MOT Risk Index.co.uk

Volkswagen Passat — MOT statistics 2024

The Volkswagen Passat failed 28.9% of 190,397 first MOT attempts in 2024 ("first-time", excluding retests). Adjusted for the age of the fleet, its initial-failure ratio is 92.4 (100 = expected for its age profile). This car fails its MOT about 8% less often than expected for its age.

MOT risk index 92.4, 95% CI 91.8–93.1 (100 = national average) 100 92.4 0 200
Index
92.4
100 = age-normal
Raw fail rate
28.9%
n = 190,397
Dangerous /100
14
national ≈11
Diesel − petrol
+6.3 pp
fail-rate gap
Rank
375 of 761
lower index = better

Age-adjusted peer: Seat Leon (index 91.9) — the two published results are 0.5 index points apart.

Volkswagen Passat common problems: what actually fails the MOT

Body, chassis, structure stand out at 9.9 per 100 tests, against 6.1 per 100 tests across UK vehicles of the same ages.

higher bar = fails more oftenrate per 100 tests

Volkswagen Passat 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
Suspension20.1267,85017.11.17×1.17–1.18
Lamps & electrical17.4231,18119.60.89×0.88–0.89
Tyres12.6167,9839.21.37×1.36–1.38
Body & structure9.9131,9136.11.61×1.61–1.62
Brakes9.7129,46712.80.76×0.76–0.77
Visibility7.8104,0898.30.94×0.93–0.94
Named defects — items per 100 initial tests, this family vs UK national average; this model measured on 1,330,863 tests, 2019-2024, national column 2024
What failedper 100 tests (this family)per 100 tests (UK average)ratio family / UKWhat to check
Driveshaft boot perished (minor)A transmission shaft constant velocity joint boot severely deteriorated4.161.482.81×Look behind the front wheels for cracked rubber boots; once a boot splits, the joint wears out quickly.
Worn suspension bush or jointA suspension pin, bush or joint excessively worn7.264.871.49×Listen for knocks over speed bumps, feel for the car wandering under braking, and ask which part was replaced.
Tyre cords showing or damagedA tyre cords visible or damaged3.471.632.13×Check the inner edges of the front tyres, where cords show first, and ask whether the alignment was checked.
Tyre tread below the legal limitTyre tread depth not in accordance with the requirements5.393.591.50×Check the tread across every tyre with a gauge; wear on one edge points to a tracking fault.
Driveshaft boot split or missingA transmission shaft constant velocity joint boot missing or no longer prevents the ingress of dirt etc3.091.561.98×Check the boot was replaced, then drive slowly on full lock both ways: a clicking noise means the joint itself is worn.
Suspension joint cover split or missingA suspension joint dust cover missing or no longer prevents the ingress of dirt etc3.191.781.79×Ask whether the ball joint was replaced along with its cover: a joint that ran unprotected wears quickly and knocks over bumps.
Windscreen or window damaged (minor)Windscreen or window damaged or seriously discoloured but not adversely affecting driver's view3.612.361.53×Look for chips and cracks across the windscreen: chips spread, and larger damage in front of the driver fails.
Broken or weakened suspension springA spring or spring component fractured or seriously weakened3.972.861.39×Look behind each wheel at the coil springs for a snapped end, and check the car sits level from side to side.
Headlight aimed wronglyThe aim of a headlamp is not within limits laid down in the requirements3.222.571.25×Shine the dipped beams at a wall after dark: both should sit at the same height.
Tyre badly cut or damagedA tyre seriously damaged2.542.541.00×Check both sidewalls of every tyre, including the inner side, for cuts, bulges and tears.

Named defects ranked by how much more often they appear than the national average — not by raw rate.

Volkswagen Passat MOT advisories: what gets flagged

Tyres are highest at 45.5 per 100 tests; Identification is lowest at 4.0 per 100 tests — the gap is 41.5 per 100 tests.

higher bar = flagged more oftenadvisory items per 100 initial tests

Volkswagen Passat MOT advisories: what gets flagged — 2024 UK MOT data
Advisory rates table
GroupAdvisories per 100
Tyres45.5
Suspension44.7
Brakes36.5
Non-component advisories7.3
Emissions & leaks4.9
Identification4

Advisories are wear the tester noted but didn't fail — what will need money soon.

Tyres, brakes and suspension: Volkswagen Passat against cars of the same age

AgePartVolkswagen PassatSame age, petrol and dieselDifference
3 yearsTyres6.654.172.48
3 yearsBrakes2.131.770.36
3 yearsSuspension0.950.630.32
4 yearsTyres6.464.541.92
4 yearsBrakes2.562.430.13
4 yearsSuspension21.210.79
5 yearsTyres6.425.061.36
5 yearsBrakes2.443.09-0.65
5 yearsSuspension3.32.191.11
6 yearsTyres6.895.541.35
6 yearsBrakes2.863.81-0.95
6 yearsSuspension4.863.721.14
7 yearsTyres7.615.951.66
7 yearsBrakes3.44.55-1.15
7 yearsSuspension6.855.681.17
8 yearsTyres86.311.69
8 yearsBrakes4.235.38-1.15
8 yearsSuspension9.197.781.41

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 failed34.9%67,438
It passed25.6%683,835

A failed test raises next year's chance of failing again by 9.3 percentage points. The failure most likely to come back is lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment — 36.0% 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 1,324,490 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 only97.2fails less often than expected
Age and annual mileage86.6fails less often than vehicles driven as much
Share doing under 3,000 miles a year0.8%a normal spread of use

Mileage matters here: matching on how much these are driven moves the figure by 10.6 points — this fleet works harder than the vehicles it is measured against, so the age-only view penalises it — but it does not change which side of normal the car sits on. 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 Volkswagen Passat 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.

