How often does the Honda E fail its MOT?

7.6% of 1,477 first-time tests in 2024 were failures, against 12.0% for all electric cars.

What does the Honda E most often fail on?

Tyres, 55.2% of failing defects. The single most common defect was: Wiper blade missing or obviously not clearing the windscreen.

Honda · Fully electric · 1,477 inspections in 2024 · Rank 23 of 81DVSA MOT analysis

Tyres are 55% of everything that fails a Honda E

1,477 inspections in a single year make the E a modestly documented electric car in the data. Tyres cause 55.2% of its failures; visibility take 3.2× the share they take on petrol and diesel cars of the same age.

FIGURE 1 // WHERE IT WEARSHonda E

Top three failure systems, annotated from 112 failed first-time tests. Arrows point to where the defect is found on the car.

First-time test findings

The three-year vs four-year picture

AT THREE YEARS OLD8.0%

E failure rate. Petrol cars of the same age fail 8.2%.

AT FOUR YEARS OLD7.4%

E failure rate, against 8.9% for petrol.

At three years old the Honda E fails 8.0% of the time, under the 8.2% of a petrol car the same age. By 3 years that reaches 8.0%. Tyres cause 55.2% of its failures.

FIGURE 2 // WINDSCREEN AND WIPER56 certificates in 2024

The cheapest failure on the list

Visibility take 37.6% of the defects that fail this car, 3.2× the share seen on petrol and diesel cars of the same age. The most common item in that group is "Wiper blade missing or obviously not clearing the windscreen", recorded 56 times in 2024.

SECTION // VISIBILITY CONCENTRATION

Where it concentrates

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

DEFECT CONCENTRATION IN FAILED TESTS:

E visibility share37.6%

Petrol and diesel average11.9%

The single most common item on a E certificate is "Wiper blade missing or obviously not clearing the windscreen", recorded 56 times.

Source: DVSA MOT defect items, 2024 test year.

Buyer's protocolPre-purchase checklist

What to check

Trivial to fix, but a car advertised with worn wipers and a fresh failure certificate tells you how it was maintained. 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. Check the washers reach the screen. It fails the test and it is a thirty-second check. Ask for the full MOT history by registration on the free DVSA service: advisories are next year's failures.

3 inspection points:

✓ Wipers and washers

✓ Tyre inner-edge wear and age

✓ Washer reach

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: 1,477
Passed: 1,325
Failed: 112
Passed after repair: 40
Failure rate: 7.6% (all EV 12.0%)
Average age: 3.5 years
Best year: 4 yrs · 7.4%
Worst year: 3 yrs · 8.0%
Top cause: Tyres 55.2%

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

System	Share	vs petrol/diesel
Tyres	55.2%	2.3× more
Suspension	0.0%	in line
Brakes	0.0%	in line
Visibility	37.6%	3.2× more
Lighting	2.9%	5.7× less
Steering	0.0%	in line
Body	1.9%	2.2× less

TABLE 2 // TOP DEFECTS ON THE CERTIFICATE

Wiper blade missing or obviously not clearing the windscreen56
A tyre seriously damaged48
Tyre tread depth not in accordance with the requirements34
A tyre cords visible or damaged22
Windscreen washers not working or not providing sufficient fluid to clear the windscreen12
Wiper blade defective7

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

Where it holds up

Suspension fail less often than on petrol and diesel cars (0.0% of defects vs 13.6%)
Brakes fail less often than on petrol and diesel cars (0.0% of defects vs 18.7%)
Lighting fail less often than on petrol and diesel cars (2.9% of defects vs 16.5%)
Steering fail less often than on petrol and diesel cars (0.0% of defects vs 3.1%)

Where it fails

Tyres take a bigger share of failures than on petrol and diesel cars of the same age (55.2% vs 23.7%)
Visibility take a bigger share of failures than on petrol and diesel cars of the same age (37.6% vs 11.9%)

VERSIONS SEEN IN THE TESTSas recorded

E ADVANCE1,411
E65
HONDA E1

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 Y8.0% fail · 1,766 tests Hyundai Kona8.1% fail · 15,479 tests Kia Niro8.0% fail · 29,589 tests Smart EQ8.3% fail · 2,590 tests

OTHER HONDA ELECTRIC CARS

Honda Insight23.6% fail first time

Three things the data shows

1,477 inspections in 2024 make this one of the adequately-documented electric cars in the data.
Visibility take 3.2× the share of failures they take on petrol and diesel cars of the same age.
Failure rate rises from 7.4% at 4 years to 8.0% at 3: 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.