Volvo S40 MOT reliability

Volvo S40s passed their MOT first time 58% of the time across 15,238 tests in 2025. 12,197 are still licensed in Great Britain.

First-time pass rate

58%

MOTs analysed

15,238

Still licensed (GB)

12,197

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

2013 diesel

34 MOTs

These figures come from 34 MOT tests. That's a fairly small number of cars, so they may not be typical of these cars as a whole.

Passed first time 53%. Typical mileage 105,712 (most between 80,834 and 135,390).

2015: 80% → 2016: 85% → 2017: 79% → 2018: 83% → 2019: 76% → 2020: 67% → 2021: 61% → 2022: 66% → 2023: 65% → 2024: 60% → 2025: 53%

Most common failures

Coil spring: fractured or broken (20.6%)
Joints: constant velocity boot split or insecure, no longer prevents the ingress of dirt (17.6%)
Rbt (sp): efficiency below requirements (8.8%)
Parking brake performance: inoperative on one side (5.9%)
Linkage: fractured (5.9%)

2013 petrol

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 41,787 (most between 39,356 and 44,218).

2021: 22% → 2025: 100%

Most common failures

Where 2013 S40s fail

Suspension & axles

26.5%

Body, structure & corrosion

17.6%

Lights & electrics

17.6%

Brakes

11.8%

Wheels & tyres

8.8%

Visibility & wipers

8.8%

Steering

2.9%

Exhaust, emissions & leaks

2.9%

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.