Body, chassis, structure: has a major leak of exhaust gases
This one item accounted for 0.1% of every MOT test carried out in Great Britain, and it is among the commonest faults on 27 different model-and-year combinations. Here is where it clusters, and what it looks like on a car you are standing in front of.
How to spot it before you buy
Crouch down and inspect sills, arches and the underside for rust
Structural corrosion on sills or subframe can fail an MOT and make a car uneconomical to repair.
The models it hits hardest
Ranked by how often the fault came up as a share of that model's own tests, not by raw count — a fault in 8% of a small model's tests says more about that model than one in 3% of the Fiesta's. A linked row has a page of its own.
| Model | Years | Share of its tests |
|---|---|---|
| Volkswagen Fox | 2010–2013 | 5% |
| Isuzu D-MAX | 2014–2017 | 4.5% |
| Fiat Punto Evo | 2010–2013 | 4.3% |
| Fiat Punto | 2010–2013 | 3.6% |
| Mitsubishi ASX | 2010–2013 | 3.2% |
| Mitsubishi Lancer | 2010–2013 | 3.1% |
| Alfa Romeo Mito | 2010–2013 | 2.7% |
| Fiat 500 C | 2010–2013 | 2.7% |
| Peugeot 208 | 2010–2013 | 2.5% |
| Toyota Hilux | 2010–2013 | 2.5% |
| Ford Fiesta | 2010–2013 | 2.4% |
| Vauxhall Astra | 2010–2013 | 2.3% |
| Ford Ka | 2010–2013 | 2.3% |
| Vauxhall Zafira | 2010–2013 | 2.2% |
| SEAT Ibiza | 2010–2013 | 2.1% |
| Fiat Panda | 2010–2013 | 2% |
| Citroen C1 | 2010–2013 | 1.8% |
| Saab 9-3 | 2010–2013 | 1.8% |
| Chrysler Ypsilon | 2010–2013 | 1.8% |
| Ford Ecosport | 2014–2017 | 1.7% |
Showing the worst 20 of 27 affected model-and-year combinations. The full dataset is downloadable below.
Which manufacturers it clusters on
Pooled across each make's whole range, so this is a fact about the brand rather than about one of its models. Makes with at least 50,000 tests.
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See whether the car you're looking at has this on record
Type the registration and you get that car's own MOT history — every advisory and every failure, including whether this one has already come up.
Source: DVSA anonymised MOT tests and results, 2023. Class 4 standard tests only. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.