Suzuki Swift — MOT statistics 2024
The Suzuki Swift failed 27.77% of 136,007 first MOT attempts in 2024 ("first-time", excluding retests). Adjusted for the age of the fleet, its initial-failure ratio is 97.6 (100 = expected for its age profile). This car fails its MOT about 2% less often than expected for its age. But this fleet is driven far less than average: matched on annual mileage as well as age, using 2019-2024 test chains rather than 2024 alone, the figure is 106.4, on the other side of normal. Both numbers below.
Age-adjusted peer: Citroen C1 (index 97.5) — the two published results are 0.1 index points apart.
Suzuki Swift common problems: what actually fails the MOT
Brakes stand out at 18.5 per 100 tests, against 10.7 per 100 tests across UK vehicles of the same ages.
higher bar = fails more oftenrate per 100 tests
family vs national — matched to UK vehicles of the same ages — top component groups, per 100 tests. Legend: This family · National avg. Combined labels: family / national average. A gap here reflects how these vehicles are driven, used and maintained as well as how they were built — an MOT defect is a test outcome, not a breakdown.
Component-group comparison table
Each ratio carries a 95% interval. With 6 groups compared here, roughly one apparent difference in twenty is chance alone.
| Group | This family | Cases behind it | UK, same ages | Family / national |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brakes | 18.5 | 138,028 | 10.7 | 1.73×1.72–1.74 |
| Suspension | 16.2 | 120,925 | 14.3 | 1.14×1.13–1.14 |
| Lamps & electrical | 14.8 | 110,489 | 16.2 | 0.92×0.91–0.92 |
| Visibility | 9.1 | 67,714 | 7.6 | 1.20×1.19–1.21 |
| Tyres | 7.3 | 54,319 | 8.9 | 0.82×0.81–0.82 |
| Body & structure | 2.9 | 21,508 | 4.8 | 0.60×0.59–0.61 |
| What failed | per 100 tests (this family) | per 100 tests (UK average) | ratio family / UK | What to check |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brake pipe damaged or excessively corrodedBrake pipe damaged or excessively corroded | 4.51 | 1.41 | 3.21× | Look underneath for rust or cracks around subframe and suspension mountings |
| Suspension pin, bush or joint excessively wornA suspension pin, bush or joint excessively worn | 6.43 | 4.87 | 1.32× | Listen for knocks over bumps — worn joints show up on the test |
| Significant brake effort recorded with no brake…Significant brake effort recorded with no brake applied indicating a binding brake | 2.56 | 1.03 | 2.49× | Feel for brake judder and pulling on the test drive |
| Lamp missing, inoperative or in the case of a…A lamp missing, inoperative or in the case of a multiple light source more than 1/2 not functioning | 3.03 | 2.09 | 1.45× | Try every light and switch — lamps are a top failure |
| Parking brake efficiency below minimum requirementParking brake efficiency below minimum requirement | 2.15 | 1.24 | 1.74× | Feel for brake judder and pulling on the test drive |
| Wiper blade missing or obviously not clearing the…Wiper blade missing or obviously not clearing the windscreen | 3.02 | 2.22 | 1.36× | Check wipers, washers and windscreen chips in the driver's view |
| Stop lamp missing, inoperative or in the case of…Stop lamp missing, inoperative or in the case of a multiple light source more than 1/2 not functioning | 2.20 | 1.50 | 1.47× | Try every light and switch — lamps are a top failure |
| Rear registration plate lamp or light source…A rear registration plate lamp or light source missing or inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources | 3.18 | 2.83 | 1.12× | Try every light and switch — lamps are a top failure |
| Suspension joint dust cover severely deterioratedA suspension joint dust cover severely deteriorated | 2.21 | 1.90 | 1.16× | Listen for knocks over bumps — worn joints show up on the test |
| Tyre tread depth not in accordance with the…Tyre tread depth not in accordance with the requirements | 3.36 | 3.59 | 0.94× | Check tyre tread depth across the full width |
Named defects ranked by how much more often they appear than the national average — not by raw rate.
Suzuki Swift MOT advisories: what gets flagged
Brakes are highest at 45.6 per 100 tests; Emissions & leaks are lowest at 2.8 per 100 tests — the gap is 42.8 per 100 tests.
higher bar = flagged more oftenadvisory items per 100 initial tests
Advisory rates table
| Group | Advisories per 100 |
|---|---|
| Brakes | 45.6 |
| Tyres | 41.2 |
| Suspension | 26 |
| Non-component advisories | 7.9 |
| Body & structure | 3.2 |
| Emissions & leaks | 2.8 |
Advisories are wear the tester noted but didn't fail — what will need money soon.
Tyres, brakes and suspension: Suzuki Swift against cars of the same age
| Age | Part | Suzuki Swift | Same age, petrol and diesel | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 years | Tyres | 2.37 | 4.17 | -1.80 |
| 3 years | Brakes | 1.19 | 1.77 | -0.58 |
| 3 years | Suspension | 0.22 | 0.63 | -0.41 |
| 4 years | Tyres | 3.4 | 4.54 | -1.14 |
| 4 years | Brakes | 1.84 | 2.43 | -0.59 |
| 4 years | Suspension | 0.51 | 1.21 | -0.70 |
| 5 years | Tyres | 3.72 | 5.06 | -1.34 |
| 5 years | Brakes | 2.69 | 3.09 | -0.40 |
| 5 years | Suspension | 1.21 | 2.19 | -0.98 |
| 6 years | Tyres | 4 | 5.54 | -1.54 |
| 6 years | Brakes | 3.66 | 3.81 | -0.15 |
| 6 years | Suspension | 2.04 | 3.72 | -1.68 |
| 7 years | Tyres | 4.44 | 5.95 | -1.51 |
| 7 years | Brakes | 5.05 | 4.55 | 0.50 |
| 7 years | Suspension | 2.72 | 5.68 | -2.96 |
| 8 years | Tyres | 4.76 | 6.31 | -1.55 |
| 8 years | Brakes | 6.23 | 5.38 | 0.85 |
| 8 years | Suspension | 3.66 | 7.78 | -4.12 |
Failing items per 100 initial tests, 2019-2024. The comparison group is every petrol or diesel car tested at the same age, so weight and drivetrain show up rather than fleet age.
If a car like this fails, does it fail again?
A failure rate does not say whether a failure is a one-off or the start of something. This follows the same vehicles into their next ordinary MOT a year later — retests after a repair are excluded, because they follow a failure by definition. 2019-2024.
| After this year's test | Fails next year | Vehicles followed |
|---|---|---|
| It failed | 35.6% | 51,869 |
| It passed | 24.1% | 406,087 |
A failed test raises next year's chance of failing again by 11.5 percentage points. The failure most likely to come back is identification of the vehicle — 45.5% of those vehicles fail again next year. Some of this is the vehicle and some is the owner: a car that was let go once tends to be let go again. One caveat: a car that fails may be sold or scrapped rather than tested again, so these figures describe the vehicles that came back.
Adjusted for how much these are actually driven
The headline index adjusts for the fleet's age. Wear, though, follows mileage: a three-year-old taxi and a three-year-old garage queen sit in the same age band. These two rows compare every car with vehicles of the same age, and then with vehicles of the same age and the same annual mileage, 2019-2024, on 744,209 tests. Both stand on the six-year corpus so they are measured on identical data — compare them with each other, not with the headline index above, which is measured on 2024 alone.
| Standardised for | Index | Reading |
|---|---|---|
| Age only | 99.6 | fails less often than expected |
| Age and annual mileage | 106.4 | fails more often than vehicles driven as much |
| Share doing under 3,000 miles a year | 9.5% | a normal spread of use |
This is the rare case where usage changes the answer, not just the number: once you compare these against vehicles driven as little, the car moves from one side of normal to the other. Read the mileage-matched figure, not the headline one. One limit to keep in mind: mileage is partly a result of how often a car breaks down — one that spends weeks in the workshop covers fewer miles — so the mileage-matched figure can understate a real weakness. Tests with no usable odometer reading are left out of it.
