80.3%
Nissan Leaf
Nissan Leaf MOT pass rate and common problems
The Nissan Leaf passed 80.3% of its initial MOT tests in 2025, 8 percentage points above the 72.3% UK average. The item testers recorded most often was ball joint excessively worn.
Checking a specific car? Its own results, advisories and recorded mileages are in a free MOT history check.
How the Leaf compares
Initial MOT tests in 2025, retests excluded. A car that failed and was repaired at the test station counts as a fail.
67.8%
Nissan average
72.3%
UK average, all cars
The Leaf runs 12.5 points ahead of the Nissan average. It is 5th of the 25 Nissan models in the data. The average Leaf arrived at its test 6.3 years old with 45,706 miles recorded.
A pass rate records whether cars met the roadworthiness standard on test day. It is not a reliability score, and part of any gap reflects how old the tested cars were.
Leaf MOT pass rate by age
The same 2025 tests split by the car's age at test.
Nissan Leaf cars aged 3 to 5 years passed 87.2% of MOT tests. For cars aged 11 years and over that fell to 59%, a drop of 28.2 percentage points.
| Age at test | Tests | Pass rate | vs UK average |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3 to 5 years | 21,453 | 87.2% | 14.9 pts above |
| 6 to 10 years | 20,881 | 72.5% | In line |
| 11 years and over | 3,298 | 59% | 13.3 pts below |
That is a steep decline with age, so the headline rate flatters older examples. The UK average of 72.3% covers cars of every age, so compare like with like.
Where Leaf failures cluster
Every failure item recorded on Nissan Leaf cars in 2025, grouped into the DVSA's test areas.
Suspension and tyres together account for 51.1% of recorded failure items. These are recorded failures across the model, not faults every car has.
The 10 most common Leaf MOT failures
Specific items recorded on Nissan Leaf cars that failed their 2025 MOT, as a share of all recorded failure items.
Together these 10 items make up 54.6% of everything testers recorded against failed Nissan Leaf cars. The rest is spread across many smaller items, and one failed test often records several at once.
What to look at on a Leaf
The recorded failures above, grouped by area, biggest first.
1
Suspension
Recorded most often: ball joint excessively worn, pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn and linkage ball joints ball joint excessively worn. 19.8% of failure items.
2
Tyres
Recorded most often: tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm, condition has a cut in excess of the requirements deep enough to reach the ply or cords and condition has ply or cords exposed. 18.3% of failure items.
3
Visibility
Recorded most often: wipers does not clear the windscreen effectively and washers provides insufficient washer liquid. 10.8% of failure items.
4
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment
Recorded most often: position lamp not working. 2.9% of failure items.
The car's own MOT history matters more than any model average. A free MOT history check shows whether a specific Leaf has failed on these items before, or had them noted as advisories. Buying one? See the used Nissan Leaf buying guide.
Already found one?
Check its finance, write-off, theft, mileage and keeper history with a £15 vehicle history report.
Nissan Leaf MOT FAQs
What is the Nissan Leaf MOT pass rate?
80.3% of Nissan Leaf cars passed their initial MOT first time in 2025, from 53,146 tests. That is 8 percentage points above the 72.3% average for all cars, and ranks 195th of 575 models.
What does a Nissan Leaf most commonly fail its MOT on?
The item testers recorded most often on Nissan Leaf cars failing their 2025 MOT was ball joint excessively worn, on 13.7% of failure items. Next were wipers does not clear the windscreen effectively (8%) and tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm (7.3%).
Which area causes the most Nissan Leaf MOT failures?
Across every recorded failure item, the largest area was suspension at 26.5%, followed by tyres at 24.6%.
Do older Nissan Leaf cars fail their MOT more often?
Nissan Leaf cars aged 3 to 5 years passed 87.2% of MOT tests in 2025, against 59% for cars aged 11 years and over.
Does this mean every Nissan Leaf has these problems?
No. These are the items testers recorded across every Nissan Leaf that failed in 2025. They show where the model most often needs attention, not the condition of any individual car.
How do I see a specific Nissan Leaf's MOT history?
Enter its registration on the free Carpeep MOT history check to see that car's own test results, failures, advisories and recorded mileages.
MOT figures are aggregated from the DVSA MOT Anonymised data set for 2025: class 4 initial tests, retests excluded, with failure items from failed tests (advisories and minor defects excluded), licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. MOT results describe roadworthiness at test, not mechanical reliability.