AgeVolkswagen PassatSame class, same ageDifferenceTests
3 years16.28%11.6%+4.68 pp67,153
4 years15.56%13.24%+2.32 pp75,486
5 years16.56%15.03%+1.53 pp82,216
6 years19.03%17.29%+1.74 pp87,984
7 years22.08%20.09%+1.98 pp93,749
8 years25.09%23.15%+1.94 pp99,223
9 years28.81%26.66%+2.15 pp96,744
10 years32.21%29.95%+2.27 pp96,126
11 years34.98%33.39%+1.59 pp95,846
12 years36.94%36.44%+0.5 pp98,704
13 years39.21%38.87%+0.33 pp94,109
14 years41.18%40.82%+0.36 pp81,112
15 years41.8%42.33%-0.53 pp69,197
16 years42.85%43.14%-0.3 pp56,256
17 years44.15%43.49%+0.66 pp42,899
18 years44.58%43.59%+0.98 pp30,680
19 years44.63%43.14%+1.48 pp21,256
20 years45.18%42.33%+2.84 pp14,850

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 Volkswagen Passat perform as it gets older?

The Passat at age 15 is well below the reference at 36.1%, against 41.6% for all vehicles of the same age.

higher = larger sharecompare shares in percentage points

How does the Volkswagen Passat perform as it gets older? — 2024 UK MOT data

Chart axes: car age, years · failure-rate scale 0–47%.

Takeaway: a 10-year-old Passat has roughly a 28% chance of failing its MOT.

Data table
AgeVolkswagen PassatAll vehiclesGap
313.5%12.4%+1.1 pp
411.2%13.1%-1.9 pp
513.2%15.1%-1.9 pp
614.5%17.5%-3.0 pp
718.1%20.2%-2.1 pp
820.1%23.3%-3.3 pp
922.0%26.5%-4.5 pp
1028.4%30.1%-1.7 pp
1132.0%33.2%-1.2 pp
1234.3%35.7%-1.4 pp
1335.3%38.2%-2.8 pp
1437.5%40.4%-2.9 pp
1536.1%41.6%-5.5 pp
1639.1%43.1%-4.0 pp
1740.7%43.1%-2.4 pp
1843.4%43.9%-0.5 pp
1942.2%43.5%-1.3 pp
2042.4%41.0%+1.3 pp

Is a Volkswagen Passat ULEZ compliant?

The share of classifiable 2024 Volkswagen Passat MOT tests likely ULEZ compliant by first-registration date is 35.9%.

Based on 189,314 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 = 217
3–5 years100.0%
Check a registration with TfL
n = 17,255
6–7 years100.0%
Check a registration with TfL
n = 25,073
8 years100.0%
Check a registration with TfL
n = 15,318
9 years40.1%
Check a registration with TfL
n = 15,716
10–14 years1.9%
Check a registration with TfL
n = 68,953
15–17 years6.3%
Check a registration with TfL
n = 28,446
18 years12.7%
Check a registration with TfL
n = 5,336
19 years0.0%
Check a registration with TfL
n = 3,890
20+ years0.0%
Check a registration with TfL
n = 9,110

Volkswagen Passat petrol vs diesel: which ages best

Diesel is highest at 29.8%; Hybrid is lowest at 14.4% — the gap is 15.4 percentage points.

higher = larger sharecompare shares in percentage points

Volkswagen Passat petrol vs diesel: which ages best — 2024 UK MOT data
Fuel split table
FuelTests% failingGap vs best
Diesel170,88629.8%+15.4 pp
Petrol13,73423.5%+9.1 pp
Hybrid5,76514.4%+0.0 pp

Chart sample sizes: n=171k · n=14k · n=5,765.

How dangerous are Volkswagen Passat MOT failures?

Minor defects stand out at 18.5 per 100 tests, against 14.2 per 100 tests nationally.

higher bar = fails more oftenrate per 100 tests

How dangerous are Volkswagen Passat MOT failures? — 2024 UK MOT data
Severity table
SeverityThis family /100National /100Family / national
Minor18.5314.221.30×
Major52.7652.751.00×
Dangerous14.2511.151.28×

Chart values: Minor 18.5 · Major 52.8 · Dangerous 14.3.

Per 100 tests on this family. National average: Minor 14.2 · Major 52.8 · Dangerous 11.2 per 100.

Does the month of a Volkswagen Passat MOT matter?

Jan is highest at 32.5%; Jun is lowest at 29.5% — the gap is 3.0 percentage points.

higher = larger sharecompare shares in percentage points

Does the month of a Volkswagen Passat MOT matter? — 2024 UK MOT data

Chart scale: 27%–34%.

bars: Volkswagen Passat · dashed: all class-4 cars

Month-by-month table
MonthVolkswagen PassatAll vehiclesGap
Jan32.5%31.12%+1.4 pp
Feb31.81%29.99%+1.8 pp
Mar30.55%28.26%+2.3 pp
Apr31.56%29.78%+1.8 pp
May30%28.79%+1.2 pp
Jun29.5%28.15%+1.4 pp
Jul30.88%29.33%+1.6 pp
Aug30.44%29.2%+1.2 pp
Sep30%28.19%+1.8 pp
Oct31.48%30.34%+1.1 pp
Nov31.16%30.58%+0.6 pp
Dec30.06%29.33%+0.7 pp

Takeaway: the spread between best and worst month is 3.0 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.

Volkswagen Passat average mileage by age

At age 8, the middle half of Passats runs from 71,763 miles to 127,104 miles, against 95,551 miles as the median.

further right = more milesmedian is the typical car; band is p25–p75

Bars: Volkswagen Passat · dashed: all class-4 cars — 2024 UK MOT data

Chart axes: car age, years · odometer scale 0–206k mi.

Does high mileage mean more Volkswagen Passat MOT failures at the same age?

Within the same age group, split by odometer (2024 MOTs), so this separates wear from age: at ages 10–14, 14.4% of those with under 40,000 miles failed first time versus 36.7% of those with over 140,000 miles.Inside this age group, higher mileage goes with more failures.