How the Suzuki Swift compares with cars of its own age and size
Not against the whole fleet — against cars of the same size class tested at the same age, 2019-2024.
| Age | Suzuki Swift | Same class, same age | Difference | Tests |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 years | 9.21% | 11.32% | -2.12 pp | 58,585 |
| 4 years | 13.28% | 14.25% | -0.97 pp | 60,857 |
| 5 years | 15.96% | 17.43% | -1.47 pp | 62,779 |
| 6 years | 17.26% | 20.78% | -3.52 pp | 60,676 |
| 7 years | 20.21% | 24.36% | -4.15 pp | 59,772 |
| 8 years | 23.31% | 28.19% | -4.88 pp | 58,200 |
| 9 years | 27.61% | 32.07% | -4.45 pp | 54,553 |
| 10 years | 32.91% | 35.62% | -2.71 pp | 50,671 |
| 11 years | 37.76% | 38.66% | -0.9 pp | 50,722 |
| 12 years | 41.97% | 41.24% | +0.73 pp | 52,446 |
| 13 years | 44.82% | 43.27% | +1.55 pp | 48,638 |
| 14 years | 47.35% | 45.01% | +2.34 pp | 42,301 |
| 15 years | 48.46% | 46.29% | +2.16 pp | 33,003 |
| 16 years | 49.28% | 47.33% | +1.95 pp | 23,654 |
| 17 years | 50.13% | 47.77% | +2.35 pp | 14,976 |
| 18 years | 49.97% | 47.99% | +1.98 pp | 6,796 |
| 19 years | 49.2% | 47.73% | +1.47 pp | 2,374 |
| 20 years | 45.79% | 47.37% | -1.58 pp | 926 |
Raw first-time failure rates within each age, so fleet age cannot flatter either side. A positive difference means this model fails more often than its own class at that age.
How does the Suzuki Swift perform as it gets older?
The Swift at age 17 stands out at 49.6%, against 43.1% for all vehicles of the same age.
higher = larger sharecompare shares in percentage points
Chart axes: car age, years · failure-rate scale 0–54%.
Takeaway: a 10-year-old Swift has roughly a 28% chance of failing its MOT; from about age 14 it stays above the national age curve.
Data table
| Age | Suzuki Swift | All vehicles | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | 7.6% | 12.4% | -4.8 pp |
| 4 | 10.8% | 13.1% | -2.4 pp |
| 5 | 13.3% | 15.1% | -1.8 pp |
| 6 | 14.6% | 17.5% | -2.9 pp |
| 7 | 16.8% | 20.2% | -3.4 pp |
| 8 | 21.1% | 23.3% | -2.3 pp |
| 9 | 24.2% | 26.5% | -2.3 pp |
| 10 | 27.7% | 30.1% | -2.5 pp |
| 11 | 30.5% | 33.2% | -2.7 pp |
| 12 | 33.3% | 35.7% | -2.4 pp |
| 13 | 37.1% | 38.2% | -1.0 pp |
| 14 | 43.4% | 40.4% | +3.0 pp |
| 15 | 46.1% | 41.6% | +4.6 pp |
| 16 | 48.9% | 43.1% | +5.8 pp |
| 17 | 49.6% | 43.1% | +6.5 pp |
| 18 | 50.3% | 43.9% | +6.5 pp |
| 19 | 48.8% | 43.5% | +5.3 pp |
| 20 | 37.1% | 41.0% | -3.9 pp |
Is a Suzuki Swift ULEZ compliant?
The share of classifiable 2024 Suzuki Swift MOT tests likely ULEZ compliant by first-registration date is 96.8%.
Based on 135,772 classifiable initial MOT tests. This describes the tested fleet, not a specific car. MOT data do not record Euro class, so likely compliance is inferred from fuel and first-registration date. For the only authoritative answer, check the registration with TfL's official ULEZ checker.
higher = larger share likely compliantinferred from fuel and first-registration date; not a recorded Euro class
| Vehicle age at test | Likely ULEZ-compliant share | Tests |
|---|---|---|
| Under 3 years | Suppressed — sample below publication threshold Check a registration with TfL | n = 246 |
| 3–5 years | 100.0% Check a registration with TfL | n = 26,688 |
| 6–7 years | 100.0% Check a registration with TfL | n = 18,294 |
| 8 years | 100.0% Check a registration with TfL | n = 10,491 |
| 9 years | 99.8% Check a registration with TfL | n = 12,388 |
| 10–14 years | 95.9% Check a registration with TfL | n = 40,235 |
| 15–17 years | 96.4% Check a registration with TfL | n = 21,572 |
| 18 years | 96.5% Check a registration with TfL | n = 4,086 |
| 19 years | 0.0% Check a registration with TfL | n = 1,349 |
| 20+ years | Suppressed — sample below publication threshold Check a registration with TfL | n = 423 |
Suzuki Swift petrol vs diesel: which ages best
Diesel is highest at 45.2%; Hybrid is lowest at 10.3% — the gap is 34.9 percentage points.
higher = larger sharecompare shares in percentage points
Fuel split table
| Fuel | Tests | % failing | Gap vs best |
|---|---|---|---|
| Petrol | 112,608 | 30.6% | +20.3 pp |
| Hybrid | 20,779 | 10.3% | +0.0 pp |
| Diesel | 2,612 | 45.2% | +34.9 pp |
Chart sample sizes: n=113k · n=21k · n=2,612.
How dangerous are Suzuki Swift MOT failures?
Dangerous defects are well below the reference at 8.9 per 100 tests, against 11.2 per 100 tests nationally.
higher bar = fails more oftenrate per 100 tests
Severity table
| Severity | This family /100 | National /100 | Family / national |
|---|---|---|---|
| Minor | 12.51 | 14.22 | 0.88× |
| Major | 51.67 | 52.75 | 0.98× |
| Dangerous | 8.85 | 11.15 | 0.79× |
Chart values: Minor 12.5 · Major 51.7 · Dangerous 8.8.
Per 100 tests on this family. National average: Minor 14.2 · Major 52.8 · Dangerous 11.2 per 100.
Does the month of a Suzuki Swift MOT matter?
Nov is highest at 31.7%; Jun is lowest at 27.1% — the gap is 4.6 percentage points.
higher = larger sharecompare shares in percentage points
Chart scale: 26%–33%.
bars: Suzuki Swift · dashed: all class-4 cars
Month-by-month table
| Month | Suzuki Swift | All vehicles | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 30.67% | 31.12% | -0.4 pp |
| Feb | 28.94% | 29.99% | -1.0 pp |
| Mar | 27.32% | 28.26% | -0.9 pp |
| Apr | 30.42% | 29.78% | +0.6 pp |
| May | 28.23% | 28.79% | -0.6 pp |
| Jun | 27.05% | 28.15% | -1.1 pp |
| Jul | 28.02% | 29.33% | -1.3 pp |
| Aug | 27.26% | 29.2% | -1.9 pp |
| Sep | 27.25% | 28.19% | -0.9 pp |
| Oct | 30.92% | 30.34% | +0.6 pp |
| Nov | 31.69% | 30.58% | +1.1 pp |
| Dec | 30.65% | 29.33% | +1.3 pp |
Takeaway: the spread between best and worst month is 4.6 percentage points — noticeable seasonality. Seasonality partly reflects registration-date clustering, not weather.
Before reading the shape: most of it is not about cars. Britain changes its registration plates twice a year, and 18.9% of these cars were first registered in March with another17.1% in September — 36% in two months against the 17% an even spread would give. An MOT falls due three years after first registration, so the buying calendar becomes the testing calendar. That shapes how many cars are tested each month — not how often they fail: the busiest months here are not the worst ones, so read the failure line on its own and the volume behind it separately.
