1.01, 95% interval −1.09 to −0.93). It ranks 400 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 Mazda 3 by registration

What exactly fails on brakes?

The most frequent DVSA defect wording in this group on the Mazda 3 is “a brake lining or pad worn below 1.5mm”, recorded 23,569 times in 2019–2024.

Mazda 3: 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	23,569	3.57
Parking brake efficiency below minimum requirement	5,838	0.88
Brake pipe damaged or excessively corroded	4,670	0.71
Brake disc or drum significantly and obviously worn	4,010	0.61
Significant brake effort recorded with no brake applied indicating a binding brake	3,961	0.60

Source: DVSA MOT bulk data (OGL v3.0) · Window: 2019–2024 · n = 660,043 (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 Mazda 3 gets a brakes advisory, how often does it fail next time?

11.7% of Mazda 3 MOTs with a brakes advisory were followed by a fail in the same group at the next MOT, typically 12 months and 5,818 miles later (112,986 advisories followed).

Source: DVSA MOT bulk data (OGL v3.0) · Window: 2019–2024 · n = 112,986 (advisories followed) · Method: the same vehicles followed to their next ordinary MOT · Updated: 30 Sep 2026 · Release: dvsa-2024-v2 · CSV

Does the Mazda 3 fail the MOT on brakes more than it should?

What exactly fails on brakes?

If a Mazda 3 gets a brakes advisory, how often does it fail next time?

Related pages

Other pages for this model