Nissan Micra MOT pass rate and common problems

The Nissan Micra passed 63.4% of its initial MOT tests in 2025, 9 percentage points below the 72.3% UK average. The item testers recorded most often was pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn.

Checking a specific car? Its own results, advisories and recorded mileages are in a free MOT history check.

How the Micra compares

Initial MOT tests in 2025, retests excluded. A car that failed and was repaired at the test station counts as a fail.

63.4%

Nissan Micra

67.8%

Nissan average

72.3%

UK average, all cars

The Micra runs 4.4 points behind the Nissan average. It is 19th of the 25 Nissan models in the data. The average Micra arrived at its test 14 years old with 63,035 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.

Micra MOT pass rate by age

The same 2025 tests split by the car's age at test.

Nissan Micra cars aged 3 to 5 years passed 84.3% of MOT tests. For cars aged 11 years and over that fell to 57.2%, a drop of 27.1 percentage points.

Age at testTestsPass ratevs UK average
3 to 5 years 19,779 84.3% 12 pts above
6 to 10 years 56,971 70.6% 1.7 pts below
11 years and over 155,953 57.2% 15.1 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 Micra failures cluster

Every failure item recorded on Nissan Micra cars in 2025, grouped into the DVSA's test areas.

  • Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment33.1%
  • Suspension24.3%
  • Brakes10.5%
  • Visibility9.3%
  • Tyres8.4%
  • Body, chassis, structure5.5%

Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment and suspension together account for 57.4% of recorded failure items. These are recorded failures across the model, not faults every car has.

The 10 most common Micra MOT failures

Specific items recorded on Nissan Micra cars that failed their 2025 MOT, as a share of all recorded failure items.

  1. 1Pins and bushes pin or bush excessively wornSuspension 6.3%
  2. 2Position lamp not workingLamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 6%
  3. 3Wipers does not clear the windscreen effectivelyVisibility 5.3%
  4. 4Coil spring fractured or brokenSuspension 4.6%
  5. 5Headlamp aim projected beam image is obviously incorrectLamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 4.5%
  6. 6Registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of a single lamp or all lampsLamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 4.3%
  7. 7Ball joint excessively wornSuspension 3.7%
  8. 8Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mmTyres 3.1%
  9. 9Service brake performance excessively bindingBrakes 2.4%
  10. 10Individual direction indicators incorrect colourLamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 2.3%

Together these 10 items make up 42.4% of everything testers recorded against failed Nissan Micra cars. The rest is spread across many smaller items, and one failed test often records several at once.

What to look at on a Micra

The recorded failures above, grouped by area, biggest first.

1

Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment

Recorded most often: position lamp not working, headlamp aim projected beam image is obviously incorrect, registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of a single lamp or all lamps and individual direction indicators incorrect colour. 17.2% of failure items.

2

Suspension

Recorded most often: pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn, coil spring fractured or broken and ball joint excessively worn. 14.5% of failure items.

3

Visibility

Recorded most often: wipers does not clear the windscreen effectively. 5.3% of failure items.

4

Tyres

Recorded most often: tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm. 3.1% of failure items.

The car's own MOT history matters more than any model average. A free MOT history check shows whether a specific Micra has failed on these items before, or had them noted as advisories. Buying one? See the used Nissan Micra buying guide.

Already found one?

Check its finance, write-off, theft, mileage and keeper history with a £15 vehicle history report.

Nissan Micra MOT FAQs

What is the Nissan Micra MOT pass rate?

63.4% of Nissan Micra cars passed their initial MOT first time in 2025, from 237,361 tests. That is 9 percentage points below the 72.3% average for all cars, and ranks 453rd of 575 models.

What does a Nissan Micra most commonly fail its MOT on?

The item testers recorded most often on Nissan Micra cars failing their 2025 MOT was pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn, on 6.3% of failure items. Next were position lamp not working (6%) and wipers does not clear the windscreen effectively (5.3%).

Which area causes the most Nissan Micra MOT failures?

Across every recorded failure item, the largest area was lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment at 33.1%, followed by suspension at 24.3%.

Do older Nissan Micra cars fail their MOT more often?

Nissan Micra cars aged 3 to 5 years passed 84.3% of MOT tests in 2025, against 57.2% for cars aged 11 years and over.

Does this mean every Nissan Micra has these problems?

No. These are the items testers recorded across every Nissan Micra 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 Micra'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.