FIGURE 1 // WHERE IT WEARSCitroen Berlingo
Top three failure systems, annotated from 40 failed first-time tests. Arrows point to where the defect is found on the car.
Lighting faults fail the Citroen Berlingo 3.0× as often as they fail a petrol or diesel car
216 inspections in a single year make the BERLINGO a modestly documented electric car in the data. Lighting cause 49.3% of its failures; lighting take 3.0× the share they take on petrol and diesel cars of the same age.
First-time test findings
The five-year vs six-year picture
AT FIVE YEARS OLD12.5%
BERLINGO failure rate. Petrol cars of the same age fail 10.7%.
AT SIX YEARS OLD26.2%
BERLINGO failure rate, against 12.9% for petrol.
The Citroen Berlingo fails 18.5% of first-time inspections. By 6 years that reaches 26.2%. Lighting cause 49.3% of its failures.
FIGURE 2 // HEADLAMP UNIT15 certificates in 2024
The lamp that fails the test
Lighting take 49.3% of the defects that fail this car, 3.0× the share seen on petrol and diesel cars of the same age. The most common item in that group is "Stop lamp missing, inoperative or in the case of a multiple light source more than 1/2 not functioning", recorded 15 times in 2024.
SECTION // LIGHTING CONCENTRATIONYear 5 crossover
Where the curve bends
The crossover with petrol happens around year 5. From there the BERLINGO's failure rate climbs faster than the petrol fleet, and the defect list explains why.
Source: DVSA MOT defect items, 2024 test year.
What to check
Check headlamp aim and every lamp before the test. It is the cheapest failure on the list and the easiest to avoid. Check the washers reach the screen. It fails the test and it is a thirty-second check. Have the suspension joints, bushes and springs checked on a lift. On this car it is a leading cause of failure and it is not visible from the outside. Check tyre age and tread across the full width, inner edge included. Electric cars wear tyres faster; a cheap mismatched set on a used car tells you how it was run. Ask for the full MOT history by registration on the free DVSA service: advisories are next year's failures.
3 inspection points:
✓ Headlamp aim and every lamp
✓ Washer reach
✓ Suspension joints and bushes on a lift
FIGURE 3 // FAILURE RATE BY AGEvs petrol, diesel and all electric cars
Points hidden where fewer than 50 cars of that age were tested. Dashed lines are the same-age petrol and diesel fleets.
Data sheet
- Inspections
- 216
- Passed
- 158
- Failed
- 40
- Passed after repair
- 18
- Failure rate
- 18.5% (all EV 12.0%)
- Average age
- 5.9 years
- Best year
- 5 yrs · 12.5%
- Worst year
- 6 yrs · 26.2%
- Top cause
- Lighting 49.3%
TABLE 1 // WHAT FAILS, BY SYSTEMshare of failing defects
| System | This car (mark = petrol/diesel) | Share | vs petrol/diesel |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tyres | 10.6% | 2.2× less | |
| Suspension | 12.0% | in line | |
| Brakes | 12.7% | 1.5× less | |
| Visibility | 9.9% | in line | |
| Lighting | 49.3% | 3.0× more | |
| Steering | 2.1% | 1.5× less | |
| Body | 1.4% | 2.9× less |
TABLE 2 // TOP DEFECTS ON THE CERTIFICATE
- Stop lamp missing, inoperative or in the case of a multiple light source more than 1/2 not functioning15
- A headlamp or light source missing, inoperative or more than ½ not functioning in the case of LED14
- A lamp missing, inoperative or in the case of a multiple light source more than 1/2 not functioning10
- Windscreen washers not working or not providing sufficient fluid to clear the windscreen10
- A suspension pin, bush or joint excessively worn10
- A tyre seriously damaged10
Wording as printed by the tester, from the DVSA inspection manual.
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Where it holds up
- Tyres fail less often than on petrol and diesel cars (10.6% of defects vs 23.7%)
- Brakes fail less often than on petrol and diesel cars (12.7% of defects vs 18.7%)
- Steering fail less often than on petrol and diesel cars (2.1% of defects vs 3.1%)
- Body fail less often than on petrol and diesel cars (1.4% of defects vs 4.1%)
Where it fails
- Lighting take a bigger share of failures than on petrol and diesel cars of the same age (49.3% vs 16.5%)
VERSIONS SEEN IN THE TESTSas recorded
- BERLINGO216
OWNER REPORTS // MATCHED TO RECORDED DEFECTS0 read · 0 matched
No owner discussion has been matched to this car's recorded defects yet. Reports are re-collected every quarter; the figures on this page do not depend on them.
Summaries written by us, never quotes; every entry links to its source. Owner reports have no denominator and never feed the failure rate.
SIMILAR CARS IN THE DATAclosest rate and age, other brands
Tesla Model X18.3% fail · 6,208 testsRenault Zoe19.0% fail · 22,057 testsTesla Model S18.0% fail · 10,892 testsRenault Kangoo17.8% fail · 4,063 tests
OTHER CITROEN ELECTRIC CARS
Three things the data shows
- 216 inspections in 2024 make this one of the adequately-documented electric cars in the data.
- Lighting take 3.0× the share of failures they take on petrol and diesel cars of the same age.
- Failure rate rises from 12.5% at 5 years to 26.2% at 6: a gentle ageing curve.
LIMITS // WHAT THE INSPECTION DOES NOT TELL YOU
No battery health, no motor, no charging performance. The test covers brakes, suspension, steering, tyres, lights, visibility and structure. A car with a badly degraded battery passes as long as it stops and steers. Read this page as evidence about the chassis, not the powertrain. Cars are tested from their third year, so the newest model years are missing; every figure carries its sample size for that reason. Full methodology.
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