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

The Mazda 3 records 0.41 road wheels failure items per 100 initial MOT tests (2019–2024), against 0.46 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) (−0.05, 95% interval −0.06 to −0.03). It ranks 257 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 Mazda 3 by registration

What exactly fails on road wheels?

The most frequent DVSA defect wording in this group on the Mazda 3 is “A wheel with a loose or missing wheel nut, bolt or stud”, recorded 2,413 times in 2019–2024.

Mazda 3: most frequent road wheels defect wordings, 2019–2024 (30+ items each)
DVSA defect wording	Items	Per 100 tests
A wheel with a loose or missing wheel nut, bolt or stud	2,413	0.37
A wheel with more than one loose or missing wheel nut, bolt or stud	129	0.02
A wheel badly distorted or wear between wheel and hub at spigot mounting	121	0.02

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 road wheels advisory, how often does it fail next time?

0.9% of Mazda 3 MOTs with a road wheels advisory were followed by a fail in the same group at the next MOT, typically 12.1 months and 7,340 miles later (2,910 advisories followed).

Source: DVSA MOT bulk data (OGL v3.0) · Window: 2019–2024 · n = 2,910 (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 road wheels more than it should?

What exactly fails on road wheels?

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

Related pages

Other pages for this model