MOT Risk Index.co.uk

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.

MOT risk index 97.6, 95% CI 96.8–98.5 (100 = national average) 100 97.6 0 200
Index
97.6
100 = age-normal
Raw fail rate
27.77%
n = 136,007
Dangerous /100
9
national ≈11
Diesel − petrol
+14.6 pp
fail-rate gap
Rank
426 of 761
lower index = better

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

Suzuki Swift common problems: what actually fails the MOT — 2024 UK MOT data

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.

GroupThis familyCases behind itUK, same agesFamily / national
Brakes18.5138,02810.71.73×1.72–1.74
Suspension16.2120,92514.31.14×1.13–1.14
Lamps & electrical14.8110,48916.20.92×0.91–0.92
Visibility9.167,7147.61.20×1.19–1.21
Tyres7.354,3198.90.82×0.81–0.82
Body & structure2.921,5084.80.60×0.59–0.61
Named defects — items per 100 initial tests, this family vs UK national average; this model measured on 746,543 tests, 2019-2024, national column 2024
What failedper 100 tests (this family)per 100 tests (UK average)ratio family / UKWhat to check
Brake pipe damaged or excessively corrodedBrake pipe damaged or excessively corroded4.511.413.21×Look underneath for rust or cracks around subframe and suspension mountings
Suspension pin, bush or joint excessively wornA suspension pin, bush or joint excessively worn6.434.871.32×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 brake2.561.032.49×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 functioning3.032.091.45×Try every light and switch — lamps are a top failure
Parking brake efficiency below minimum requirementParking brake efficiency below minimum requirement2.151.241.74×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 windscreen3.022.221.36×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 functioning2.201.501.47×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 sources3.182.831.12×Try every light and switch — lamps are a top failure
Suspension joint dust cover severely deterioratedA suspension joint dust cover severely deteriorated2.211.901.16×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 requirements3.363.590.94×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

Suzuki Swift MOT advisories: what gets flagged — 2024 UK MOT data
Advisory rates table
GroupAdvisories per 100
Brakes45.6
Tyres41.2
Suspension26
Non-component advisories7.9
Body & structure3.2
Emissions & leaks2.8

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

AgePartSuzuki SwiftSame age, petrol and dieselDifference
3 yearsTyres2.374.17-1.80
3 yearsBrakes1.191.77-0.58
3 yearsSuspension0.220.63-0.41
4 yearsTyres3.44.54-1.14
4 yearsBrakes1.842.43-0.59
4 yearsSuspension0.511.21-0.70
5 yearsTyres3.725.06-1.34
5 yearsBrakes2.693.09-0.40
5 yearsSuspension1.212.19-0.98
6 yearsTyres45.54-1.54
6 yearsBrakes3.663.81-0.15
6 yearsSuspension2.043.72-1.68
7 yearsTyres4.445.95-1.51
7 yearsBrakes5.054.550.50
7 yearsSuspension2.725.68-2.96
8 yearsTyres4.766.31-1.55
8 yearsBrakes6.235.380.85
8 yearsSuspension3.667.78-4.12

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 testFails next yearVehicles followed
It failed35.6%51,869
It passed24.1%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 forIndexReading
Age only99.6fails less often than expected
Age and annual mileage106.4fails more often than vehicles driven as much
Share doing under 3,000 miles a year9.5%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.

AgeSuzuki SwiftSame class, same ageDifferenceTests
3 years9.21%11.32%-2.12 pp58,585
4 years13.28%14.25%-0.97 pp60,857
5 years15.96%17.43%-1.47 pp62,779
6 years17.26%20.78%-3.52 pp60,676
7 years20.21%24.36%-4.15 pp59,772
8 years23.31%28.19%-4.88 pp58,200
9 years27.61%32.07%-4.45 pp54,553
10 years32.91%35.62%-2.71 pp50,671
11 years37.76%38.66%-0.9 pp50,722
12 years41.97%41.24%+0.73 pp52,446
13 years44.82%43.27%+1.55 pp48,638
14 years47.35%45.01%+2.34 pp42,301
15 years48.46%46.29%+2.16 pp33,003
16 years49.28%47.33%+1.95 pp23,654
17 years50.13%47.77%+2.35 pp14,976
18 years49.97%47.99%+1.98 pp6,796
19 years49.2%47.73%+1.47 pp2,374
20 years45.79%47.37%-1.58 pp926