Suzuki Swift average mileage by age
At age 8, the middle half of Swifts runs from 35,054 miles to 64,393 miles, against 49,039 miles as the median.
further right = more milesmedian is the typical car; band is p25–p75
Chart axes: car age, years · odometer scale 0–123k mi.
Does high mileage mean more Suzuki Swift MOT failures at the same age?
Within the same age group, split by odometer (2024 MOTs), so this separates wear from age: at ages 6–9, 12.6% of those with under 40,000 miles failed first time versus 41.3% of those with over 140,000 miles.Inside this age group, higher mileage goes with more failures.
| Age | Odometer | % failing | 95% interval | Tests |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3–5 | <40k miles | 10% | 9.6–10.4% | 22,495 |
| 3–5 | 40-70k miles | 15.6% | 14.5–16.8% | 3,780 |
| 3–5 | 70-100k miles | 15.2% | 11.8–19.3% | 356 (rough estimate) |
| 6–9 | <40k miles | 12.6% | 12.1–13.1% | 16,387 |
| 6–9 | 40-70k miles | 21% | 20.4–21.6% | 17,888 |
| 6–9 | 70-100k miles | 30.8% | 29.6–32% | 5,620 |
| 6–9 | 100-140k miles | 38.8% | 36–41.7% | 1,126 |
| 6–9 | 140k+ miles | 41.3% | 33.5–49.5% | 143 (rough estimate) |
| 10–14 | <40k miles | 17.5% | 16.5–18.6% | 5,182 |
| 10–14 | 40-70k miles | 28.1% | 27.4–28.9% | 14,057 |
| 10–14 | 70-100k miles | 38.6% | 37.8–39.5% | 13,562 |
| 10–14 | 100-140k miles | 44.6% | 43.4–45.8% | 6,439 |
| 10–14 | 140k+ miles | 47% | 43.9–50.1% | 987 |
| 15+ | <40k miles | 27.6% | 25.4–30% | 1,491 |
| 15+ | 40-70k miles | 42.3% | 41–43.6% | 5,574 |
| 15+ | 70-100k miles | 49.4% | 48.5–50.4% | 9,835 |
| 15+ | 100-140k miles | 53.3% | 52.2–54.3% | 8,880 |
| 15+ | 140k+ miles | 55.4% | 53–57.8% | 1,625 |
line: median · band: middle half of the fleet (p25–p75)
Mileage by age (p25 / median / p75)
| Age | p25 | Median | p75 | Tests |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | 11,411 | 17,289 | 24,904 | 7,673 |
| 4 | 15,463 | 22,902 | 32,081 | 8,022 |
| 5 | 20,535 | 29,126 | 40,016 | 10,993 |
| 6 | 25,777 | 36,438 | 49,265 | 10,194 |
| 7 | 29,336 | 41,487 | 55,754 | 8,100 |
| 8 | 35,054 | 49,039 | 64,393 | 10,491 |
| 9 | 39,657 | 54,925 | 72,535 | 12,388 |
| 10 | 43,268 | 60,478 | 79,504 | 10,071 |
| 11 | 50,281 | 67,928 | 87,350 | 8,760 |
| 12 | 55,986 | 75,595 | 96,160 | 9,054 |
| 13 | 59,982 | 79,967 | 101,146 | 6,281 |
| 14 | 62,044 | 81,965 | 102,756 | 6,070 |
| 15 | 64,807 | 85,615 | 107,083 | 6,973 |
| 16 | 70,709 | 92,030 | 112,048 | 7,425 |
| 17 | 71,787 | 92,651 | 113,116 | 7,177 |
| 18 | 74,785 | 96,628 | 116,337 | 4,088 |
| 19 | 73,757 | 95,759 | 117,545 | 1,349 |
| 20+ | 35,707 | 51,131 | 70,299 | 423 |
A typical 8-year-old Swift has ~49,039 miles on the clock. Much more — ask why; much less — check for gaps in the MOT history.
Where in Britain the Suzuki Swift fails its MOT most
Sunderland area is highest at 39.2%; Wigan area is lowest at 23.0% — the gap is 16.2 percentage points.
higher = larger sharecompare shares in percentage points
| Toughest areas | % failing | vs model overall |
|---|---|---|
| Sunderland (SR) | 39.18% | +10.3 pp |
| Hull (HU) | 37.66% | +8.8 pp |
| Bristol (BS) | 36.99% | +8.1 pp |
| Salisbury (SP) | 35.96% | +7.1 pp |
| Cleveland (TS) | 34.71% | +5.8 pp |
| Easiest areas | % failing | vs model overall |
|---|---|---|
| Wigan (WN) | 22.96% | -5.9 pp |
| Wolverhampton (WV) | 24.01% | -4.9 pp |
| Shrewsbury (SY) | 24.06% | -4.8 pp |
| Romford (RM) | 24.18% | -4.7 pp |
| Colchester (CO) | 24.44% | -4.5 pp |
Why do areas differ?
For each external factor we correlate the area fail rate with the factor across postcode areas that have ≥800 tests of this family, then compare the bottom vs top fifth (quintile) of the factor. Correlation, not causation — factors travel together (the north is colder and often poorer; urban areas are denser and less salted). Road surface condition is joined now, for the 91 English areas the DfT publishes, and it explains nothing: the correlation with suspension failures is −0.01 and with body and structure failures 0.07. Potholes wreck wheels and tyres between tests, but by the time a car reaches the bay the road it drives on leaves no measurable trace.
In the most coastal fifth of areas this model fails 2.2 pp more often than in the most inland fifth (r=-0.26, n=115 areas with ≥800 tests).
In areas with the highest income deprivation this model fails 2.0 pp more often than in the lowest fifth (r=0.24, n=97 areas with ≥800 tests).
In areas with the highest terrain gradient this model fails 1.1 pp less often than in the lowest fifth (r=-0.15, n=68 areas with ≥800 tests).
| Factor | Low Q | High Q | Gap | Correlation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Distance to coast | 30.0% | 27.9% | -2.1 pp | r=-0.26 |
| Income deprivation | 28.3% | 30.3% | +2.0 pp | r=0.24 |
| Terrain gradient | 30.6% | 29.5% | -1.1 pp | r=-0.15 |
Factors that only mean something combined
Some conditions are useless on their own and informative multiplied together. Frost days alone say little — Britain barely freezes. Salt tonnage alone says little — it tracks frost. Distance to the sea alone says little. Multiply the first two and divide by the third and you get an index of how hard an area attacks a car's underside, and it lines up with the corrosion defects we actually record. We built five such combinations and tested each against our own data. Three survived; two did not, and the failures are listed here on purpose — a proxy that was never checked is decoration. One survivor only survived on the second attempt: built from a crude stand-in for street parking it failed outright, and rebuilt from the census — terraced streets carrying more cars than they have driveways — it works, and carries information the salt index does not.
| Composite | Built from | Tested against | r | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Underbody corrosion | frost days × salt load ÷ (distance to coast + 1) | share of tests with a corrosion defect | +0.42 | holds (116 areas) |
| Tyre wear | rain days × annual miles ÷ age at first tyre advisory | share of tests failing on tyres | +0.45 | holds (116 areas) |
| Overnight corrosion | terraced housing × cars per household × frost days | share with a corrosion defect | +0.41 | holds (102 areas) — and adds signal beyond the first index |
| Deferred maintenance | deprivation × advisory-to-failure conversion ÷ labour rate | cars repeating the same advisory | −0.26 | fails (118 areas) |
| Powertrain stress | engine capacity ÷ kerb weight | suspension, brake and emissions failures | −0.16 | fails (22 models) |
The deprivation result is the one worth dwelling on. The intuition that poorer areas defer repairs is strong enough that most people treat it as established. We tested it twice — once on raw failure rates (r = 0.04) and again, more fairly, on whether an advisory turns into a failure — and it did not hold any of the three times we tried it — on raw failure rates, on advisory-to-failure conversion, and again with deprivation measured properly inside each nation rather than England alone. We are closing it. What does predict local failure rates is the density of test centres, which is a statement about testing, not about cars.
