78.6%
Toyota Corolla
Toyota Corolla MOT pass rate and common problems
The Toyota Corolla passed 78.6% of its initial MOT tests in 2025, 6.3 percentage points above the 72.3% UK average. The item testers recorded most often was wipers does not clear the windscreen effectively.
Checking a specific car? Its own results, advisories and recorded mileages are in a free MOT history check.
How the Corolla compares
Initial MOT tests in 2025, retests excluded. A car that failed and was repaired at the test station counts as a fail.
75.1%
Toyota average
72.3%
UK average, all cars
The Corolla runs 3.5 points ahead of the Toyota average. It is 14th of the 32 Toyota models in the data. The average Corolla arrived at its test 10.3 years old with 72,919 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.
Corolla MOT pass rate by age
The same 2025 tests split by the car's age at test.
Toyota Corolla cars aged 3 to 5 years passed 89.6% of MOT tests. For cars aged 11 years and over that fell to 59.5%, a drop of 30.1 percentage points.
| Age at test | Tests | Pass rate | vs UK average |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3 to 5 years | 55,819 | 89.6% | 17.3 pts above |
| 6 to 10 years | 4,959 | 87.2% | 14.9 pts above |
| 11 years and over | 47,070 | 59.5% | 12.8 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 Corolla failures cluster
Every failure item recorded on Toyota Corolla cars in 2025, grouped into the DVSA's test areas.
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment and brakes together account for 50.6% of recorded failure items. These are recorded failures across the model, not faults every car has.
The 10 most common Corolla MOT failures
Specific items recorded on Toyota Corolla cars that failed their 2025 MOT, as a share of all recorded failure items.
Together these 10 items make up 38.1% of everything testers recorded against failed Toyota Corolla cars. The rest is spread across many smaller items, and one failed test often records several at once.
What to look at on a Corolla
The recorded failures above, grouped by area, biggest first.
1
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment
Recorded most often: headlamp aim projected beam image is obviously incorrect, position lamp not working, stop lamp not working, registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of a single lamp or all lamps and headlamp not working on dipped beam. 18.8% of failure items.
2
Visibility
Recorded most often: wipers does not clear the windscreen effectively. 7.6% of failure items.
3
Tyres
Recorded most often: tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm and condition has a cut in excess of the requirements deep enough to reach the ply or cords. 6.5% of failure items.
4
Brakes
Recorded most often: brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick and service brake performance excessively binding. 5.2% of failure items.
The car's own MOT history matters more than any model average. A free MOT history check shows whether a specific Corolla has failed on these items before, or had them noted as advisories. Buying one? See the used Toyota Corolla buying guide.
Already found one?
Check its finance, write-off, theft, mileage and keeper history with a £15 vehicle history report.
Toyota Corolla MOT FAQs
What is the Toyota Corolla MOT pass rate?
78.6% of Toyota Corolla cars passed their initial MOT first time in 2025, from 126,958 tests. That is 6.3 percentage points above the 72.3% average for all cars, and ranks 220th of 575 models.
What does a Toyota Corolla most commonly fail its MOT on?
The item testers recorded most often on Toyota Corolla cars failing their 2025 MOT was wipers does not clear the windscreen effectively, on 7.6% of failure items. Next were headlamp aim projected beam image is obviously incorrect (5.4%) and position lamp not working (4.9%).
Which area causes the most Toyota Corolla MOT failures?
Across every recorded failure item, the largest area was lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment at 31.9%, followed by brakes at 18.7%.
Do older Toyota Corolla cars fail their MOT more often?
Toyota Corolla cars aged 3 to 5 years passed 89.6% of MOT tests in 2025, against 59.5% for cars aged 11 years and over.
Does this mean every Toyota Corolla has these problems?
No. These are the items testers recorded across every Toyota Corolla 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 Toyota Corolla'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.