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

How does the Suzuki Swift perform as it gets older? — 2024 UK MOT data

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
AgeSuzuki SwiftAll vehiclesGap
37.6%12.4%-4.8 pp
410.8%13.1%-2.4 pp
513.3%15.1%-1.8 pp
614.6%17.5%-2.9 pp
716.8%20.2%-3.4 pp
821.1%23.3%-2.3 pp
924.2%26.5%-2.3 pp
1027.7%30.1%-2.5 pp
1130.5%33.2%-2.7 pp
1233.3%35.7%-2.4 pp
1337.1%38.2%-1.0 pp
1443.4%40.4%+3.0 pp
1546.1%41.6%+4.6 pp
1648.9%43.1%+5.8 pp
1749.6%43.1%+6.5 pp
1850.3%43.9%+6.5 pp
1948.8%43.5%+5.3 pp
2037.1%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

Age-band estimate from classifiable initial MOT tests
Vehicle age at testLikely ULEZ-compliant shareTests
Under 3 yearsSuppressed — sample below publication threshold
Check a registration with TfL
n = 246
3–5 years100.0%
Check a registration with TfL
n = 26,688
6–7 years100.0%
Check a registration with TfL
n = 18,294
8 years100.0%
Check a registration with TfL
n = 10,491
9 years99.8%
Check a registration with TfL
n = 12,388
10–14 years95.9%
Check a registration with TfL
n = 40,235
15–17 years96.4%
Check a registration with TfL
n = 21,572
18 years96.5%
Check a registration with TfL
n = 4,086
19 years0.0%
Check a registration with TfL
n = 1,349
20+ yearsSuppressed — 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

Suzuki Swift petrol vs diesel: which ages best — 2024 UK MOT data
Fuel split table
FuelTests% failingGap vs best
Petrol112,60830.6%+20.3 pp
Hybrid20,77910.3%+0.0 pp
Diesel2,61245.2%+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

How dangerous are Suzuki Swift MOT failures? — 2024 UK MOT data
Severity table
SeverityThis family /100National /100Family / national
Minor12.5114.220.88×
Major51.6752.750.98×
Dangerous8.8511.150.79×

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

Does the month of a Suzuki Swift MOT matter? — 2024 UK MOT data

Chart scale: 26%–33%.

bars: Suzuki Swift · dashed: all class-4 cars

Month-by-month table
MonthSuzuki SwiftAll vehiclesGap
Jan30.67%31.12%-0.4 pp
Feb28.94%29.99%-1.0 pp
Mar27.32%28.26%-0.9 pp
Apr30.42%29.78%+0.6 pp
May28.23%28.79%-0.6 pp
Jun27.05%28.15%-1.1 pp
Jul28.02%29.33%-1.3 pp
Aug27.26%29.2%-1.9 pp
Sep27.25%28.19%-0.9 pp
Oct30.92%30.34%+0.6 pp
Nov31.69%30.58%+1.1 pp
Dec30.65%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

Bars: Suzuki Swift · dashed: all class-4 cars — 2024 UK MOT data

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.

Does high mileage mean more Suzuki Swift MOT failures at the same age? — 2024 UK MOT data
Suzuki Swift: first-time failure by mileage within each age group (2024)
AgeOdometer% failing95% intervalTests
3–5<40k miles10%9.6–10.4%22,495
3–540-70k miles15.6%14.5–16.8%3,780
3–570-100k miles15.2%11.8–19.3%356 (rough estimate)
6–9<40k miles12.6%12.1–13.1%16,387
6–940-70k miles21%20.4–21.6%17,888
6–970-100k miles30.8%29.6–32%5,620
6–9100-140k miles38.8%36–41.7%1,126
6–9140k+ miles41.3%33.5–49.5%143 (rough estimate)
10–14<40k miles17.5%16.5–18.6%5,182
10–1440-70k miles28.1%27.4–28.9%14,057
10–1470-100k miles38.6%37.8–39.5%13,562
10–14100-140k miles44.6%43.4–45.8%6,439
10–14140k+ miles47%43.9–50.1%987
15+<40k miles27.6%25.4–30%1,491
15+40-70k miles42.3%41–43.6%5,574
15+70-100k miles49.4%48.5–50.4%9,835
15+100-140k miles53.3%52.2–54.3%8,880
15+140k+ miles55.4%53–57.8%1,625

line: median · band: middle half of the fleet (p25–p75)

