Austin A40 MOT reliability

Austin A40s passed their MOT first time 83% of the time across 52 tests in 2025. 1,506 are still licensed in Great Britain.

These figures come from 52 MOT tests. That's a fairly small number of cars, so they may not be typical of these cars as a whole.

First-time pass rate

83%

MOTs analysed

52

Still licensed (GB)

1,506

Body type

Sedan

Pass rate by year of first registration

Older cars fail more often, so compare a car with others of the same age. Years with very few MOTs can show extreme pass rates, even 0% or 100%, so give more weight to years with more tests.

In detail:

First registered

1966 petrol

4 MOTs

These figures come from only 4 MOT tests. With so few cars, a single pass or fail changes the percentages a lot, so treat them as a rough guide rather than a true average.

Passed first time 50%. Typical mileage 85,112 (most between 79,054 and 85,777).

2005: 0% → 2006: 87% → 2007: 73% → 2008: 73% → 2009: 79% → 2010: 74% → 2011: 76% → 2012: 74% → 2013: 79% → 2014: 76% → 2015: 57% → 2016: 79% → 2017: 63% → 2018: 56% → 2019: 100% → 2020: 50% → 2021: 100% → 2022: 60% → 2023: 100% → 2024: 67% → 2025: 50%

Most common failures

Rbt (sp): efficiency below requirements (25.0%)
Exhaust system: has a major leak of exhaust gases (25.0%)
Prescribed areas: likely to become detached in the event of a collision (25.0%)
System: component leaking (25.0%)
Parking (secondary brake performance): on a single line braking system imbalanced across an axle (25.0%)

Where 1966 A40s fail

Body, structure & corrosion

50.0%

Brakes

50.0%

Lights & electrics

25.0%

Seat belts & other equipment

25.0%

Looking at a particular car?

See its own MOT history, mileage and red flags, compared with these figures. Free.

Based on 2025 initial MOT tests in DVSA's anonymised MOT dataset (cars and light vans). Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Model details: Vehicle data by VehiclesDB.