Does high mileage mean more Volkswagen Passat MOT failures at the same age? — 2024 UK MOT data
Volkswagen Passat: first-time failure by mileage within each age group (2024)
AgeOdometer% failing95% intervalTests
3–5<40k miles9.6%8.8–10.3%5,775
3–540-70k miles12.4%11.6–13.2%7,242
3–570-100k miles16.5%15.2–17.9%2,796
3–5100-140k miles18.9%16.7–21.3%1,143
3–5140k+ miles15.4%11.8–20%298 (rough estimate)
6–9<40k miles10.5%9.5–11.7%3,077
6–940-70k miles14%13.4–14.6%13,147
6–970-100k miles19.8%19.2–20.4%16,845
6–9100-140k miles22.9%22.2–23.6%14,027
6–9140k+ miles21.7%20.9–22.6%8,997
10–14<40k miles14.4%12–17.1%745
10–1440-70k miles23.6%22.4–24.9%4,653
10–1470-100k miles29.2%28.4–30%12,503
10–14100-140k miles34.2%33.6–34.8%23,471
10–14140k+ miles36.7%36.1–37.2%27,556
15+<40k miles19.7%14.9–25.6%208 (rough estimate)
15+40-70k miles29.3%27.1–31.6%1,575
15+70-100k miles35%33.7–36.4%4,705
15+100-140k miles39.3%38.5–40.2%13,552
15+140k+ miles42.1%41.5–42.7%26,701

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

Mileage by age (p25 / median / p75)
Agep25Medianp75Tests
329,74243,32260,0453,736
432,69446,57564,4666,101
540,13456,34979,9777,418
651,63871,42197,38510,951
761,35383,732112,30114,122
871,76395,551127,10415,318
980,780105,919137,22515,716
1082,600109,047143,92515,004
1192,620119,382151,85712,333
12102,940130,537162,30713,990
13112,181139,355169,74716,372
14111,643138,694169,00411,255
15110,679139,292168,59611,203
16118,482145,932174,9699,276
17121,742149,050178,3437,967
18121,437150,976179,3785,337
19121,679153,174185,8163,890
20+121,846157,561195,7779,117

A typical 8-year-old Passat has ~95,551 miles on the clock. Much more — ask why; much less — check for gaps in the MOT history.

Where in Britain the Volkswagen Passat fails its MOT most

Truro area is highest at 44.1%; Enfield area is lowest at 24.1% — the gap is 20.0 percentage points.

higher = larger sharecompare shares in percentage points

Where in Britain the Volkswagen Passat fails its MOT most — 2024 UK MOT data
Toughest areas% failingvs model overall
Truro (TR)44.09%+13.2 pp
Plymouth (PL)41.18%+10.3 pp
Exeter (EX)40.85%+10.0 pp
Torquay (TQ)40.44%+9.6 pp
Llandrindod Wells (LD)39.24%+8.4 pp
Easiest areas% failingvs model overall
Enfield (EN)24.06%-6.8 pp
Ilford (IG)24.43%-6.4 pp
Slough (SL)24.7%-6.2 pp
Croydon (CR)25.04%-5.8 pp
Sutton (SM)25.1%-5.8 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 areas with the highest mot centre density this model fails 7.7 pp more often than in the lowest fifth (r=0.55, n=116 areas with ≥800 tests).

In areas with the highest urban share this model fails 7.1 pp less often than in the lowest fifth (r=-0.54, n=116 areas with ≥800 tests).

In the most coastal fifth of areas this model fails 5.1 pp more often than in the most inland fifth (r=-0.38, n=116 areas with ≥800 tests).

Volkswagen Passat Why do areas differ? — 2024 UK MOT data
Values shown in the quintile chart
FactorLow QHigh QGapCorrelation
MOT centre density26.8%34.6%+7.8 ppr=0.55
Urban share34.1%27.0%-7.1 ppr=-0.54
Distance to coast34.3%29.1%-5.2 ppr=-0.38

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
MOT centre density (per 10k vehicles)0.55311626.834.6+7.758.9
Urban share (0–1)-0.53811634.127.0-7.10.41
Distance to coast (km)-0.37711634.329.1-5.1678.7
Terrain gradient (% grade)0.3346930.533.8+3.20.54.2
Income deprivation (score)-0.1869730.528.9-1.60.10.2
Frost days (days/year)0.09711632.032.0+0.011.838
Road-salt proxy (g/m²-yr)0.09511630.932.0+1.1223674.9

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: 26%–39% failing.

Volkswagen Passat survival: which cars are still on the road

By age 19 is well below the reference at 26.0%, against 100.0% at the ages 4–6 reference level.

higher = larger sharecompare shares in percentage points

Volkswagen Passat 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 %
367,15382%16.28%
475,48692.2%15.56%
582,216100%16.56%
687,984100%19.03%
793,749100%22.08%
899,223100%25.09%
996,744100%28.81%
1096,126100%32.21%
1195,846100%34.98%
1298,704100%36.94%
1394,109100%39.21%
1481,11299%41.18%
1569,19784.5%41.8%
1656,25668.7%42.85%
1742,89952.4%44.15%
1830,68037.5%44.58%
1921,25626%44.63%

By age 19, only about 26% as many cars of this family present for MOT as at ages 4–6 (reference n≈81,895); survivors still fail at 44.6% vs 15.6% at age 4. Older cars that still appear are a selected subset — weaker ones have already left.

How many miles does a Volkswagen Passat last?

100,000+ miles is highest at 57.8%; 200,000+ miles is lowest at 6.9% — the gap is 50.9 percentage points.

higher = larger sharecompare shares in percentage points

OdometerTests ≥ thresholdShare of sample
100,000+ miles765,62757.75%
150,000+ miles332,62425.09%
200,000+ miles91,2106.88%

Of 1,325,825 tests of this family with a usable odometer in 2024, 57.8% had reached 100k miles, 25.1% had reached 150k miles, 6.9% had reached 200k miles. This is a cross-section of cars still presenting for MOT, not a full birth cohort.

