Is the Ford Fiesta or the Toyota Yaris more reliable?

The Toyota Yaris has the stronger age-adjusted MOT result: index 95.6 against 117.8 for the Ford Fiesta, with non-overlapping 95% confidence intervals.

Does the Ford Fiesta or the Toyota Yaris fail more MOTs?

34.33% of Ford Fiesta initial tests and 26.89% of Toyota Yaris initial tests found a failing defect in 2024. The lower raw rate belongs to the Toyota Yaris, but the age-adjusted index is the fairer model comparison because the fleets can be different ages.

What are the main MOT problem areas on the Ford Fiesta and Toyota Yaris?

The leading published failure group for the Ford Fiesta is lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment at 29.9 items per 100 tests; for the Toyota Yaris it is lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment at 25.6 per 100.

Should I buy a Ford Fiesta or a Toyota Yaris?

If MOT reliability is the deciding factor, the Toyota Yaris is the evidence-led choice. Still check the individual car's MOT history and condition: these figures describe whole model populations, not a particular vehicle.

Ford Fiesta vs Toyota Yaris

Take the Toyota Yaris for lower age-adjusted MOT risk: its index is 95.6 versus 117.8 for the Ford Fiesta, and the 95% confidence intervals do not overlap.

Ford Fiesta

117.8

95% CI 117.6–118.0 · 100 = age-normal

Full Ford Fiesta MOT statistics

Toyota Yaris

95.6

95% CI 95.2–96.0 · 100 = age-normal

Full Toyota Yaris MOT statistics

Lower is better. The index adjusts for each fleet's exact age profile; the raw failure rate below does not. The index gap is 22.2 points. Data release dvsa-2024-v1.

Side-by-side evidence

Initial class-4 MOT tests in Great Britain, 2024
Measure	Ford Fiesta	Toyota Yaris
Age-adjusted MOT Risk Index	117.8 (117.6–118.0)	95.6 (95.2–96.0)
Raw initial failure rate	34.33%	26.89%
Dangerous defects per 100 tests	14.92	8.82
Initial tests	1,959,383	629,646

Where their MOT failures diverge

These are component groups present in both models' published top-six failure lists, sorted by the absolute gap. A positive difference means the Ford Fiesta records more failure items; a negative one means the Toyota Yaris does.

Failure items per 100 initial tests; difference = Ford Fiesta − Toyota Yaris
Component group	Ford Fiesta	Toyota Yaris	Difference	Lower rate
Suspension	28.6	17.1	+11.5 pp	Toyota Yaris
Tyres	13.1	7.0	+6.1 pp	Toyota Yaris
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment	29.9	25.6	+4.3 pp	Toyota Yaris
Brakes	12.9	11.4	+1.5 pp	Toyota Yaris
Visibility	10.9	10.0	+0.9 pp	Toyota Yaris
Body, chassis, structure	7.3	6.7	+0.6 pp	Toyota Yaris

Counts are defect items, not the share of cars: one failed test can contain several items. A group absent from a model's top six is not treated as zero.

What the six-year test history says

The longitudinal layer follows the same vehicles between MOTs from 2019 to 2024. It separates a one-day retest from the harder question of what returns next year, and puts failures against miles actually driven.

Advisory on a component → failure on that component at the next test; common publishable nodes only
Component	Ford Fiesta	Toyota Yaris	Difference	Tracked advisories
Steering	15.8%	5.8%	+10.0 pp	184,027 / 5,365
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment	25.3%	30.7%	-5.4 pp	179,085 / 64,207
Body, chassis, structure	12.6%	15.7%	-3.1 pp	223,031 / 89,043
Tyres	10.4%	7.6%	+2.8 pp	1,702,145 / 461,790
Suspension	21.8%	19.4%	+2.4 pp	1,095,745 / 328,095
Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems	3.8%	5.0%	-1.2 pp	45,448 / 10,373
Visibility	11.7%	12.3%	-0.7 pp	8,802 / 2,066
Noise, emissions and leaks	7.9%	8.6%	-0.7 pp	234,076 / 37,113
Road wheels	1.5%	1.0%	+0.6 pp	247,523 / 7,380
Identification of the vehicle	3.4%	3.5%	-0.2 pp	193,569 / 60,139

