Does the MINI Countryman fail the MOT on steering more than it should?

The MINI Countryman records 0.13 steering failure items per 100 initial MOT tests (2019–2024), against 1.45 expected for a car of the same age mix: less than expected for its class and age (−1.32, 95% interval −1.36 to −1.29). It ranks 400 of 640 models on steering (1 = most failures above expected).

Data release dvsa-2024-v2 (24 Sep 2026) · page updated 30 Sep 2026 · all models on steering · check a MINI Countryman by registration

What exactly fails on steering?

The most frequent DVSA defect wording in this group on the MINI Countryman is “A steering ball joint with excessive wear or free play”, recorded 195 times in 2019–2024.

MINI Countryman: most frequent steering defect wordings, 2019–2024 (30+ items each)
DVSA defect wording	Items	Per 100 tests
A steering ball joint with excessive wear or free play	195	0.04
Steering rack gaiter or ball joint dust cover missing or no longer prevents the ingress of dirt etc	174	0.03
Steering rack gaiter or ball joint dust cover damaged or deteriorated	145	0.03

Source: DVSA MOT bulk data (OGL v3.0) · Window: 2019–2024 · n = 501,848 (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

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Does the MINI Countryman fail the MOT on steering more than it should?

What exactly fails on steering?

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Other pages for this model