How many years is a Volkswagen Passat likely to last?

Bought at age 5 is highest at 12.2 years; Bought at age 15 is lowest at 2.7 years — the gap is 9.5 years.

bigger number = longer remaining lifeyears on the observed survival curve

Age nowTypical mileage (p50)Expected years left
5—12.2
8—9.2
10—7.2
12—5.2
15—at least 2.7

estimateEstimate only — not a warranty: a typical 10-year-old example of this family has about 7.2 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.

Volkswagen Passat faults that come together

Identification + Road Wheels stand out at 6.43×, against 1.00× if the faults were independent.

above 1.0× = more than expectedbelow 1.0× = less

Group AGroup BTogetherLift
Identification of the vehicleRoad Wheels1016.43× (rough estimate)
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipmentSpeedometer and speed limiter236.41× (rough estimate)
Road WheelsSeat belts and supplementary restraint systems3154.98× (rough estimate)
Buses and coaches supplementary testsLamps, reflectors and electrical equipment204.97× (rough estimate)
Identification of the vehicleNoise, emissions and leaks8994.85×
Identification of the vehicleSteering3154.83× (rough estimate)
BrakesSteering4,7824.81×
Noise, emissions and leaksSeat belts and supplementary restraint systems3,5434.75×
Identification of the vehicleSeat belts and supplementary restraint systems3714.63× (rough estimate)
Noise, emissions and leaksRoad Wheels6724.6×
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipmentSeat belt installation check274.51× (rough estimate)
Road WheelsSteering2184.24× (rough estimate)
Identification of the vehicleLamps, reflectors and electrical equipment2,3474.19×
BrakesRoad Wheels9974.17×
BrakesIdentification of the vehicle1,2514.12×
BrakesNoise, emissions and leaks11,2854×
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipmentSeat belts and supplementary restraint systems8,9133.95×
BrakesSeat belts and supplementary restraint systems4,8163.94×
Noise, emissions and leaksSteering2,3903.94×
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipmentRoad Wheels1,6963.84×
Seat belts and supplementary restraint systemsSteering9963.79×
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipmentNoise, emissions and leaks19,6483.77×
Body, chassis, structureNoise, emissions and leaks14,5043.72×
Body, chassis, structureSteering5,0293.67×
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipmentSteering6,6273.61×
Road WheelsTyres1,2303.56×
Body, chassis, structureIdentification of the vehicle1,4013.34×
Road WheelsSuspension1,7333.3×
Body, chassis, structureRoad Wheels1,0593.21×
Identification of the vehicleSuspension2,1223.19×
Identification of the vehicleTyres1,3933.18×
Identification of the vehicleVisibility1,1123.17×
BrakesLamps, reflectors and electrical equipment26,8543.15×
Body, chassis, structureSeat belts and supplementary restraint systems5,2853.13×
Noise, emissions and leaksSuspension19,1343.09×
SteeringSuspension6,6573.06×
Seat belts and supplementary restraint systemsTyres5,4063.06×
Body, chassis, structureLamps, reflectors and electrical equipment35,9723.05×
Seat belts and supplementary restraint systemsSuspension7,8982.95×
BrakesSuspension29,3352.89×
Body, chassis, structureBrakes18,3762.88×
Noise, emissions and leaksTyres11,6152.85×
BrakesTyres18,8662.82×
Road WheelsVisibility7482.7×
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipmentSuspension50,2002.68×
Seat belts and supplementary restraint systemsVisibility3,6842.61×
Noise, emissions and leaksVisibility8,3772.57×
Body, chassis, structureSuspension35,5862.54×
SteeringTyres3,5202.45×
SteeringVisibility2,7922.43×
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipmentVisibility23,8232.42×
SuspensionTyres34,1712.33×
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipmentTyres28,7142.33×
BrakesVisibility11,8402.21×
Body, chassis, structureVisibility14,9542.03×
TyresVisibility15,4882.01×
Body, chassis, structureTyres17,5161.9×
SuspensionVisibility21,9201.87×
Seat belt installation checkSuspension18too few (rough estimate)
Buses and coaches supplementary testsSuspension17too few (rough estimate)
Body, chassis, structureSpeedometer and speed limiter15too few (rough estimate)
BrakesBuses and coaches supplementary tests14too few (rough estimate)
Seat belt installation checkVisibility14too few (rough estimate)
Body, chassis, structureSeat belt installation check14too few (rough estimate)
Seat belt installation checkTyres13too few (rough estimate)
Buses and coaches supplementary testsVisibility12too few (rough estimate)
Speedometer and speed limiterSuspension12too few (rough estimate)
BrakesSpeedometer and speed limiter11too few (rough estimate)
Noise, emissions and leaksSeat belt installation check11too few (rough estimate)
BrakesSeat belt installation check11too few (rough estimate)
Noise, emissions and leaksSpeedometer and speed limiter9too few (rough estimate)
Body, chassis, structureBuses and coaches supplementary tests9too few (rough estimate)
Buses and coaches supplementary testsTyres8too few (rough estimate)
Speedometer and speed limiterVisibility7too few (rough estimate)
Speedometer and speed limiterTyres7too few (rough estimate)
Buses and coaches supplementary testsSeat belts and supplementary restraint systems6too few (rough estimate)
Road WheelsSeat belt installation check5too few (rough estimate)
Buses and coaches supplementary testsSteering5too few (rough estimate)
Seat belt installation checkSteering5too few (rough estimate)
Seat belt installation checkSeat belts and supplementary restraint systems5too few (rough estimate)
Buses and coaches supplementary testsNoise, emissions and leaks5too few (rough estimate)

Defects in «Identification of the vehicle» and «Noise, emissions and leaks» appear together 4.85× more often than chance (899 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 Volkswagen Passat?

