How often does the Citroen C-Zero fail its MOT?

20.0% of 130 first-time tests in 2024 were failures, against 12.0% for all electric cars.

What does the Citroen C-Zero most often fail on?

Suspension, 27.5% of failing defects. The single most common defect was: A suspension joint dust cover missing or no longer prevents the ingress of dirt etc.

Citroen · Fully electric · 130 inspections in 2024 · Rank 76 of 81DVSA MOT analysis

Steering faults fail the Citroen C-Zero 6.5× as often as they fail a petrol or diesel car

130 inspections in a single year make the C-ZERO a modestly documented electric car in the data. Suspension cause 27.5% of its failures; steering take 6.5× the share they take on petrol and diesel cars of the same age.

FIGURE 1 // WHERE IT WEARSCitroen C-Zero

Top three failure systems, annotated from 26 failed first-time tests. Arrows point to where the defect is found on the car.

First-time test findings

First-time failure rate

OVERALL20.0%

Overall first-time failure rate.

ALL ELECTRIC CARS12.0%

All electric cars in the data.

The Citroen C-Zero fails 20.0% of first-time inspections. Suspension cause 27.5% of its failures.

FIGURE 2 // STEERING RACK AND TRACK ROD8 certificates in 2024

Play at the straight-ahead

Steering take 20.0% of the defects that fail this car, 6.5× the share seen on petrol and diesel cars of the same age. The most common item in that group is "Steering rack gaiter or ball joint dust cover missing or no longer prevents the ingress of dirt etc", recorded 8 times in 2024.

SECTION // STEERING CONCENTRATION

Where it concentrates

The C-ZERO stays under the petrol fleet at every age we can measure. What it does fail on is unusually concentrated.

DEFECT CONCENTRATION IN FAILED TESTS:

C-ZERO steering share20.0%

Petrol and diesel average3.1%

The single most common item on a C-ZERO certificate is "A suspension joint dust cover missing or no longer prevents the ingress of dirt etc", recorded 10 times.

Source: DVSA MOT defect items, 2024 test year.

Buyer's protocolPre-purchase checklist

What to 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:

✓ Suspension joints and bushes on a lift

✓ Tyre inner-edge wear and age

✓ Free DVSA MOT history check

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: 130
Passed: 101
Failed: 26
Passed after repair: 3
Failure rate: 20.0% (all EV 12.0%)
Average age: 8.0 years
Top cause: Suspension 27.5%

TABLE 1 // WHAT FAILS, BY SYSTEMshare of failing defects

System	Share	vs petrol/diesel
Tyres	8.8%	2.7× less
Suspension	27.5%	2.0× more
Brakes	12.5%	1.5× less
Visibility	7.5%	1.6× less
Lighting	22.5%	1.4× more
Steering	20.0%	6.5× more
Body	0.0%	in line

TABLE 2 // TOP DEFECTS ON THE CERTIFICATE

A suspension joint dust cover missing or no longer prevents the ingress of dirt etc10
A suspension joint dust cover severely deteriorated9
Steering rack gaiter or ball joint dust cover missing or no longer prevents the ingress of dirt etc8
Steering rack gaiter or ball joint dust cover damaged or deteriorated7
A tyre seriously damaged4
A reversing lamp inoperative4

Wording as printed by the tester, from the DVSA inspection manual.

Where it holds up

Tyres fail less often than on petrol and diesel cars (8.8% of defects vs 23.7%)
Brakes fail less often than on petrol and diesel cars (12.5% of defects vs 18.7%)
Visibility fail less often than on petrol and diesel cars (7.5% of defects vs 11.9%)
Body fail less often than on petrol and diesel cars (0.0% of defects vs 4.1%)

Where it fails

Suspension take a bigger share of failures than on petrol and diesel cars of the same age (27.5% vs 13.6%)
Lighting take a bigger share of failures than on petrol and diesel cars of the same age (22.5% vs 16.5%)
Steering take a bigger share of failures than on petrol and diesel cars of the same age (20.0% vs 3.1%)

VERSIONS SEEN IN THE TESTSas recorded

C-ZERO130

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

Nissan NV20020.1% fail · 2,903 tests Renault Twizy20.4% fail · 500 tests Peugeot iOn18.7% fail · 343 tests Tesla Model S18.0% fail · 10,892 tests

OTHER CITROEN ELECTRIC CARS

Citroen Berlingo18.5% fail first time Citroen e-Berlingo6.9% fail first time Citroen e-C414.2% fail first time Citroen E-Dispatch6.6% fail first time

Three things the data shows

130 inspections in 2024 make this one of the adequately-documented electric cars in the data.
Steering take 6.5× the share of failures they take on petrol and diesel cars of the same age.
It ranks 76 of 81 electric cars by first-time failure rate.

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.