Does the Smart City-Coupe fail the MOT on tyres more than it should?

The Smart City-Coupe records 8.83 tyres failure items per 100 initial MOT tests (2019–2024), against 10.25 expected for a car of the same age mix: less than expected for its class and age (−1.42, 95% interval −1.73 to −1.11). It ranks 451 of 751 models on tyres (1 = most failures above expected).

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

What exactly fails on tyres?

The most frequent DVSA defect wording in this group on the Smart City-Coupe is “A tyre seriously damaged”, recorded 1,411 times in 2019–2024.

Smart City-Coupe: most frequent tyres defect wordings, 2019–2024 (30+ items each)
DVSA defect wording	Items	Per 100 tests
A tyre seriously damaged	1,411	3.38
Tyre tread depth not in accordance with the requirements	1,375	3.29
A tyre cords visible or damaged	435	1.04
Tyre obviously under inflated	158	0.38
A tyre valve seriously damaged or misaligned likely to cause sudden deflation of the tyre	137	0.33

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

If a Smart City-Coupe gets a tyres advisory, how often does it fail next time?

10.7% of Smart City-Coupe MOTs with a tyres advisory were followed by a fail in the same group at the next MOT, typically 12.1 months and 2,575 miles later (6,613 advisories followed).

Source: DVSA MOT bulk data (OGL v3.0) · Window: 2019–2024 · n = 6,613 (advisories followed) · Method: the same vehicles followed to their next ordinary MOT · Updated: 30 Sep 2026 · Release: dvsa-2024-v2 · CSV

Does the Smart City-Coupe fail the MOT on tyres more than it should?

What exactly fails on tyres?

If a Smart City-Coupe gets a tyres advisory, how often does it fail next time?

Related pages

Other pages for this model