Mileage by age (p25 / median / p75)
Agep25Medianp75Tests
311,41117,28924,9047,673
415,46322,90232,0818,022
520,53529,12640,01610,993
625,77736,43849,26510,194
729,33641,48755,7548,100
835,05449,03964,39310,491
939,65754,92572,53512,388
1043,26860,47879,50410,071
1150,28167,92887,3508,760
1255,98675,59596,1609,054
1359,98279,967101,1466,281
1462,04481,965102,7566,070
1564,80785,615107,0836,973
1670,70992,030112,0487,425
1771,78792,651113,1167,177
1874,78596,628116,3374,088
1973,75795,759117,5451,349
20+35,70751,13170,299423

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

Where in Britain the Suzuki Swift fails its MOT most — 2024 UK MOT data
Toughest areas% failingvs 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% failingvs 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).

Suzuki Swift Why do areas differ? — 2024 UK MOT data
Values shown in the quintile chart
FactorLow QHigh QGapCorrelation
Distance to coast30.0%27.9%-2.1 ppr=-0.26
Income deprivation28.3%30.3%+2.0 ppr=0.24
Terrain gradient30.6%29.5%-1.1 ppr=-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 area indicators, each tested against a defect rate we measure
CompositeBuilt fromTested againstrVerdict
Underbody corrosionfrost days × salt load ÷ (distance to coast + 1)share of tests with a corrosion defect+0.42holds (116 areas)
Tyre wearrain days × annual miles ÷ age at first tyre advisoryshare of tests failing on tyres+0.45holds (116 areas)
Overnight corrosionterraced housing × cars per household × frost daysshare with a corrosion defect+0.41holds (102 areas) — and adds signal beyond the first index
Deferred maintenancedeprivation × advisory-to-failure conversion ÷ labour ratecars repeating the same advisory−0.26fails (118 areas)
Powertrain stressengine capacity ÷ kerb weightsuspension, brake and emissions failures−0.16fails (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)
Factorrn areasLow-Q fail %High-Q fail %Gap ppLow-Q factorHigh-Q factor
Distance to coast (km)-0.25711530.027.9-2.26.478.7
Income deprivation (score)0.2429728.330.3+2.00.10.2
Terrain gradient (% grade)-0.1516830.629.5-1.10.54.2
MOT centre density (per 10k vehicles)0.11211527.828.6+0.858.8
Road-salt proxy (g/m²-yr)-0.10511528.628.3-0.3223674.9
Frost days (days/year)-0.08011529.628.1-1.511.838
Urban share (0–1)0.07211528.628.5-0.10.41

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

Suzuki Swift survival: which cars are still on the road — 2024 UK MOT data

Chart axes: car age, years · survival vs ages 4–6 · scale 0–105%.

Survival vs fail rate by age
AgeTestsSurvival vs ages 4–6Fail %
358,58595.4%9.21%
460,85799.1%13.28%
562,779100%15.96%
660,67698.8%17.26%
759,77297.3%20.21%
858,20094.7%23.31%
954,55388.8%27.61%
1050,67182.5%32.91%
1150,72282.6%37.76%
1252,44685.4%41.97%
1348,63879.2%44.82%
1442,30168.9%47.35%
1533,00353.7%48.46%
1623,65438.5%49.28%
1714,97624.4%50.13%
186,79611.1%49.97%
192,3743.9%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

OdometerTests ≥ thresholdShare of sample
100,000+ miles85,55111.49%
150,000+ miles5,9550.8%