Cars driven under 5,000 miles a year is well below the reference at 18.8%, against 28.9% for cars driven 8,000–12,000 miles a year.

higher = larger sharecompare shares in percentage points

BandFail %Tests
<5k miles/year18.8%30,797
8–12k miles/year28.86%341,761
Gap (low − normal)-10.06 pp—
By fuel and age

Diesel

AgeLow-use fail %nNormal fail %nGap pp
59.662,50614.7820,345-5.12 pp
610.562,61417.2423,797-6.68 pp
712.122,76320.2327,364-8.11 pp
812.572,78523.7730,823-11.21 pp
916.912,63828.0932,054-11.18 pp
1019.732,70732.0334,338-12.3 pp
1123.292,41335.0337,044-11.74 pp
1226.612,39837.1441,650-10.53 pp
1327.752,40739.5842,686-11.82 pp
1431.782,39842.1538,921-10.38 pp

Petrol

AgeLow-use fail %nNormal fail %nGap pp
58.9574911.781,579-2.83 pp
68.2444914.93891-6.69 pp
77.2519318.31295-11.05 pp
814.5814425.81248-11.22 pp
91522028.97390-13.97 pp
1017.1442034.54802-17.4 pp
1119.8953834.011,041-14.12 pp
1223.1661338.131,251-14.96 pp
1327.6692441,682-16.39 pp
1430.8880044.661,807-13.78 pp

At matched ages 5–14, cars averaging under 5k miles/year fail at 18.8% vs 28.9% for 8–12k miles/year — 10.1 pp lower (n_low=30,797, n_normal=341,761). 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. Diesel alone: 18.8% low-use vs 28.7% normal (-9.9 pp).

Which Volkswagen Passat engine is best?

diesel 1.5–1.8 is highest at 105.7; petrol 1.2–1.5 is lowest at 75.9 — the gap is 29.8 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
petrol1.2–1.5 litre75.914.3%22,208
petrolover 2.0 litre80.433.08%5,444
dieselover 2.0 litre9440.91%1,276 (rough estimate)
diesel1.8–2.0 litre99.731.66%1,066,075
petrol1.5–1.8 litre10140%22,684
petrol1.8–2.0 litre102.141.9%33,246
diesel1.5–1.8 litre105.725.84%158,973

Splitting this model by fuel alone hides the thing that actually differs. Within the same badge, the diesel 1.5–1.8 runs at 105.7 against this model's own age norm while the petrol 1.2–1.5 runs at 75.9 — a spread of 29.8 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 Volkswagen Passat, and the years to avoid

Build year 2000 is highest at 107.9; Build year 2020 is lowest at 78.9 — the gap is 29.0 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

Volkswagen Passat build year vs the same model at the same age · 100 = as expected — 2024 UK MOT data
Volkswagen Passat 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
202078.974.9–8312.18%12,158better
201986.383.3–89.313.48%23,088better
201895.192.9–97.315.62%45,612better
201790.288.6–91.815.75%77,107better
201695.894.4–97.318.14%97,150better
201593.392–94.619.48%100,863better
2014103101.7–104.424.37%94,832worse
2013102.1100.8–103.527.19%79,848worse
2012101.9100.7–103.130.08%95,118worse
201199.198.1–100.132.09%114,070no different
2010102.4101.2–103.535.89%82,866worse
200998.397.2–99.436.65%89,098better
200898.997.9–10038.67%84,877no different
2007100.399.3–101.440.79%85,981no different
2006106.3105–107.544.77%65,864worse
2005101.7100.3–103.144.03%48,329worse
200499.798.2–101.243.94%38,725no different
200399.998.3–101.544.75%33,703no different
2002101.199.2–103.145.94%22,605no different
2001102.7100–105.347.09%12,340no different
2000107.9103.8–11249.87%5,348worse
1999107.5102.7–112.450.39%3,725worse
199810295.5–108.548.23%1,976no different

The best build year here is 2020 and the weakest is 2000. 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 — 14 of 23 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.

Volkswagen Passat MOT repair costs

The MOT-failure repair budget per test runs from £86.43 to £164.22, against £54.85 for the test itself.

bigger number = costs morepounds per test, MOT-failing faults only

MOT repairs, budget
£86–164
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
Suspension20.1 (nat. 15.36)Suspension coil spring (single corner)£180£36.18
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment17.4 (nat. 18.09)Battery replacement (standard 12V lead-acid)£140£24.36
Brakes9.7 (nat. 11.25)Front brake pads (parts + labour, typical hatchback)£150£14.55
Tyres12.6 (nat. 8.7)Tyre (single mid-range 16" fitted)£90£11.34

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 £86 to £164, 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.

Volkswagen Passat 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
£8,643
plus £5,485 in test fees
Off the road
1d
median; 42.84% cleared same day
Failure rate and typical odometer by age
AgeFailsMedian odometerTestsGap vs age 5
313.54%43,3223,736+0.3 pp
411.23%46,5756,101-2.0 pp
513.22%56,3497,418+0.0 pp
614.46%71,42110,951+1.2 pp
718.1%83,73214,122+4.9 pp
820.07%95,55115,318+6.8 pp
921.99%105,91915,716+8.8 pp
1028.37%109,04715,004+15.2 pp
1131.96%119,38212,333+18.7 pp
1234.27%130,53713,990+21.1 pp
1335.33%139,35516,372+22.1 pp
1437.48%138,69411,255+24.3 pp
1536.12%139,29211,203+22.9 pp
1639.14%145,9329,276+25.9 pp
1740.68%149,0507,967+27.5 pp
1843.4%150,9765,337+30.2 pp
1942.24%153,1743,890+29.0 pp

The number a fleet manager needs is not the failure rate, it is the year the car starts costing more. Between cars aged 9 and cars aged 10, both tested in 2024, the failure rate of this model is 6.38 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.