All external-factor correlations (machine-readable)
| Factor | r | n areas | Low-Q fail % | High-Q fail % | Gap pp | Low-Q factor | High-Q factor |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Distance to coast (km) | -0.257 | 115 | 30.0 | 27.9 | -2.2 | 6.4 | 78.7 |
| Income deprivation (score) | 0.242 | 97 | 28.3 | 30.3 | +2.0 | 0.1 | 0.2 |
| Terrain gradient (% grade) | -0.151 | 68 | 30.6 | 29.5 | -1.1 | 0.5 | 4.2 |
| MOT centre density (per 10k vehicles) | 0.112 | 115 | 27.8 | 28.6 | +0.8 | 5 | 8.8 |
| Road-salt proxy (g/m²-yr) | -0.105 | 115 | 28.6 | 28.3 | -0.3 | 223 | 674.9 |
| Frost days (days/year) | -0.080 | 115 | 29.6 | 28.1 | -1.5 | 11.8 | 38 |
| Urban share (0–1) | 0.072 | 115 | 28.6 | 28.5 | -0.1 | 0.4 | 1 |
Deprivation uses England IMD 2019 income score only (Scotland SIMD is a different scale). Salt proxy is a simplified NWSRG-style dry-salt sum from air Tmin; coastalness is distance from the area centroid to the nearest coastline.
Every dot is a postcode area — size = how many were tested there, colour = share failing. These figures are not age-adjusted: coastal and rural areas often run older fleets and salted roads, so higher raw fail rates do not automatically mean a worse local stock of this model.
Map labels: Scotland · N. England · Wales · London · S. West. Colour scale: 24%–34% failing.
Suzuki Swift survival: which cars are still on the road
By age 19 is well below the reference at 3.9%, against 100.0% at the ages 4–6 reference level.
higher = larger sharecompare shares in percentage points
Chart axes: car age, years · survival vs ages 4–6 · scale 0–105%.
Survival vs fail rate by age
| Age | Tests | Survival vs ages 4–6 | Fail % |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | 58,585 | 95.4% | 9.21% |
| 4 | 60,857 | 99.1% | 13.28% |
| 5 | 62,779 | 100% | 15.96% |
| 6 | 60,676 | 98.8% | 17.26% |
| 7 | 59,772 | 97.3% | 20.21% |
| 8 | 58,200 | 94.7% | 23.31% |
| 9 | 54,553 | 88.8% | 27.61% |
| 10 | 50,671 | 82.5% | 32.91% |
| 11 | 50,722 | 82.6% | 37.76% |
| 12 | 52,446 | 85.4% | 41.97% |
| 13 | 48,638 | 79.2% | 44.82% |
| 14 | 42,301 | 68.9% | 47.35% |
| 15 | 33,003 | 53.7% | 48.46% |
| 16 | 23,654 | 38.5% | 49.28% |
| 17 | 14,976 | 24.4% | 50.13% |
| 18 | 6,796 | 11.1% | 49.97% |
| 19 | 2,374 | 3.9% | 49.2% |
By age 19, only about 4% as many cars of this family present for MOT as at ages 4–6 (reference n≈61,437); survivors still fail at 49.2% vs 13.3% at age 4. Older cars that still appear are a selected subset — weaker ones have already left.
How many miles does a Suzuki Swift last?
100,000+ miles is highest at 11.5%; 150,000+ miles is lowest at 0.8% — the gap is 10.7 percentage points.
higher = larger sharecompare shares in percentage points
| Odometer | Tests ≥ threshold | Share of sample |
|---|---|---|
| 100,000+ miles | 85,551 | 11.49% |
| 150,000+ miles | 5,955 | 0.8% |
Of 744,440 tests of this family with a usable odometer in 2024, 11.5% had reached 100k miles, 0.8% had reached 150k miles. This is a cross-section of cars still presenting for MOT, not a full birth cohort.
How many years is a Suzuki Swift likely to last?
Bought at age 5 is highest at 9.6 years; Bought at age 15 is lowest at 1.9 years — the gap is 7.7 years.
bigger number = longer remaining lifeyears on the observed survival curve
| Age now | Typical mileage (p50) | Expected years left |
|---|---|---|
| 5 | — | 9.6 |
| 8 | — | 7 |
| 10 | — | 5.9 |
| 12 | — | 3.8 |
| 15 | — | at least 1.9 |
estimateEstimate only — not a warranty: a typical 10-year-old example of this family has about 5.9 expected years of further MOT-present life on the 2024 survival curve. Derived from how many cars of each age still appear for test, not from a longitudinal panel.
Suzuki Swift faults that come together
Body & structure + Emissions & leaks stand out at 12.68×, against 1.00× if the faults were independent.
above 1.0× = more than expectedbelow 1.0× = less
| Group A | Group B | Together | Lift |
|---|---|---|---|
| Body, chassis, structure | Noise, emissions and leaks | 4,318 | 12.68× |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems | 716 | 8.04× |
| Road Wheels | Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems | 50 | 6.99× (rough estimate) |
| Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems | Steering | 235 | 6.89× (rough estimate) |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | Road Wheels | 137 | 6.83× (rough estimate) |
| Identification of the vehicle | Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems | 68 | 6.71× (rough estimate) |
| Body, chassis, structure | Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems | 776 | 6.4× |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | Steering | 585 | 6.11× |
| Road Wheels | Steering | 45 | 5.85× (rough estimate) |
| Body, chassis, structure | Steering | 760 | 5.82× |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Speedometer and speed limiter | 33 | 5.51× (rough estimate) |
| Body, chassis, structure | Identification of the vehicle | 210 | 5.42× (rough estimate) |
| Identification of the vehicle | Noise, emissions and leaks | 152 | 5.34× (rough estimate) |
| Road Wheels | Tyres | 285 | 4.93× (rough estimate) |
| Identification of the vehicle | Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 747 | 4.9× |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems | 2,274 | 4.76× |
| Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems | Suspension | 2,391 | 4.72× |
| Brakes | Noise, emissions and leaks | 6,113 | 4.66× |
| Steering | Suspension | 2,541 | 4.66× |
| Brakes | Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems | 2,142 | 4.59× |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Noise, emissions and leaks | 6,118 | 4.57× |
| Body, chassis, structure | Road Wheels | 125 | 4.57× (rough estimate) |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | Suspension | 6,218 | 4.38× |
| Identification of the vehicle | Steering | 47 | 4.31× (rough estimate) |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Road Wheels | 461 | 4.28× (rough estimate) |
| Brakes | Speedometer and speed limiter | 25 | 4.27× (rough estimate) |
| Body, chassis, structure | Suspension | 8,214 | 4.24× |
| Brakes | Road Wheels | 435 | 4.13× (rough estimate) |
| Body, chassis, structure | Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 7,348 | 4.02× |
| Body, chassis, structure | Brakes | 7,141 | 4× |
| Brakes | Identification of the vehicle | 596 | 3.99× |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Steering | 2,017 | 3.93× |
| Road Wheels | Suspension | 447 | 3.92× (rough estimate) |
| Identification of the vehicle | Visibility | 447 | 3.91× (rough estimate) |
| Identification of the vehicle | Tyres | 313 | 3.82× (rough estimate) |
| Brakes | Steering | 1,876 | 3.73× |
| Brakes | Suspension | 26,919 | 3.61× |
| Brakes | Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 25,318 | 3.6× |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | Tyres | 2,560 | 3.56× |
| Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems | Visibility | 1,258 | 3.52× |
| Identification of the vehicle | Suspension | 569 | 3.52× |
| Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems | Tyres | 885 | 3.45× |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Suspension | 26,184 | 3.44× |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Tyres | 12,668 | 3.28× |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | Visibility | 3,292 | 3.28× |
| Road Wheels | Visibility | 263 | 3.26× (rough estimate) |
| Brakes | Tyres | 11,724 | 3.1× |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Visibility | 16,027 | 2.98× |
| Body, chassis, structure | Tyres | 2,800 | 2.85× |
| Tyres | Visibility | 8,139 | 2.81× |
| Body, chassis, structure | Visibility | 3,777 | 2.76× |
| Suspension | Tyres | 11,107 | 2.71× |
| Steering | Tyres | 742 | 2.69× |
| Brakes | Visibility | 13,825 | 2.63× |
| Steering | Visibility | 1,006 | 2.61× |
| Suspension | Visibility | 13,438 | 2.35× |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | Speedometer and speed limiter | 17 | too few (rough estimate) |
| Speedometer and speed limiter | Suspension | 15 | too few (rough estimate) |
| Speedometer and speed limiter | Visibility | 12 | too few (rough estimate) |
| Identification of the vehicle | Road Wheels | 10 | too few (rough estimate) |
| Brakes | Seat belt installation check | 10 | too few (rough estimate) |
| Speedometer and speed limiter | Tyres | 9 | too few (rough estimate) |
| Seat belt installation check | Visibility | 8 | too few (rough estimate) |
| Seat belt installation check | Suspension | 8 | too few (rough estimate) |
| Body, chassis, structure | Speedometer and speed limiter | 7 | too few (rough estimate) |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Seat belt installation check | 7 | too few (rough estimate) |
| Seat belt installation check | Tyres | 6 | too few (rough estimate) |
| Body, chassis, structure | Seat belt installation check | 5 | too few (rough estimate) |
Defects in «Body, chassis, structure» and «Noise, emissions and leaks» appear together 12.68× more often than chance (4,318 co-occurrences in the same test; lift≥1.3, n≥500).
