Does the Smart City-Coupe fail the MOT on seat belts and airbags more than it should?

The Smart City-Coupe records 1.48 seat belts and airbags failure items per 100 initial MOT tests (2019–2024), against 3.15 expected for a car of the same age mix: less than expected for its class and age (−1.67, 95% interval −1.84 to −1.50). It ranks 579 of 627 models on seat belts and airbags (1 = most failures above expected).

Data release dvsa-2024-v2 (24 Sep 2026) · page updated 30 Sep 2026 · all models on seat belts and airbags · check a Smart City-Coupe by registration

What exactly fails on seat belts and airbags?

The most frequent DVSA defect wording in this group on the Smart City-Coupe is “An SRS malfunction indicator lamp (MIL) indicates a system malfunction”, recorded 424 times in 2019–2024.

Smart City-Coupe: most frequent seat belts and airbags defect wordings, 2019–2024 (30+ items each)
DVSA defect wording	Items	Per 100 tests
An SRS malfunction indicator lamp (MIL) indicates a system malfunction	424	1.01
Seat belt not functioning as intended or of an incorrect type	58	0.14
The strength or continuity of the load bearing structure within 30cm of any seat belt anchorage (a 'prescribed area') is significantly reduced or inadequately repaired	57	0.14

Source: DVSA MOT bulk data (OGL v3.0) · Window: 2019–2024 · n = 41,807 (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

Does the Smart City-Coupe fail the MOT on seat belts and airbags more than it should?

What exactly fails on seat belts and airbags?

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