Volkswagen Passat rust problems: where they corrode

Age-standardised corrosion susceptibility stands out at 1.28×, against 1.00× for the national age-standardised rate.

above 1.0× = rusts more than averagebelow 1.0× = rusts less

How it rusts
1.28×
0.98% of tests record a corrosion defect vs 0.77% typical — age-standardised
Salt Belt exposure
64th
percentile among the models published here, from its tests across 116 postcode areas

This Volkswagen Passat fails on corrosion more often than average once age is held constant, and its owners live in areas that are about typical 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 Volkswagen Passat advisory become a failure?

Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment are highest at 31.0%; Identification of the vehicle is lowest at 3.5% — the gap is 27.5 percentage points.

higher = more likelypercentage is the observed transition probability

chance the same component fails at the next MOT, given an advisory now

Volkswagen Passat chance the same component fails at the next MOT, given an advisory now — 2024 UK MOT data
Volkswagen Passat, advisory → failure conversion by component group, chained tests 2019–2024. Chart labels and rates: Lamps & electrical 31% · Body & chassis 21.8% · Suspension 20.6% · Steering 12.3% · Tyres 11.6% · Visibility 9.4% · Brakes 9.1% · Noise, emissions, leaks 8.2%.
Advisory today → failure at the next test, with how long you have
ComponentFails next timeTypical lead timeMiles of warningAdvisories tracked
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment31.0%12.1 months6,05216,482
Body, chassis, structure21.8%12.1 months6,08316,163
Suspension20.6%12 months7,352223,572
Steering12.3%12.1 months5,5966,669
Tyres11.6%12 months7,824274,023
Visibility9.4%12 months8,5961,308
Brakes9.1%12 months6,768219,809
Noise, emissions and leaks8.2%12.1 months6,34339,239
Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems5.0%12 months7,5635,850
Identification of the vehicle3.5%12.1 months7,30333,267

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 31 in 100 cars, and the median gap is 12.1 months and roughly 6,052 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 Volkswagen Passat?

Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment after a failure at age 20+ are highest at 32.1%; Brakes after a passed at age <3 are lowest at 1.9% — the gap is 30.2 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
<3passedTyres 5.6% · Visibility 5.4% · Brakes 1.9%27,737
<3advisoryTyres 6.8% · Visibility 6.1% · Brakes 2.9%13,268
<3failureTyres 7.5% · Visibility 6.3% · Brakes 3.2%7,630
3-5passedTyres 5.3% · Visibility 4.1% · Suspension 3.3%105,297
3-5advisoryTyres 7.3% · Visibility 5.5% · Suspension 4.7%62,386
3-5failureTyres 8.2% · Visibility 6.1% · Suspension 5.6%33,516
6-8passedSuspension 7.7% · Tyres 5.9% · Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 4.0%97,430
6-8advisorySuspension 11.0% · Tyres 8.8% · Visibility 6.0%79,115
6-8failureSuspension 13.2% · Tyres 11.2% · Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 8.4%57,372
9-11passedSuspension 14.7% · Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 8.8% · Tyres 7.3%76,132
9-11advisorySuspension 18.9% · Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 11.8% · Tyres 9.9%77,838
9-11failureSuspension 21.1% · Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 15.1% · Tyres 12.4%78,888
12-14passedSuspension 15.6% · Body, chassis, structure 12.8% · Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 12.5%49,953
12-14advisorySuspension 20.1% · Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 17.0% · Body, chassis, structure 16.2%62,475
12-14failureSuspension 22.9% · Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 21.1% · Body, chassis, structure 19.1%74,178
15-19passedBody, chassis, structure 16.6% · Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 15.4% · Suspension 11.8%28,120
15-19advisoryLamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 23.6% · Body, chassis, structure 22.7% · Suspension 17.1%40,906
15-19failureLamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 30.1% · Body, chassis, structure 25.7% · Suspension 20.8%52,423
20+passedLamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 15.0% · Body, chassis, structure 14.3% · Suspension 10.7%3,879
20+advisoryLamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 23.9% · Body, chassis, structure 20.8% · Suspension 17.0%5,879
20+failureLamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 32.1% · Body, chassis, structure 24.4% · Suspension 22.0%7,539
unknownfailureLamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 14.1% · Suspension 9.4%64 (rough estimate)

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.

Volkswagen Passat ownership: what six years of MOTs show

The ten-day re-test pass rate is highest at 54.3%; The later re-test pass rate is lowest at 2.9% — the gap is 51.4 percentage points.

higher = larger sharecompare shares in percentage points

Fixed same day
42.84%
of failures re-tested
Fails /10k miles
0.335
miles actually driven
Clean streaks
28.46%
3+ tests, nothing noted
Odometer anomaly
1.857%
reading went backwards

Failing is usually a same-week event, not a disaster. Of 313,053 failures followed through to their re-test, 42.84% were repaired and passed the same day and 54.29% within ten days; the median gap is 1 day. 790,723 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 0.335 failures per 10,000 miles, on a median of 7,425 miles a year across 261,284 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. 28.46% of these cars strung together three or more tests with nothing recorded at all, while 37.91% 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: 1.857% of 261,597 chains show a reading lower than the previous test, with a median drop of 59,856 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.

