63.1%
Nissan Note
Nissan Note MOT pass rate and common problems
The Nissan Note passed 63.1% of its initial MOT tests in 2025, 9.2 percentage points below the 72.3% UK average. The item testers recorded most often was position lamp not working.
Checking a specific car? Its own results, advisories and recorded mileages are in a free MOT history check.
How the Note 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 Note runs 4.7 points behind the Nissan average. It is 20th of the 25 Nissan models in the data. The average Note arrived at its test 13.4 years old with 79,770 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.
Note MOT pass rate by age
The same 2025 tests split by the car's age at test.
Nissan Note cars aged 6 to 10 years passed 78.3% of MOT tests. For cars aged 11 years and over that fell to 56.9%, a drop of 21.4 percentage points.
| Age at test | Tests | Pass rate | vs UK average |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3 to 5 years (small sample) | 21 | 66.7% | 5.6 pts below |
| 6 to 10 years | 42,684 | 78.3% | 6 pts above |
| 11 years and over | 104,125 | 56.9% | 15.4 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 Note failures cluster
Every failure item recorded on Nissan Note cars in 2025, grouped into the DVSA's test areas.
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment and suspension together account for 63.5% of recorded failure items. These are recorded failures across the model, not faults every car has.
The 10 most common Note MOT failures
Specific items recorded on Nissan Note cars that failed their 2025 MOT, as a share of all recorded failure items.
Together these 10 items make up 52.3% of everything testers recorded against failed Nissan Note cars. The rest is spread across many smaller items, and one failed test often records several at once.
What to look at on a Note
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, stop lamp not working and registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of a single lamp or all lamps. 22.8% of failure items.
2
Suspension
Recorded most often: pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn, ball joint excessively worn, coil spring fractured or broken and linkage ball joints ball joint excessively worn. 21.6% of failure items.
3
Visibility
Recorded most often: wipers does not clear the windscreen effectively. 4.2% of failure items.
4
Tyres
Recorded most often: tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm. 3.7% of failure items.
The car's own MOT history matters more than any model average. A free MOT history check shows whether a specific Note has failed on these items before, or had them noted as advisories. Buying one? See the used Nissan Note buying guide.
Already found one?
Check its finance, write-off, theft, mileage and keeper history with a £15 vehicle history report.
Nissan Note MOT FAQs
What is the Nissan Note MOT pass rate?
63.1% of Nissan Note cars passed their initial MOT first time in 2025, from 146,834 tests. That is 9.2 percentage points below the 72.3% average for all cars, and ranks 457th of 575 models.
What does a Nissan Note most commonly fail its MOT on?
The item testers recorded most often on Nissan Note cars failing their 2025 MOT was position lamp not working, on 8.6% of failure items. Next were pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn (7.1%) and ball joint excessively worn (6.3%).
Which area causes the most Nissan Note MOT failures?
Across every recorded failure item, the largest area was lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment at 35.5%, followed by suspension at 27.9%.
Do older Nissan Note cars fail their MOT more often?
Nissan Note cars aged 6 to 10 years passed 78.3% of MOT tests in 2025, against 56.9% for cars aged 11 years and over.
Does this mean every Nissan Note has these problems?
No. These are the items testers recorded across every Nissan Note 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 Note'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.