FIGURE 1 // WHERE IT WEARSJaguar I-Pace
Top three failure systems, annotated from 1,216 failed first-time tests. Arrows point to where the defect is found on the car.
Tyres are 57% of everything that fails a Jaguar I-Pace
18,063 inspections in a single year make the I-PACE one of the better-documented electric car. Tyres cause 57.3% of its failures; steering take 3.3× the share they take on petrol and diesel cars of the same age.
First-time test findings
The three-year vs six-year picture
AT THREE YEARS OLD6.4%
I-PACE failure rate. Petrol cars of the same age fail 8.2%.
AT SIX YEARS OLD10.4%
I-PACE failure rate, against 12.9% for petrol.
At three years old the Jaguar I-Pace fails 6.4% of the time, under the 8.2% of a petrol car the same age. By 6 years that reaches 10.4%. Tyres cause 57.3% of its failures.
FIGURE 2 // STEERING RACK AND TRACK ROD165 certificates in 2024
Play at the straight-ahead
Steering take 10.3% of the defects that fail this car, 3.3× the share seen on petrol and diesel cars of the same age. The most common item in that group is "A steering ball joint with excessive wear or free play", recorded 165 times in 2024.
SECTION // STEERING CONCENTRATION
Where it concentrates
The I-PACE stays under the petrol fleet at every age we can measure. What it does fail on is unusually concentrated.
Source: DVSA MOT defect items, 2024 test year.
What to check
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. Trivial to fix, but a car advertised with worn wipers and a fresh failure certificate tells you how it was maintained. Ask for the full MOT history by registration on the free DVSA service: advisories are next year's failures.
3 inspection points:
✓ Tyre inner-edge wear and age
✓ Wipers and washers
✓ 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
- 18,063
- Passed
- 16,626
- Failed
- 1,216
- Passed after repair
- 221
- Failure rate
- 6.7% (all EV 12.0%)
- Average age
- 4.0 years
- Best year
- 4 yrs · 5.6%
- Worst year
- 6 yrs · 10.4%
- Top cause
- Tyres 57.3%
TABLE 1 // WHAT FAILS, BY SYSTEMshare of failing defects
| System | This car (mark = petrol/diesel) | Share | vs petrol/diesel |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tyres | 57.3% | 2.4× more | |
| Suspension | 1.4% | 9.7× less | |
| Brakes | 4.1% | 4.6× less | |
| Visibility | 8.8% | 1.4× less | |
| Lighting | 6.2% | 2.7× less | |
| Steering | 10.3% | 3.3× more | |
| Body | 1.1% | 3.7× less |
TABLE 2 // TOP DEFECTS ON THE CERTIFICATE
- A tyre seriously damaged779
- A tyre cords visible or damaged274
- A steering ball joint with excessive wear or free play165
- Tyre tread depth not in accordance with the requirements164
- Number plate does not conform to the specified requirements143
- Wiper blade missing or obviously not clearing the windscreen77
Wording as printed by the tester, from the DVSA inspection manual.
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Where it holds up
- Suspension fail less often than on petrol and diesel cars (1.4% of defects vs 13.6%)
- Brakes fail less often than on petrol and diesel cars (4.1% of defects vs 18.7%)
- Visibility fail less often than on petrol and diesel cars (8.8% of defects vs 11.9%)
- Lighting fail less often than on petrol and diesel cars (6.2% of defects vs 16.5%)
Where it fails
- Tyres take a bigger share of failures than on petrol and diesel cars of the same age (57.3% vs 23.7%)
- Steering take a bigger share of failures than on petrol and diesel cars of the same age (10.3% vs 3.1%)
VERSIONS SEEN IN THE TESTSas recorded
- I-PACE16,256
- I-PACE BLACK703
- I-PACE HSE613
- I-PACE HSE BLACK236
- I-PACE SE211
- I-PACE S38
- I-PACE EV400 AWD3
- I-PACE EV400 S1
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
Three things the data shows
- 18,063 inspections in 2024 make this one of the best-documented electric cars in the data.
- Steering take 3.3× the share of failures they take on petrol and diesel cars of the same age.
- Failure rate rises from 5.6% at 4 years to 10.4% 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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