Visibility: provides insufficient washer liquid
This one item accounted for 0.1% of every MOT test carried out in Great Britain, and it is among the commonest faults on 78 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
Inspect the windscreen and all glass for chips or cracks
A chip in the driver's eyeline, or a crack over 40mm, fails the MOT (~£300–500 to replace).
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Nissan Navara | 2010–2013 | 2.9% |
| Peugeot Bipper | 2010–2013 | 2.5% |
| Hyundai I20 | 2010–2013 | 2.2% |
| Vauxhall Corsa | 2010–2013 | 2.1% |
| BMW 118 | 2010–2013 | 2% |
| Volkswagen Transporter | 2010–2013 | 1.7% |
| Mercedes-Benz A-Class | 2010–2013 | 1.7% |
| BMW 116 | 2010–2013 | 1.7% |
| BMW 120 | 2010–2013 | 1.7% |
| BMW 1 Series | 2010–2013 | 1.6% |
| BMW X1 | 2010–2013 | 1.6% |
| Vauxhall Combo 2300 Sportive Td S/S | 2018–2021 | 1.6% |
| Alfa Romeo Giulietta | 2014–2017 | 1.4% |
| BMW 316 | 2010–2013 | 1.4% |
| BMW 116 | 2014–2017 | 1.3% |
| BMW 316 | 2014–2017 | 1.3% |
| Mercedes-Benz CLA | 2014–2017 | 1.2% |
| Ford Mustang | 2014–2017 | 1.2% |
| Fiat Doblo | 2018–2021 | 1.2% |
| Mercedes-Benz A-Class | 2014–2017 | 1.1% |
Showing the worst 20 of 78 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.