Volkswagen Passat safety recalls and how to check yours

DVSA recall campaigns stand out at 45.

bigger number = more recorded casescompare like-for-like scope, not sample size alone

recall campaigns launched per year

Volkswagen Passat recall campaigns launched per year — 2024 UK MOT data
Campaigns launched per year for the Volkswagen Passat. Source: DVSA vehicle safety recalls. Chart values: 2011: 1 · 2012: 0 · 2013: 0 · 2014: 0 · 2015: 1 · 2016: 5 · 2017: 3 · 2018: 5 · 2019: 5 · 2020: 0 · 2021: 4 · 2022: 1 · 2023: 5 · 2024: 1 · 2025: 3.
Most recent safety recall campaigns for the Volkswagen Passat
ReferenceLaunchedVehiclesConcern
R/2025/35722/08/202522Takata front drivers or passenger airbag replacement
R/2025/35722/08/20252Takata front drivers or passenger airbag replacement
R/2025/20809/06/202510Replace front passenger airbag
R/2024/01412/01/202426,721On certain vehicles with electromechanical brake servo and DSG (Direct Shift Gearbox) of a
R/2023/17813/06/20234Takata Front airbag
All 45 campaigns
ReferenceLaunchedBuild datesVehiclesConcern
R/2025/35722/08/202528/09/2005 – 06/05/201322Takata front drivers or passenger airbag replacement
R/2025/35722/08/202511/11/2009 – 18/07/20122Takata front drivers or passenger airbag replacement
R/2025/20809/06/202520/01/2025 – 17/03/202510Replace front passenger airbag
R/2024/01412/01/202408/08/2019 – 20/10/202326,721On certain vehicles with electromechanical brake servo and DSG (Direct Shift Gearbox) of a
R/2023/17813/06/202311/11/2009 – 02/05/20124Takata Front airbag
R/2023/17813/06/202306/06/2013 – 02/06/20153Takata Front airbag
R/2023/17813/06/202318/02/2005 – 17/12/20135,229Takata Front airbag
R/2023/17813/06/202306/06/2013 – 02/05/20153Takata Front airbag
R/2023/17813/06/202302/11/2006 – 18/07/20122,849Takata Front airbag
R/2022/08607/04/202223/01/2019 – 10/02/20221,868THE FUSE IN THE HIGH-VOLTAGE SYSTEM OF PLUG-IN HYBRID VEHICLES WAS IN SOME CASES PRODUCED
R/2021/40321/10/202119/10/1999 – 22/12/200064DRIVER'S AIR BAG MAY NOT DEPLOY CORRECTLY IF ACTIVATED
R/2021/40411/10/202122/05/1998 – 22/12/1999300DRIVER'S AIR BAG MAY NOT DEPLOY CORRECTLY IF ACTIVATED
R/2021/32010/09/202113/01/2019 – 20/05/2021145THE BOLTED CONNECTION OF THE PULL ROD BETWEEN THE ELECTROMECHANICAL BRAKE SERVO AND BRAKE
R/2021/14208/04/202112/12/2020 – 18/02/2021243THE POSITIVE BATTERY CABLE AND THE CONTROL UNIT CABLE MAY HAVE BEEN MIXED UP
R/2019/37805/11/201906/01/2015 – 17/12/201517,988A CONDENSER MAY FAIL IN THE AIRBAG CONTROL UNIT
R/2019/26409/08/201909/10/2018 – 28/05/2019373TOO LITTLE TORQUE MAY BE PROVIDED BY THE ENGINE AT LOW ENGINE SPEEDS
R/2019/23222/07/201912/02/2019 – 22/02/201954POSSIBLE INCORRECT WELDED CONNECTION OF REAR SEAT BENCH
R/2019/08107/03/201902/11/2015 – 31/05/20178THE JOINT BETWEEN THE SUN ROOF TRIM AND SUN ROOF FRAME IS INCORRCTLY BONDED
R/2019/01924/01/201901/01/2002 – 31/12/2002786DRIVER AIRBAG GENERATOR HOUSING COULD COME LOOSE
R/2018/35212/12/201801/05/2018 – 31/08/20184,027REAR SEAT BENCH WELDED CONNECTION MAY NOT BE CORRECTLY PERFORMED
R/2018/21207/08/201805/05/2018 – 18/05/2018428HEAD RESTRAINT GUIDE RETAINING SPRING MAY BE FAULTY
R/2018/13311/05/201814/02/2018 – 31/03/20182,881HEAD RESTRAINT MAY BE INSECURE
R/2018/06207/03/201801/03/2011 – 30/11/201116,625STARTER MOTOR MAY MALFUNCTION AND OVERHEAT
R/2018/03429/01/201813/09/2016 – 02/11/201632PASSENGER AIRBAG MAY NOT DEPLOY AS INTENDED
R/2017/29417/11/201721/08/2017 – 29/08/2017420REAR WHEEL BEARING HOUSINGS MAY BE INCORRECTLY MANUFACTURED AND COULD FAIL PREMATURELY
R/2017/07922/03/201701/05/2016 – 31/10/20163,879AIRBAG/BELT TENSIONERS MAY NOT TRIGGER IN EVENT OF AN ACCIDENT
R/2017/04023/01/201701/06/2015 – 31/10/201612,440LIGHTS MAY FAIL WITHOUT WARNING
R/2016/21209/09/201620/05/2015 – 30/06/20155ELECTRONIC STABILITY CONTROL SYSTEM MAY FAIL
R/2016/14523/06/201625/11/2015 – 14/04/201613,620CHILD LOCK MAY DISENGAGE
R/2016/05930/03/201617/02/2015 – 05/02/2016606SUNROOF MAY INJURE OCCUPANTS WHEN IT IS CLOSED FROM OUTSIDE VEHICLE
R/2016/02822/03/201601/04/2014 – 30/07/201411UNINTENTIONAL DEPLOYMENT OF AN AIRBAG
R/2016/02518/02/201601/09/2014 – 31/05/201511,589BRAKING PERFORMANCE MAY BE AFFECTED
R/2015/09724/06/201501/04/2015 – 11/04/2015303DIRECTIONAL CONTROL MAY BE COMPROMISED
R/2011/16915/12/201101/01/2009 – 15/12/201133,719FUEL MAY LEAK
R/2009/11014/12/200901/09/2008 – 31/08/20093,514CLUTCH MAY OPERATE INADVERTENTLY WITH UNEXPECTED LOSS OF DRIVE
R/2006/22105/03/200701/04/2005 – 31/08/200643,357WIPERS MAY DETACH
R/2006/11507/08/200601/04/2005 – 30/06/20051,406POSSIBILITY OF FIRE
R/2005/18108/12/200501/02/2005 – 31/05/200573TRACK ROD NUT MAY NOT BE TORQUED CORRECTLY AND BECOME LOOSE
R/2004/21103/03/200501/03/2004 – 31/08/200449,701BOLTS OF THE TANDEM FUEL PUMP COVER MAY BREAK
R/2004/10829/07/200408/06/2003 – 10/06/20031,699RH SHOCK ABSORBER MOUNTING MAY NOT BE CORRECTLY TORQUED
R/1999/00115/01/199901/01/1996 – 30/06/1998224TOW BAR BALL END MAY LOOSEN
R/1998/05217/07/199801/12/1997 – 30/04/1998741) AIR MASS METER GRID MAY DETACH AND JAM THROTTLE OPEN & FUEL PIPES & 2) METAL BRAKE PIPE
R/1998/05615/07/1998121THE DRIVERS AIR BAG COULD HAVE BEEN UNINTENTIONALLY DEACTIVATED
R/1996/00812/02/199601/01/1994 – 31/12/19952,054INSECURITY OF FAN BLADE
R/1995/00806/09/199501/03/1991 – 31/08/199228,112FAILURE OF HEADLAMPS