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 nowTypical 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 AGroup BTogetherLift
Body, chassis, structureNoise, emissions and leaks4,31812.68×
Noise, emissions and leaksSeat belts and supplementary restraint systems7168.04×
Road WheelsSeat belts and supplementary restraint systems506.99× (rough estimate)
Seat belts and supplementary restraint systemsSteering2356.89× (rough estimate)
Noise, emissions and leaksRoad Wheels1376.83× (rough estimate)
Identification of the vehicleSeat belts and supplementary restraint systems686.71× (rough estimate)
Body, chassis, structureSeat belts and supplementary restraint systems7766.4×
Noise, emissions and leaksSteering5856.11×
Road WheelsSteering455.85× (rough estimate)
Body, chassis, structureSteering7605.82×
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipmentSpeedometer and speed limiter335.51× (rough estimate)
Body, chassis, structureIdentification of the vehicle2105.42× (rough estimate)
Identification of the vehicleNoise, emissions and leaks1525.34× (rough estimate)
Road WheelsTyres2854.93× (rough estimate)
Identification of the vehicleLamps, reflectors and electrical equipment7474.9×
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipmentSeat belts and supplementary restraint systems2,2744.76×
Seat belts and supplementary restraint systemsSuspension2,3914.72×
BrakesNoise, emissions and leaks6,1134.66×
SteeringSuspension2,5414.66×
BrakesSeat belts and supplementary restraint systems2,1424.59×
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipmentNoise, emissions and leaks6,1184.57×
Body, chassis, structureRoad Wheels1254.57× (rough estimate)
Noise, emissions and leaksSuspension6,2184.38×
Identification of the vehicleSteering474.31× (rough estimate)
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipmentRoad Wheels4614.28× (rough estimate)
BrakesSpeedometer and speed limiter254.27× (rough estimate)
Body, chassis, structureSuspension8,2144.24×
BrakesRoad Wheels4354.13× (rough estimate)
Body, chassis, structureLamps, reflectors and electrical equipment7,3484.02×
Body, chassis, structureBrakes7,1414×
BrakesIdentification of the vehicle5963.99×
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipmentSteering2,0173.93×
Road WheelsSuspension4473.92× (rough estimate)
Identification of the vehicleVisibility4473.91× (rough estimate)
Identification of the vehicleTyres3133.82× (rough estimate)
BrakesSteering1,8763.73×
BrakesSuspension26,9193.61×
BrakesLamps, reflectors and electrical equipment25,3183.6×
Noise, emissions and leaksTyres2,5603.56×
Seat belts and supplementary restraint systemsVisibility1,2583.52×
Identification of the vehicleSuspension5693.52×
Seat belts and supplementary restraint systemsTyres8853.45×
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipmentSuspension26,1843.44×
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipmentTyres12,6683.28×
Noise, emissions and leaksVisibility3,2923.28×
Road WheelsVisibility2633.26× (rough estimate)
BrakesTyres11,7243.1×
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipmentVisibility16,0272.98×
Body, chassis, structureTyres2,8002.85×
TyresVisibility8,1392.81×
Body, chassis, structureVisibility3,7772.76×
SuspensionTyres11,1072.71×
SteeringTyres7422.69×
BrakesVisibility13,8252.63×
SteeringVisibility1,0062.61×
SuspensionVisibility13,4382.35×
Noise, emissions and leaksSpeedometer and speed limiter17too few (rough estimate)
Speedometer and speed limiterSuspension15too few (rough estimate)
Speedometer and speed limiterVisibility12too few (rough estimate)
Identification of the vehicleRoad Wheels10too few (rough estimate)
BrakesSeat belt installation check10too few (rough estimate)
Speedometer and speed limiterTyres9too few (rough estimate)
Seat belt installation checkVisibility8too few (rough estimate)
Seat belt installation checkSuspension8too few (rough estimate)
Body, chassis, structureSpeedometer and speed limiter7too few (rough estimate)
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipmentSeat belt installation check7too few (rough estimate)
Seat belt installation checkTyres6too few (rough estimate)
Body, chassis, structureSeat belt installation check5too 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

BandFail %Tests
<5k miles/year20.42%164,314
8–12k miles/year36.56%123,375
Gap (low − normal)-16.14 pp—
By fuel and age

Diesel

AgeLow-use fail %nNormal fail %nGap pp
503026.55113-26.55 pp
69.526329.46258-19.93 pp
718.9915832.55553-13.56 pp
822.1619436.42681-14.25 pp
923.7524041.31823-17.56 pp
1025.7131944.771,014-19.07 pp
1131.7233151.431,083-19.71 pp
1235.0630854.03992-18.97 pp
1336.6528155.2788-18.55 pp
1441.0925857.85605-16.77 pp