Lift = how many times more often both groups appear on the same test than if independent. A pair is listed from 5 tests with both faults; the lift is shown from 20, and called above chance only when its 95% interval excludes 1 (see rough estimates).
Is low mileage better for a Suzuki Swift?
Cars driven under 5,000 miles a year is well below the reference at 20.4%, against 36.6% for cars driven 8,000–12,000 miles a year.
higher = larger sharecompare shares in percentage points
| Band | Fail % | Tests |
|---|---|---|
| <5k miles/year | 20.42% | 164,314 |
| 8–12k miles/year | 36.56% | 123,375 |
| Gap (low − normal) | -16.14 pp | — |
By fuel and age
Diesel
| Age | Low-use fail % | n | Normal fail % | n | Gap pp |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 | 0 | 30 | 26.55 | 113 | -26.55 pp |
| 6 | 9.52 | 63 | 29.46 | 258 | -19.93 pp |
| 7 | 18.99 | 158 | 32.55 | 553 | -13.56 pp |
| 8 | 22.16 | 194 | 36.42 | 681 | -14.25 pp |
| 9 | 23.75 | 240 | 41.31 | 823 | -17.56 pp |
| 10 | 25.71 | 319 | 44.77 | 1,014 | -19.07 pp |
| 11 | 31.72 | 331 | 51.43 | 1,083 | -19.71 pp |
| 12 | 35.06 | 308 | 54.03 | 992 | -18.97 pp |
| 13 | 36.65 | 281 | 55.2 | 788 | -18.55 pp |
| 14 | 41.09 | 258 | 57.85 | 605 | -16.77 pp |
Petrol
| Age | Low-use fail % | n | Normal fail % | n | Gap pp |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 | 12.07 | 19,013 | 19.6 | 12,797 | -7.53 pp |
| 6 | 11.82 | 18,209 | 22.6 | 13,055 | -10.78 pp |
| 7 | 12.69 | 18,142 | 27.21 | 13,439 | -14.52 pp |
| 8 | 13.97 | 17,571 | 31.35 | 13,544 | -17.38 pp |
| 9 | 17.59 | 16,181 | 36.53 | 12,569 | -18.93 pp |
| 10 | 21.7 | 14,513 | 42.22 | 11,270 | -20.51 pp |
| 11 | 26.1 | 13,820 | 46.98 | 11,038 | -20.88 pp |
| 12 | 30.61 | 14,358 | 50.42 | 10,849 | -19.81 pp |
| 13 | 34.88 | 13,811 | 52.22 | 8,926 | -17.34 pp |
| 14 | 39.09 | 12,888 | 53.04 | 6,508 | -13.95 pp |
At matched ages 5–14, cars averaging under 5k miles/year fail at 20.4% vs 36.6% for 8–12k miles/year — 16.1 pp lower (n_low=164,314, n_normal=123,375). In this family low annual use is associated with fewer MOT fails, not more — the ‘garage queen’ penalty is not visible in overall fail rates.
Which Suzuki Swift engine is best?
diesel 1.0–1.2 is highest at 117.5; petrol under 1.0 is lowest at 94.2 — the gap is 23.3 points.
below 100 is betterabove 100 is worse100 = normal for this model at that age
| Fuel | Capacity | vs own age norm | Raw fail % | Tests |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| petrol | under 1.0 litre | 94.2 | 17.11% | 53,173 |
| petrol | 1.0–1.2 litre | 94.3 | 22.24% | 353,836 |
| petrol | 1.5–1.8 litre | 101.9 | 30.81% | 57,939 |
| petrol | 1.2–1.5 litre | 104 | 45.01% | 215,359 |
| diesel | 1.2–1.5 litre | 114.8 | 49.02% | 153 (rough estimate) |
| diesel | 1.0–1.2 litre | 117.5 | 42.55% | 19,627 |
Splitting this model by fuel alone hides the thing that actually differs. Within the same badge, the diesel 1.0–1.2 runs at 117.5 against this model's own age norm while the petrol under 1.0 runs at 94.2 — a spread of 23.3 points between two cars that share a name.
Read this one with more care than the rest of the page. Age is held constant, but who buys which engine is not: the largest capacity in a range is often a performance or executive variant that is garaged, cherished and lightly driven, while the smallest is frequently a fleet or entry car worked hard from new. The gap below is real in the test records; how much of it is the engine and how much is the owner, this data cannot separate. Bands under 100 tests are not shown; bands under 5,000 tests are rough estimates.
Best year for a Suzuki Swift, and the years to avoid
Build year 2008 is highest at 106.1; Build year 2020 is lowest at 85.1 — the gap is 21.0 points.
below 100 is betterabove 100 is worse100 = normal for this model at that age
build year vs the same model at the same age · 100 = as expected
Every build year with its confidence interval
| Build year | vs own age norm | 95% CI | Raw fail % | Tests | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 85.1 | 80.8–89.4 | 9.25% | 16,184 | better |
| 2019 | 90.3 | 87.4–93.2 | 11.17% | 33,528 | better |
| 2018 | 97.6 | 95–100.2 | 13.2% | 41,234 | no different |
| 2017 | 94.1 | 91.7–96.5 | 13.77% | 42,277 | better |
| 2016 | 103.1 | 101.1–105 | 16.81% | 63,681 | worse |
| 2015 | 97.4 | 95.8–99 | 18.91% | 75,054 | better |
| 2014 | 96 | 94.3–97.6 | 21.74% | 61,127 | better |
| 2013 | 96.1 | 94.5–97.7 | 25.18% | 53,423 | better |
| 2012 | 95 | 93.5–96.5 | 28.75% | 55,714 | better |
| 2011 | 96.5 | 94.9–98.2 | 33.1% | 39,423 | better |
| 2010 | 104.9 | 103.2–106.5 | 40.05% | 40,028 | worse |
| 2009 | 106 | 104.6–107.4 | 44.17% | 48,494 | worse |
| 2008 | 106.1 | 104.8–107.4 | 47.21% | 55,082 | worse |
| 2007 | 102.1 | 100.9–103.3 | 47.73% | 56,923 | worse |
| 2006 | 103.3 | 101.7–104.8 | 49.87% | 35,040 | worse |
| 2005 | 104 | 101.5–106.6 | 51.43% | 12,644 | worse |
| 2003 | 90.7 | 81.4–100.1 | 46.53% | 778 | no different |
| 2002 | 93.9 | 87.7–100 | 49.1% | 1,825 | no different |
| 2001 | 89.3 | 79.2–99.5 | 47.21% | 627 | better |
The best build year here is 2020 and the weakest is 2008. Comparing build years sounds simple and is not: within a single year of testing, a car's build year and its age are the same number, so a naive comparison of years is a comparison of ages wearing a disguise. Each year below is measured against the same model at the same age in other cohorts, across six years of testing — 15 of 19 years come out distinguishable from their own model's age norm.
