Mercedes-Benz 412 MOT reliability

Mercedes-Benz 412s passed their MOT first time 67% of the time across 3 tests in 2025. 41 are still licensed in Great Britain.

These figures come from only 3 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.

First-time pass rate

67%

MOTs analysed

3

Still licensed (GB)

41

Body type

–

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

1996 diesel

2 MOTs

Passed first time 50%. Typical mileage 264,093 (most between 197,966 and 330,219).

2005: 0% → 2006: 82% → 2007: 56% → 2008: 75% → 2009: 60% → 2010: 29% → 2011: 67% → 2012: 50% → 2013: 100% → 2014: 100% → 2015: 100% → 2016: 0% → 2017: 100% → 2018: 100% → 2019: 67% → 2020: 50% → 2021: 100% → 2022: 100% → 2023: 50% → 2024: 50% → 2025: 50%

Most common failures

Headlamp aim: projected beam image is obviously incorrect (50.0%)
Washers: jets misaligned and not providing sufficient fluid to the windscreen (50.0%)
Anti-roll bar: insecurely attached (50.0%)
Pins and bushes: pin or bush excessively worn (50.0%)
Operation: malfunctioning (50.0%)

Where 1996 412s fail

Lights & electrics

50.0%

Steering

50.0%

Suspension & axles

50.0%

Visibility & wipers

50.0%

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.