Petrol

AgeLow-use fail %nNormal fail %nGap pp
512.0719,01319.612,797-7.53 pp
611.8218,20922.613,055-10.78 pp
712.6918,14227.2113,439-14.52 pp
813.9717,57131.3513,544-17.38 pp
917.5916,18136.5312,569-18.93 pp
1021.714,51342.2211,270-20.51 pp
1126.113,82046.9811,038-20.88 pp
1230.6114,35850.4210,849-19.81 pp
1334.8813,81152.228,926-17.34 pp
1439.0912,88853.046,508-13.95 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

Engine bands against this model's own failure rate at the same ages
FuelCapacityvs own age normRaw fail %Tests
petrolunder 1.0 litre94.217.11%53,173
petrol1.0–1.2 litre94.322.24%353,836
petrol1.5–1.8 litre101.930.81%57,939
petrol1.2–1.5 litre10445.01%215,359
diesel1.2–1.5 litre114.849.02%153 (rough estimate)
diesel1.0–1.2 litre117.542.55%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

Suzuki Swift build year vs the same model at the same age · 100 = as expected — 2024 UK MOT data
Suzuki Swift by build year, tests 2019–2024. Below 100 is better than the model's own age norm.
Every build year with its confidence interval
Build yearvs own age norm95% CIRaw fail %TestsVerdict
202085.180.8–89.49.25%16,184better
201990.387.4–93.211.17%33,528better
201897.695–100.213.2%41,234no different
201794.191.7–96.513.77%42,277better
2016103.1101.1–10516.81%63,681worse
201597.495.8–9918.91%75,054better
20149694.3–97.621.74%61,127better
201396.194.5–97.725.18%53,423better
20129593.5–96.528.75%55,714better
201196.594.9–98.233.1%39,423better
2010104.9103.2–106.540.05%40,028worse
2009106104.6–107.444.17%48,494worse
2008106.1104.8–107.447.21%55,082worse
2007102.1100.9–103.347.73%56,923worse
2006103.3101.7–104.849.87%35,040worse
2005104101.5–106.651.43%12,644worse
200390.781.4–100.146.53%778no different
200293.987.7–10049.1%1,825no different
200189.379.2–99.547.21%627better

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

MOT repairs, budget
£84–160
per test, repairs only
The test itself
£54.85
statutory cap, unchanged since 2010
How the figure is built: chance of failing × typical price of that repair
ComponentFails per 100 testsTypical repairIts priceContribution
Suspension16.2 (nat. 15.36)Suspension coil spring (single corner)£180£29.16
Brakes18.5 (nat. 11.25)Front brake pads (parts + labour, typical hatchback)£150£27.75
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment14.8 (nat. 18.09)Battery replacement (standard 12V lead-acid)£140£20.72
Tyres7.3 (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

Fails per 100 at age 5
13
vehicles needing work
At age 10
28
other cars of this model tested at age 10 in 2024
Repairs per 100
£8,420
plus £5,485 in test fees
Off the road
1d
median; 45.4% cleared same day
Failure rate and typical odometer by age
AgeFailsMedian odometerTestsGap vs age 5
37.59%17,2897,673-5.8 pp
410.75%22,9028,022-2.6 pp
513.34%29,12610,993+0.0 pp
614.59%36,43810,194+1.3 pp
716.8%41,4878,100+3.5 pp
821.07%49,03910,491+7.7 pp
924.18%54,92512,388+10.8 pp
1027.65%60,47810,071+14.3 pp
1130.47%67,9288,760+17.1 pp
1233.34%75,5959,054+20.0 pp
1337.13%79,9676,281+23.8 pp
1443.38%81,9656,070+30.0 pp
1546.14%85,6156,973+32.8 pp
1648.86%92,0307,425+35.5 pp
1749.6%92,6517,177+36.3 pp
1850.32%96,6284,088+37.0 pp
1948.78%95,7591,349+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

How it rusts
3.65×
2.79% of tests record a corrosion defect vs 0.77% typical — age-standardised
Salt Belt exposure
74th
percentile among the models published here, from its tests across 115 postcode areas