DVSA lists 45 safety recall campaigns for the Volkswagen Passat, covering roughly 287,592 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.

Volkswagen Passat inspection results in other countries

Netherlands APK is well below the reference at 46.0%, against 50.8% nationally.

higher = larger sharecompare shares in percentage points

Same model, different national inspection regimes
CountryTestThis model failsNational averagePositionSample
United KingdomMOT (class 4)28.9%26.01%+2.9 pp190,397
NetherlandsAPK46%50.8%-4.8 pp45,926
FinlandKatsastus25.4%26.3%-0.9 pp38,211
NorwayPKK35.9%33.7%+2.2 pp34,502

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.

The exact faults Netherlands records — APK defect codes, 2024
CodeFaultRecordedType
210Tyre pressure not at the correct value8,412failure
205Tyre with insufficient tread6,113failure
516Dipped headlight incorrectly aimed3,345failure
AC1Tyre down to 1.6–2.5 mm of tread3,286advisory
RA2Excessive leak of other fluids1,979advisory
AC5Mechanical brake parts showing wear1,550advisory
224Spring broken or cracked1,491failure
203Tyre damaged1,361failure

Worth dwelling on how mundane the top of that list is: tyre pressure, tread depth, headlight aim. The Dutch APK records 1.039 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 Volkswagen Passat 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 92.4 — 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.; Traficom — Periodic inspections of cars by model / by model and fault object 2024, CC BY 4.0; Statens vegvesen — Periodisk kjøretøykontroll (PKK) 2024, CC BY 4.0. Adapted; licences and full notice.

Volkswagen Passat MOT: quick answers

Volkswagen Passat MOT Risk Index is well below the reference at 92.4, 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 Volkswagen Passat first-time MOT pass rate?
71.1% of first attempts passed in 2024 (190,397 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 28.9% figure is the first-time initial failure rate, using 190,397 primary tests as the denominator (first-time, excluding retests). The age-adjusted MOT initial-failure ratio 92.4 is shown separately because raw rates compare fleet age as well as cars.

Compare the Volkswagen Passat with other cars

Mercedes-Benz A-Class is highest at 94.2; Seat Leon is lowest at 91.9 — the gap is 2.3 points.

below 100 is betterabove 100 is worse100 = normal for this model at that age

Same brand

All Volkswagen MOT statisticsVolkswagen Golf MOT statsVolkswagen Tiguan MOT stats

Similar risk

Seat Leon (index 91.9)Audi A1 (index 93.1)Mercedes-Benz A-Class (index 94.2)

Same size class

how Seat Leon compareshow Citroen Berlingo compareshow Ford Mondeo compares

By build year

Volkswagen Passat 1998Volkswagen Passat 1999Volkswagen Passat 2000Volkswagen Passat 2001Volkswagen Passat 2002Volkswagen Passat 2003Volkswagen Passat 2004Volkswagen Passat 2005Volkswagen Passat 2006Volkswagen Passat 2007Volkswagen Passat 2008Volkswagen Passat 2009Volkswagen Passat 2010Volkswagen Passat 2011Volkswagen Passat 2012Volkswagen Passat 2013Volkswagen Passat 2014Volkswagen Passat 2015Volkswagen Passat 2016Volkswagen Passat 2017Volkswagen Passat 2018Volkswagen Passat 2019Volkswagen Passat 2020

By area

Volkswagen Passat MOT failure rate by postcode area

By failure group

Volkswagen Passat body, chassis and structure failuresVolkswagen Passat brakes failuresVolkswagen Passat vehicle identification failuresVolkswagen Passat lamps, reflectors and electrics failuresVolkswagen Passat noise, emissions and leaks failuresVolkswagen Passat road wheels failuresVolkswagen Passat seat belts and airbags failuresVolkswagen Passat steering failuresVolkswagen Passat suspension failuresVolkswagen Passat tyres failuresVolkswagen Passat visibility failures

Inspections abroad

Volkswagen Passat in NorwayVolkswagen Passat in FinlandVolkswagen Passat 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:volkswagen-passat:dvsa-2024-v2. Full method: methodology.

Cite: MOT Risk Index (2026). Volkswagen Passat MOT statistics 2024 (data release dvsa-2024-v2; downloadable dataset motriskindex-families-2024-v5, doi:10.5281/zenodo.22975051). https://motriskindex.co.uk/cars/volkswagen-passat/ · Published 2026-07-30.