Two limits worth knowing before you act on this. Age, test year and build year are locked together by arithmetic, so the test-year effect is taken from the observed national failure level of each year rather than estimated — it is an adjustment, not a solution.
Suzuki Swift MOT repair costs
The MOT-failure repair budget per test runs from £84.20 to £159.98, against £54.85 for the test itself.
bigger number = costs morepounds per test, MOT-failing faults only
| Component | Fails per 100 tests | Typical repair | Its price | Contribution |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Suspension | 16.2 (nat. 15.36) | Suspension coil spring (single corner) | £180 | £29.16 |
| Brakes | 18.5 (nat. 11.25) | Front brake pads (parts + labour, typical hatchback) | £150 | £27.75 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 14.8 (nat. 18.09) | Battery replacement (standard 12V lead-acid) | £140 | £20.72 |
| Tyres | 7.3 (nat. 8.7) | Tyre (single mid-range 16" fitted) | £90 | £6.57 |
Multiply how often each component fails on this model by what that repair usually costs, and you get the amount an owner should expect to budget per test for MOT-failing faults only — roughly £84 to £160, on top of the test fee itself. It is a budgeting figure, not a quote: the spread between a set of pads and a set of discs is most of the range.
Prices are modal quotes from a hand-kept catalogue of published UK garage guides — we do not scrape the booking sites, their terms forbid it, so this list is short and updated by hand with a source and date against each line. Each line prices one typical repair in that group, not a full remedy, and only groups our catalogue actually covers are counted. The contrast worth noticing is the second card: the legal maximum for the test has been £54.85 since 2010, while the repairs it uncovers have followed inflation the whole time.
For scale from a different direction: Warrantywise, which sees used-car warranty claims rather than test failures, puts the average claim at £2,052 across the ten highest-claim models it ranks and £539 for Honda, the lowest-claim make in its index (Warrantywise index 2026, 1.6 million claims, cars aged 3–15). Those sit an order of magnitude above the figures in this table, and the gap is the point: a warranty claim is a gearbox or an engine, which almost never fails an MOT, while the faults that do fail one are corrosion, lamps and tyres, which no warranty pays for. The two numbers answer different questions and neither replaces the other.
Suzuki Swift running costs for a fleet
Vehicles failing at age 10 stand out at 28.0%, against 13.0% at age 5, tested in the same year.
higher = larger sharecompare shares in percentage points
Failure rate and typical odometer by age
| Age | Fails | Median odometer | Tests | Gap vs age 5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | 7.59% | 17,289 | 7,673 | -5.8 pp |
| 4 | 10.75% | 22,902 | 8,022 | -2.6 pp |
| 5 | 13.34% | 29,126 | 10,993 | +0.0 pp |
| 6 | 14.59% | 36,438 | 10,194 | +1.3 pp |
| 7 | 16.8% | 41,487 | 8,100 | +3.5 pp |
| 8 | 21.07% | 49,039 | 10,491 | +7.7 pp |
| 9 | 24.18% | 54,925 | 12,388 | +10.8 pp |
| 10 | 27.65% | 60,478 | 10,071 | +14.3 pp |
| 11 | 30.47% | 67,928 | 8,760 | +17.1 pp |
| 12 | 33.34% | 75,595 | 9,054 | +20.0 pp |
| 13 | 37.13% | 79,967 | 6,281 | +23.8 pp |
| 14 | 43.38% | 81,965 | 6,070 | +30.0 pp |
| 15 | 46.14% | 85,615 | 6,973 | +32.8 pp |
| 16 | 48.86% | 92,030 | 7,425 | +35.5 pp |
| 17 | 49.6% | 92,651 | 7,177 | +36.3 pp |
| 18 | 50.32% | 96,628 | 4,088 | +37.0 pp |
| 19 | 48.78% | 95,759 | 1,349 | +35.4 pp |
The number a fleet manager needs is not the failure rate, it is the year the car starts costing more. Between cars aged 13 and cars aged 14, both tested in 2024, the failure rate of this model is 6.25 percentage points higher — the steepest one-year step in this cross-section of different cars, and a natural planning point for replacement.
Repair spend uses the same modal prices as the section above, so it inherits the same limits: one typical repair per component group, not a full remedy. Downtime is the gap between the failed test and the passed re-test, which is the window a vehicle is legally off the road.
Suzuki Swift rust problems: where they corrode
Age-standardised corrosion susceptibility stands out at 3.65×, against 1.00× for the national age-standardised rate.
above 1.0× = rusts more than averagebelow 1.0× = rusts less
This Suzuki Swift fails on corrosion far more often than average once age is held constant, and its owners live in areas that are saltier than most for the models we publish.
Corrosion is the one failure mode that is as much about geography as about the car. We keep the two apart on purpose: a model can look rusty simply because it is popular in Scotland, and a model can look clean simply because it is bought in Surrey. Blending them into a single score would hide which of the two is doing the work.
Exposure is this model's tests weighted by an area corrosion index built from frost days, salt load and distance to the coast — the composite validated at r = 0.42 against corrosion defects we actually record. It is published as a rank, not a raw score, because every mainstream model skews towards low-corrosion areas for the simple reason that most of Britain's cars are in the south. Susceptibility is standardised to the national age profile, so an old fleet does not get labelled a rusty model.
Does a Suzuki Swift advisory become a failure?
Suspension is highest at 26.4%; Identification of the vehicle is lowest at 3.0% — the gap is 23.5 percentage points.
higher = more likelypercentage is the observed transition probability
chance the same component fails at the next MOT, given an advisory now
| Component | Fails next time | Typical lead time | Miles of warning | Advisories tracked |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Suspension | 26.4% | 12 months | 4,742 | 78,956 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 18.7% | 12 months | 5,707 | 7,115 |
| Brakes | 18.0% | 12 months | 4,762 | 139,862 |
| Visibility | 11.4% | 12.1 months | 5,055 | 764 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 10.9% | 12 months | 4,529 | 14,305 |
| Tyres | 8.2% | 12 months | 5,464 | 138,024 |
| Steering | 5.9% | 12 months | 5,482 | 2,646 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 5.2% | 12 months | 5,437 | 14,391 |
| Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems | 4.8% | 12 months | 4,495 | 1,359 |
| Identification of the vehicle | 3.0% | 12.1 months | 5,048 | 7,635 |
This is the question an advisory note actually raises, and it needs six years of test history to answer. We followed the same vehicles from one MOT to the next across 2019–2024 and measured how often a component that was merely advised came back as a genuine failure at the next test.
Read it as a budgeting horizon, not a prophecy: the most likely component above turns into a failure for about 26 in 100 cars, and the median gap is 12 months and roughly 4,742 miles. The rest were repaired, sold, scrapped, or simply held. Rows with fewer than 500 tracked advisories are not shown.
What will fail next on a Suzuki Swift?