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

Suzuki Swift chance the same component fails at the next MOT, given an advisory now — 2024 UK MOT data
Suzuki Swift, advisory → failure conversion by component group, chained tests 2019–2024. Chart labels and rates: Suspension 26.4% · Lamps & electrical 18.7% · Brakes 18% · Visibility 11.4% · Body & chassis 10.9% · Tyres 8.2% · Steering 5.9% · Noise, emissions, leaks 5.2%.
Advisory today → failure at the next test, with how long you have
ComponentFails next timeTypical lead timeMiles of warningAdvisories tracked
Suspension26.4%12 months4,74278,956
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment18.7%12 months5,7077,115
Brakes18.0%12 months4,762139,862
Visibility11.4%12.1 months5,055764
Body, chassis, structure10.9%12 months4,52914,305
Tyres8.2%12 months5,464138,024
Steering5.9%12 months5,4822,646
Noise, emissions and leaks5.2%12 months5,43714,391
Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems4.8%12 months4,4951,359
Identification of the vehicle3.0%12.1 months5,0487,635

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

Probability of each component failing at the next test, by age and last result
AgeLast testMost likely next failuresCars tracked
<3passedVisibility 5.3% · Tyres 2.2% · Brakes 1.3%29,521
<3advisoryVisibility 7.7% · Tyres 3.4% · Brakes 2.6%6,931
<3failureVisibility 7.4% · Tyres 3.9% · Brakes 3.1%3,359
3-5passedVisibility 4.6% · Tyres 2.8% · Brakes 2.3%89,820
3-5advisoryVisibility 6.7% · Tyres 4.8% · Brakes 4.5%36,809
3-5failureVisibility 7.1% · Tyres 5.9% · Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 5.6%22,525
6-8passedLamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 6.0% · Visibility 4.6% · Brakes 4.3%67,152
6-8advisoryLamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 9.2% · Brakes 8.3% · Visibility 7.1%43,167
6-8failureLamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 13.8% · Brakes 10.5% · Visibility 8.6%32,004
9-11passedSuspension 10.7% · Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 9.9% · Brakes 8.8%38,778
9-11advisorySuspension 15.2% · Brakes 14.2% · Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 14.0%37,627
9-11failureSuspension 19.6% · Brakes 18.6% · Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 18.6%44,033
12-14passedSuspension 20.0% · Brakes 13.5% · Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 13.4%23,957
12-14advisorySuspension 26.0% · Brakes 17.9% · Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 17.5%32,250
12-14failureSuspension 29.5% · Brakes 22.5% · Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 22.1%47,560
15-19passedSuspension 21.0% · Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 15.4% · Brakes 13.9%7,117
15-19advisorySuspension 28.0% · Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 21.0% · Brakes 17.8%10,911
15-19failureSuspension 31.1% · Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 26.4% · Brakes 21.6%17,507
20+passedBody, chassis, structure 9.8% · Suspension 9.8% · Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 7.4%580
20+advisoryBody, chassis, structure 17.5% · Suspension 15.7% · Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 14.4%606
20+failureLamps, 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

Fixed same day
45.4%
of failures re-tested
Fails /10k miles
0.537
miles actually driven
Clean streaks
37.44%
3+ tests, nothing noted
Odometer anomaly
1.594%
reading went backwards