Retests, mileage exposure and care proxies
Measure	Ford Fiesta	Toyota Yaris
Repaired and passed the same day	49.8%	48.8%
Passed 1–10 days later	48.0%	49.1%
Median retest delay	1.0 days	1.0 days
Failures per 10,000 miles	0.603	0.572
Three-test clean streak	33.4%	40.6%
Same advisory repeated 3+ times	34.7%	32.8%

Care proxy is descriptive, not a claim about an owner's character: a clean streak means three or more consecutive tests with nothing recorded; the repeat measure means the same advisory appeared at least three times.

Safety recalls

DVSA campaigns and campaigns per 10,000 licensed cars
Model	Campaigns listed	Per 10,000 licensed
Ford Fiesta	32	0.26
Toyota Yaris	99	1.72

More campaigns do not by themselves mean a less reliable car: recalls are manufacturer remedies, and the licensed-fleet denominator is unavailable for some families. Check a registration for outstanding work before buying.

Do other countries see the same thing?

Both models appear in the same independent national inspection datasets below. Compare each model with that country's own average; absolute pass rates are not portable between rulebooks.

Common cross-country evidence; samples below 500 are suppressed
Country / test	Model	Model fails	National average	Position	Inspections
Finland · Katsastus	Ford Fiesta	27.1%	26.3%	+0.8 pp	22,437
Finland · Katsastus	Toyota Yaris	19.9%	26.3%	-6.4 pp	38,954
Netherlands · APK	Ford Fiesta	51.6%	50.9%	+0.7 pp	119,462
Netherlands · APK	Toyota Yaris	59.8%	50.9%	+8.9 pp	16,752
Norway · PKK	Ford Fiesta	38.1%	33.5%	+4.6 pp	3,779
Norway · PKK	Toyota Yaris	33.6%	33.5%	+0.1 pp	11,549

Sources are the national PKK, Katsastus and APK datasets recorded in each family artifact. Position is model failure rate minus that country's national rate.

Quick answers

Is the Ford Fiesta or the Toyota Yaris more reliable?: The Toyota Yaris has the stronger age-adjusted MOT result: index 95.6 against 117.8 for the Ford Fiesta, with non-overlapping 95% confidence intervals.
Does the Ford Fiesta or the Toyota Yaris fail more MOTs?: 34.33% of Ford Fiesta initial tests and 26.89% of Toyota Yaris initial tests found a failing defect in 2024. The lower raw rate belongs to the Toyota Yaris, but the age-adjusted index is the fairer model comparison because the fleets can be different ages.
What are the main MOT problem areas on the Ford Fiesta and Toyota Yaris?: The leading published failure group for the Ford Fiesta is lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment at 29.9 items per 100 tests; for the Toyota Yaris it is lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment at 25.6 per 100.
Should I buy a Ford Fiesta or a Toyota Yaris?: If MOT reliability is the deciding factor, the Toyota Yaris is the evidence-led choice. Still check the individual car's MOT history and condition: these figures describe whole model populations, not a particular vehicle.

Model pages and nearby comparisons

Full model evidence

Ford Fiesta reliability and MOT statistics

Full model evidence

Toyota Yaris reliability and MOT statistics

See the Ford Fiesta and Renault Clio comparison See the Ford Fiesta and Vauxhall Corsa comparison See the Ford Fiesta and MINI Hatch comparison

Browse all car reliability comparisons.

How to read and cite this comparison

Scope: class-4 vehicles, initial tests only, Great Britain 2024. PRS fixed-on-the-spot results count as failures because a defect was present on arrival. Index = observed initial failures ÷ age-profile-expected failures × 100; intervals are 95% confidence intervals. Every model family combines all generations and engines. Full method: methodology.

Cite: MOT Risk Index (2026). Ford Fiesta vs Toyota Yaris: MOT reliability comparison, 2024 (dvsa-2024-v1). https://motriskindex.co.uk/compare/ford-fiesta-vs-toyota-yaris/