Suspension after a failure at age 15-19 is highest at 31.1%; Brakes after a passed at age <3 are lowest at 1.3% — the gap is 29.8 percentage points.
higher = more likelypercentage is the observed transition probability
| Age | Last test | Most likely next failures | Cars tracked |
|---|---|---|---|
| <3 | passed | Visibility 5.3% · Tyres 2.2% · Brakes 1.3% | 29,521 |
| <3 | advisory | Visibility 7.7% · Tyres 3.4% · Brakes 2.6% | 6,931 |
| <3 | failure | Visibility 7.4% · Tyres 3.9% · Brakes 3.1% | 3,359 |
| 3-5 | passed | Visibility 4.6% · Tyres 2.8% · Brakes 2.3% | 89,820 |
| 3-5 | advisory | Visibility 6.7% · Tyres 4.8% · Brakes 4.5% | 36,809 |
| 3-5 | failure | Visibility 7.1% · Tyres 5.9% · Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 5.6% | 22,525 |
| 6-8 | passed | Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 6.0% · Visibility 4.6% · Brakes 4.3% | 67,152 |
| 6-8 | advisory | Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 9.2% · Brakes 8.3% · Visibility 7.1% | 43,167 |
| 6-8 | failure | Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 13.8% · Brakes 10.5% · Visibility 8.6% | 32,004 |
| 9-11 | passed | Suspension 10.7% · Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 9.9% · Brakes 8.8% | 38,778 |
| 9-11 | advisory | Suspension 15.2% · Brakes 14.2% · Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 14.0% | 37,627 |
| 9-11 | failure | Suspension 19.6% · Brakes 18.6% · Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 18.6% | 44,033 |
| 12-14 | passed | Suspension 20.0% · Brakes 13.5% · Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 13.4% | 23,957 |
| 12-14 | advisory | Suspension 26.0% · Brakes 17.9% · Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 17.5% | 32,250 |
| 12-14 | failure | Suspension 29.5% · Brakes 22.5% · Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 22.1% | 47,560 |
| 15-19 | passed | Suspension 21.0% · Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 15.4% · Brakes 13.9% | 7,117 |
| 15-19 | advisory | Suspension 28.0% · Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 21.0% · Brakes 17.8% | 10,911 |
| 15-19 | failure | Suspension 31.1% · Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 26.4% · Brakes 21.6% | 17,507 |
| 20+ | passed | Body, chassis, structure 9.8% · Suspension 9.8% · Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 7.4% | 580 |
| 20+ | advisory | Body, chassis, structure 17.5% · Suspension 15.7% · Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 14.4% | 606 |
| 20+ | failure | Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 19.9% · Suspension 19.4% · Body, chassis, structure 18.0% | 723 |
The same chains, cut differently: given a car's age and how its last test went, which component most often causes trouble at the following one.
The pattern that repeats across every family: a failure at one test roughly doubles the chance of a failure on the same component at the next one, and an advisory sits about half-way between a clean pass and a failure. Age bands in years; probabilities are per car, not per defect item.
Suzuki Swift ownership: what six years of MOTs show
The ten-day re-test pass rate is highest at 51.9%; The later re-test pass rate is lowest at 2.7% — the gap is 49.1 percentage points.
higher = larger sharecompare shares in percentage points
Failing is usually a same-week event, not a disaster. Of 146,458 failures followed through to their re-test, 45.4% were repaired and passed the same day and 51.86% within ten days; the median gap is 1 day. 403,391 defect items were cleared in the process.
Per mile driven, not per year. Dividing failures by the miles that actually went onto the odometers between consecutive tests gives 0.537 failures per 10,000 miles, on a median of 4,635 miles a year across 144,427 chains. This is the number to compare between models — an annual rate quietly rewards cars that barely leave the drive.
Two populations hide inside one model. 37.44% of these cars strung together three or more tests with nothing recorded at all, while 34.87% carried the same advisory three times or more — the same fault, noted, ignored, noted again. When you buy used you are buying one of those two histories, and the MOT record shows which.
Odometer anomalies: 1.594% of 144,533 chains show a reading lower than the previous test, with a median drop of 11,207 miles. We call this an anomaly and not fraud on purpose — instrument swaps, imports, unit mix-ups and keying errors all land in the same bucket. Obvious typos (drops under 100 miles or over 90% of the reading) are already excluded.
Suzuki Swift safety recalls and how to check yours
DVSA recall campaigns stand out at 21.
bigger number = more recorded casescompare like-for-like scope, not sample size alone
recall campaigns launched per year
| Reference | Launched | Vehicles | Concern |
|---|---|---|---|
R/2025/050 | 17/02/2025 | 3,570 | Measures Against Loosening of Steering Shaft Nut |
R/2022/267 | 01/12/2022 | 71,508 | Some vehicles have an inappropriate design and material on check valve of vacuum pump |
R/2022/267 | 01/12/2022 | 71,508 | Some vehicles have an inappropriate design and material on check valve of vacuum pump |
R/2019/186 | 12/06/2019 | 22,437 | UNINTENDED ACTIVATION OF THE SIDE AIR BAG CURTAIN AIR BAG AND SEAT PRE TENSIONER MAY OCCUR |
R/2018/078 | 26/03/2018 | 2,247 | INTEGRATED STARTER GENERATOR BELT BELT MAY FAIL |
All 21 campaigns
| Reference | Launched | Build dates | Vehicles | Concern |
|---|---|---|---|---|
R/2025/050 | 17/02/2025 | 01/06/2022 – 06/01/2023 | 3,570 | Measures Against Loosening of Steering Shaft Nut |
R/2022/267 | 01/12/2022 | 07/10/2017 – 12/06/2019 | 71,508 | Some vehicles have an inappropriate design and material on check valve of vacuum pump |
R/2022/267 | 01/12/2022 | 22/01/2018 – 29/12/2020 | 71,508 | Some vehicles have an inappropriate design and material on check valve of vacuum pump |
R/2019/186 | 12/06/2019 | 03/02/2017 – 13/02/2019 | 22,437 | UNINTENDED ACTIVATION OF THE SIDE AIR BAG CURTAIN AIR BAG AND SEAT PRE TENSIONER MAY OCCUR |
R/2018/078 | 26/03/2018 | 03/02/2017 – 13/03/2017 | 2,247 | INTEGRATED STARTER GENERATOR BELT BELT MAY FAIL |
R/2018/071 | 13/03/2018 | 07/01/2017 – 01/11/2017 | 6,313 | BATTERY MAY FAIL TO CHARGE WHICH COULD CAUSE ENGINE TO STALL AND LIGHTS TO FADE |
R/2018/071 | 13/03/2018 | 24/02/2017 – 01/11/2017 | 6,313 | BATTERY MAY FAIL TO CHARGE WHICH COULD CAUSE ENGINE TO STALL AND LIGHTS TO FADE |
R/2016/106 | 20/06/2016 | 01/09/2014 – 22/12/2015 | 8,045 | BRAKING EFFICIENCY MAY BE REDUCED |
R/2016/041 | 08/03/2016 | 29/10/2015 – 17/12/2015 | 2,760 | REAR AXLE MAY FAIL |
R/2014/105 | 30/10/2014 | 11/09/2013 – 11/11/2013 | 1,568 | ENGINE FAILURE MAY OCCUR |
R/2014/045 | 24/04/2014 | 22/03/2013 – 10/02/2014 | 6,376 | BRAKE FLUID MAY LEAK |
R/2011/155 | 12/01/2012 | 01/06/2011 – 31/07/2011 | 215 | ESP MAY NOT FUNCTION CORRECTLY |
R/2011/033 | 05/05/2011 | 2 | TYRE MAY FOUL BODY | |
R/2010/160 | 10/01/2011 | 01/10/1997 – 01/10/2002 | 26,765 | STEERING CONTROL COULD BE LOST |
R/2009/087 | 26/10/2009 | 29,987 | REAR SEATBELT ANCHORAGES MAY FAIL | |
R/2008/178 | 12/01/2009 | 31,872 | BOOT LIGHT MAY CATCH FIRE | |
R/2008/099 | 15/09/2008 | 15,078 | AIRBAG MAY DEPLOY INADVERTENTLY | |
R/2007/086 | 10/09/2007 | 18,352 | HANDBRAKE MAY FAIL | |
R/2007/009 | 22/01/2007 | 19/09/2005 – 23/09/2005 | 2 | BRAKES MAY FAIL |
R/2001/007 | 02/03/2001 | 11/08/2000 – 30/11/2000 | 521 | CHAFING ELECTRICAL WIRING CONCERN |
R/2000/144 | 15/12/2000 | 02/08/2000 – 15/08/2000 | 369 | POSSIBLE SLACKENING OF THE STEERING RACK AND INBOARD ENGINE MOUNTING FASTENERS |
DVSA lists 21 safety recall campaigns for the Suzuki Swift, covering roughly 325,808 vehicles in total. A recall is the manufacturer fixing a fault for free, so an open recall on your car costs nothing to clear.