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

Suzuki Swift recall campaigns launched per year — 2024 UK MOT data
Campaigns launched per year for the Suzuki Swift. Source: DVSA vehicle safety recalls. Chart values: 2011: 2 · 2012: 1 · 2013: 0 · 2014: 2 · 2015: 0 · 2016: 2 · 2017: 0 · 2018: 3 · 2019: 1 · 2020: 0 · 2021: 0 · 2022: 2 · 2023: 0 · 2024: 0 · 2025: 1.
Most recent safety recall campaigns for the Suzuki Swift
ReferenceLaunchedVehiclesConcern
R/2025/05017/02/20253,570Measures Against Loosening of Steering Shaft Nut
R/2022/26701/12/202271,508Some vehicles have an inappropriate design and material on check valve of vacuum pump
R/2022/26701/12/202271,508Some vehicles have an inappropriate design and material on check valve of vacuum pump
R/2019/18612/06/201922,437UNINTENDED ACTIVATION OF THE SIDE AIR BAG CURTAIN AIR BAG AND SEAT PRE TENSIONER MAY OCCUR
R/2018/07826/03/20182,247INTEGRATED STARTER GENERATOR BELT BELT MAY FAIL
All 21 campaigns
ReferenceLaunchedBuild datesVehiclesConcern
R/2025/05017/02/202501/06/2022 – 06/01/20233,570Measures Against Loosening of Steering Shaft Nut
R/2022/26701/12/202207/10/2017 – 12/06/201971,508Some vehicles have an inappropriate design and material on check valve of vacuum pump
R/2022/26701/12/202222/01/2018 – 29/12/202071,508Some vehicles have an inappropriate design and material on check valve of vacuum pump
R/2019/18612/06/201903/02/2017 – 13/02/201922,437UNINTENDED ACTIVATION OF THE SIDE AIR BAG CURTAIN AIR BAG AND SEAT PRE TENSIONER MAY OCCUR
R/2018/07826/03/201803/02/2017 – 13/03/20172,247INTEGRATED STARTER GENERATOR BELT BELT MAY FAIL
R/2018/07113/03/201807/01/2017 – 01/11/20176,313BATTERY MAY FAIL TO CHARGE WHICH COULD CAUSE ENGINE TO STALL AND LIGHTS TO FADE
R/2018/07113/03/201824/02/2017 – 01/11/20176,313BATTERY MAY FAIL TO CHARGE WHICH COULD CAUSE ENGINE TO STALL AND LIGHTS TO FADE
R/2016/10620/06/201601/09/2014 – 22/12/20158,045BRAKING EFFICIENCY MAY BE REDUCED
R/2016/04108/03/201629/10/2015 – 17/12/20152,760REAR AXLE MAY FAIL
R/2014/10530/10/201411/09/2013 – 11/11/20131,568ENGINE FAILURE MAY OCCUR
R/2014/04524/04/201422/03/2013 – 10/02/20146,376BRAKE FLUID MAY LEAK
R/2011/15512/01/201201/06/2011 – 31/07/2011215ESP MAY NOT FUNCTION CORRECTLY
R/2011/03305/05/20112TYRE MAY FOUL BODY
R/2010/16010/01/201101/10/1997 – 01/10/200226,765STEERING CONTROL COULD BE LOST
R/2009/08726/10/200929,987REAR SEATBELT ANCHORAGES MAY FAIL
R/2008/17812/01/200931,872BOOT LIGHT MAY CATCH FIRE
R/2008/09915/09/200815,078AIRBAG MAY DEPLOY INADVERTENTLY
R/2007/08610/09/200718,352HANDBRAKE MAY FAIL
R/2007/00922/01/200719/09/2005 – 23/09/20052BRAKES MAY FAIL
R/2001/00702/03/200111/08/2000 – 30/11/2000521CHAFING ELECTRICAL WIRING CONCERN
R/2000/14415/12/200002/08/2000 – 15/08/2000369POSSIBLE 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

Same model, different national inspection regimes
CountryTestThis model failsNational averagePositionSample
United KingdomMOT (class 4)27.77%26.01%+1.8 pp136,007
NetherlandsAPK54.5%50.8%+3.7 pp72,077
NorwayPKK34%33.7%+0.3 pp7,817
FinlandKatsastus19.4%26.3%-6.9 pp2,245

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.

What Finland fails it for — share of recorded faults
Fault areaShare
Axles, wheels and suspension50.1%
Brake systems27%
Environmental hazards9.5%
Chassis and body5.6%
Other equipment and accessories2.8%

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.

The exact faults Netherlands records — APK defect codes, 2024
CodeFaultRecordedType
210Tyre pressure not at the correct value12,678failure
205Tyre with insufficient tread8,071failure
497Number-plate light not working or missing7,773failure
584Sidelight not working properly7,430failure
391Wipers leave insufficient visibility6,126failure
516Dipped headlight incorrectly aimed5,450failure
AC1Tyre down to 1.6–2.5 mm of tread5,115advisory
203Tyre damaged3,553failure

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

All Suzuki MOT statistics

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.