Vauxhall Zafira MOT reliability

Vauxhall Zafiras passed their MOT first time 62% of the time across 174,465 tests in 2025. 143,404 are still licensed in Great Britain.

First-time pass rate

62%

MOTs analysed

174,465

Still licensed (GB)

143,404

Body type

Mpv

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

2016 petrol

7,152 MOTs

Passed first time 72%. Typical mileage 63,338 (most between 49,188 and 78,887).

2016: 100% → 2017: 92% → 2018: 85% → 2019: 86% → 2020: 85% → 2021: 80% → 2022: 78% → 2023: 76% → 2024: 74% → 2025: 72%

Most common failures

Malfunction indicator lamp: inoperative or indicates a malfunction (4.7%)
Brake pads: less than 1.5 mm thick (3.7%)
Wipers: does not clear the windscreen effectively (2.5%)
Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm (2.4%)
Coil spring: fractured or broken (2.4%)

2016 diesel

4,424 MOTs

Passed first time 68%. Typical mileage 82,930 (most between 65,182 and 106,105).

2016: 95% → 2017: 85% → 2018: 85% → 2019: 83% → 2020: 80% → 2021: 77% → 2022: 75% → 2023: 72% → 2024: 71% → 2025: 68%

Most common failures

Malfunction indicator lamp: inoperative or indicates a malfunction (7.7%)
Coil spring: fractured or broken (5.4%)
Brake pads: less than 1.5 mm thick (3.7%)
Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm (3.2%)
Stop lamp: not working (2.6%)

2016 gb

3 MOTs

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.

Passed first time 67%. Typical mileage 73,626 (most between 59,354 and 75,867).

2019: 100% → 2020: 100% → 2021: 75% → 2022: 100% → 2023: 100% → 2024: 67% → 2025: 67%

Most common failures

Malfunction indicator lamp: inoperative or indicates a malfunction (33.3%)

2016 cn

2 MOTs

These figures come from only 2 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 100%. Typical mileage 182,481 (most between 179,588 and 185,373).

2022: 100% → 2023: 100% → 2024: 50% → 2025: 100%

Most common failures

2016 lpg

2 MOTs

These figures come from only 2 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 100%. Typical mileage 127,593 (most between 112,768 and 142,417).

2021: 100% → 2022: 100% → 2023: 33% → 2024: 100% → 2025: 100%

Most common failures

Where 2016 Zafiras fail

Lights & electrics

8.3%

Wheels & tyres

7.7%

Exhaust, emissions & leaks

6.8%

Brakes

6.1%

Suspension & axles

5.1%

Visibility & wipers

5.1%

Body, structure & corrosion

2.4%

Seat belts & other equipment

0.3%

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.