Counter-intuitive, and measured on our own data: across the 25 families published here, more recalls go with a lower MOT Risk Index (r = −0.52). Heavily recalled models are not worse cars in the test bay — an active manufacturer removes the fault before it becomes an MOT failure.
Check whether a specific car has an outstanding recall — free, by registration — at DVSA's recall service. Source: DVSA vehicle safety recalls (check-vehicle-recalls.service.gov.uk), OGL.
Suzuki Swift inspection results in other countries
Finland Katsastus is well below the reference at 19.4%, against 26.3% nationally.
higher = larger sharecompare shares in percentage points
| Country | Test | This model fails | National average | Position | Sample |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| United Kingdom | MOT (class 4) | 27.77% | 26.01% | +1.8 pp | 136,007 |
| Netherlands | APK | 54.5% | 50.8% | +3.7 pp | 72,077 |
| Norway | PKK | 34% | 33.7% | +0.3 pp | 7,817 |
| Finland | Katsastus | 19.4% | 26.3% | -6.9 pp | 2,245 |
The countries disagree about this car, and that is worth saying out loud rather than averaging away. A model can sit above its national average in one country and below it in another because the fleets are not the same cars: different model years, different engines, different roads and salt, and inspection rules that weight components differently. Treat each row as evidence from one regime, not as a verdict.
| Fault area | Share |
|---|---|
| Axles, wheels and suspension | 50.1% |
| Brake systems | 27% |
| Environmental hazards | 9.5% |
| Chassis and body | 5.6% |
| Other equipment and accessories | 2.8% |
Useful as a cross-check on the UK defect table above: the categories are named differently, but a component that dominates in both regimes is a genuine weak point of the model rather than an artefact of one country's testing style.
| Code | Fault | Recorded | Type |
|---|---|---|---|
210 | Tyre pressure not at the correct value | 12,678 | failure |
205 | Tyre with insufficient tread | 8,071 | failure |
497 | Number-plate light not working or missing | 7,773 | failure |
584 | Sidelight not working properly | 7,430 | failure |
391 | Wipers leave insufficient visibility | 6,126 | failure |
516 | Dipped headlight incorrectly aimed | 5,450 | failure |
AC1 | Tyre down to 1.6–2.5 mm of tread | 5,115 | advisory |
203 | Tyre damaged | 3,553 | failure |
Worth dwelling on how mundane the top of that list is: tyre pressure, tread depth, headlight aim. The Dutch APK records 1.38 defects per inspection against a much higher national failure rate than Britain's, and the reason is not that Dutch cars are worse — it is that the two regimes draw the line between "note it" and "fail it" in different places. Codes are the RDW's own; the English wording here is our translation of the Dutch original.
Britain is not the only country that inspects every car every year, and the Suzuki Swift is on the road in all of them. Each national regime writes its own rules, so the pass rates below are not comparable to each other — what does travel across a border is whether a model sits above or below its own country's average.
One caveat before you read the UK row: these are raw failure rates, because no other country publishes the age detail our index needs. This model's raw UK rate looks worse than the national average while its age-adjusted index is 97.6 — the fleet here is unusually old, and the raw column silently credits that. The index above is the fair comparison; this table is for reading each country against itself.
Rows with fewer than 500 inspections are not published. Sources: RDW open data — Meldingen Keuringsinstantie + Geconstateerde Gebreken + Gekentekende voertuigen (2024), CC0. Not an RDW endorsement.; Statens vegvesen — Periodisk kjøretøykontroll (PKK) 2024, CC BY 4.0; Traficom — Periodic inspections of cars by model / by model and fault object 2024, CC BY 4.0. Adapted; licences and full notice.
Suzuki Swift MOT: quick answers
Suzuki Swift MOT Risk Index is close to the reference at 97.6, against 100 for a car with the same age profile.
below 100 is betterabove 100 is worse100 = normal for this model at that age
- What is the Suzuki Swift first-time MOT pass rate?
- 72.23% of first attempts passed in 2024 (136,007 tests). This is the first-time figure: retests after repair are excluded. Basis: first-time, excluding retests.
- Why does this number differ from other sites?
- Other sites often report a pass rate that includes retests or counts all attempts. Our 27.77% figure is the first-time initial failure rate, using 136,007 primary tests as the denominator (first-time, excluding retests). The age-adjusted MOT initial-failure ratio 97.6 is shown separately because raw rates compare fleet age as well as cars.
Compare the Suzuki Swift with other cars
Honda Civic is highest at 98.1; Hyundai Tucson is lowest at 97.3 — the gap is 0.8 points.
below 100 is betterabove 100 is worse100 = normal for this model at that age
Same brand
Similar risk
Citroen C1 (index 97.5)Hyundai Tucson (index 97.3)Honda Civic (index 98.1)
Same size class
how Peugeot 207 compareshow Peugeot 308 compareshow Citroen C4 compares
By build year
Suzuki Swift 2001Suzuki Swift 2002Suzuki Swift 2003Suzuki Swift 2005Suzuki Swift 2006Suzuki Swift 2007Suzuki Swift 2008Suzuki Swift 2009Suzuki Swift 2010Suzuki Swift 2011Suzuki Swift 2012Suzuki Swift 2013Suzuki Swift 2014Suzuki Swift 2015Suzuki Swift 2016Suzuki Swift 2017Suzuki Swift 2018Suzuki Swift 2019Suzuki Swift 2020
By area
Suzuki Swift MOT failure rate by postcode area
By failure group
Suzuki Swift body, chassis and structure failuresSuzuki Swift brakes failuresSuzuki Swift vehicle identification failuresSuzuki Swift lamps, reflectors and electrics failuresSuzuki Swift noise, emissions and leaks failuresSuzuki Swift road wheels failuresSuzuki Swift seat belts and airbags failuresSuzuki Swift steering failuresSuzuki Swift suspension failuresSuzuki Swift tyres failuresSuzuki Swift visibility failures
Inspections abroad
Suzuki Swift in NorwaySuzuki Swift in FinlandSuzuki Swift in the Netherlands
Data details & how to cite
Scope: class-4 vehicles (cars), initial tests only, outcomes pass / fail / fixed-on-the-spot at the station (PRS counts towards the failure rate — the defect was present at arrival). Index = observed initial failures ÷ failures expected for this fleet's exact age profile, ×100; margin of error is a 95% confidence interval. Covers ALL generations together — a 3-year-old and a 15-year-old are very different cars; a generation split is on the roadmap. Dataset release dataset_release_id=dvsa-2024-v2, frozen baseline; headline claim_id=family-stats:suzuki-swift:dvsa-2024-v2. Full method: methodology.
Cite: MOT Risk Index (2026). Suzuki Swift MOT statistics 2024 (data release dvsa-2024-v2; downloadable dataset motriskindex-families-2024-v5, doi:10.5281/zenodo.22975051). https://motriskindex.co.uk/cars/suzuki-swift/ · Published 2026-07-30.