How often does the Nissan NV200 fail its MOT?

20.1% of 2,903 first-time tests in 2024 were failures, against 12.0% for all electric cars.

What does the Nissan NV200 most often fail on?

Brakes, 24.0% of failing defects. The single most common defect was: A suspension pin, bush or joint excessively worn.

Nissan · Fully electric · 2,903 inspections in 2024 · Rank 77 of 81DVSA MOT analysis

The Nissan NV200 fails its MOT more often than almost any other electric car: 20.1% first time

2,903 inspections in a single year make the NV200 a modestly documented electric car in the data. Brakes cause 24.0% of its failures; visibility take 1.4× the share they take on petrol and diesel cars of the same age.

FIGURE 1 // WHERE IT WEARSNissan NV200

Top three failure systems, annotated from 583 failed first-time tests. Arrows point to where the defect is found on the car.

First-time test findings

The three-year vs ten-year picture

AT THREE YEARS OLD8.7%

NV200 failure rate. Petrol cars of the same age fail 8.2%.

AT TEN YEARS OLD29.3%

NV200 failure rate, against 22.6% for petrol.

At three years old the Nissan NV200 fails 8.7% of the time, over the 8.2% of a petrol car the same age. By 10 years that reaches 29.3%. Brakes cause 24.0% of its failures.

FIGURE 2 // WINDSCREEN AND WIPER132 certificates in 2024

The cheapest failure on the list

Visibility take 17.1% of the defects that fail this car, 1.4× 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 132 times in 2024.

SECTION // VISIBILITY CONCENTRATIONYear 3 crossover

Where the curve bends

The crossover with petrol happens around year 3. From there the NV200's failure rate climbs faster than the petrol fleet, and the defect list explains why.

DEFECT CONCENTRATION IN FAILED TESTS:

NV200 visibility share17.1%

Petrol and diesel average11.9%

The single most common item on a NV200 certificate is "A suspension pin, bush or joint excessively worn", recorded 177 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. 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:

✓ Suspension joints and bushes on a lift

✓ Wipers and washers

✓ Tyre inner-edge wear and age

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: 2,903
Passed: 2,159
Failed: 583
Passed after repair: 161
Failure rate: 20.1% (all EV 12.0%)
Average age: 7.3 years
Best year: 3 yrs · 8.7%
Worst year: 10 yrs · 29.3%
Top cause: Brakes 24.0%

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

System	Share	vs petrol/diesel
Tyres	19.8%	in line
Suspension	15.2%	in line
Brakes	24.0%	1.3× more
Visibility	17.1%	1.4× more
Lighting	17.3%	in line
Steering	0.4%	7.8× less
Body	3.1%	1.3× less

TABLE 2 // TOP DEFECTS ON THE CERTIFICATE

A suspension pin, bush or joint excessively worn177
Wiper blade missing or obviously not clearing the windscreen132
A tyre seriously damaged126
Tyre tread depth not in accordance with the requirements83
A tyre cords visible or damaged75
Windscreen washers not working or not providing sufficient fluid to clear the windscreen71

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

Where it holds up

Steering fail less often than on petrol and diesel cars (0.4% of defects vs 3.1%)

Where it fails

Visibility take a bigger share of failures than on petrol and diesel cars of the same age (17.1% vs 11.9%)
At three years old it fails 8.7% of the time, above the 8.2% of petrol cars the same age

VERSIONS SEEN IN THE TESTSas recorded

NV2002,903

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

Renault Twizy20.4% fail · 500 tests Citroen C-Zero20.0% fail · 130 tests Tesla Model S18.0% fail · 10,892 tests Honda Insight23.6% fail · 140 tests

OTHER NISSAN ELECTRIC CARS

Nissan Dynamo12.0% fail first time Nissan e-NV20019.3% fail first time Nissan Leaf15.4% fail first time

Three things the data shows

2,903 inspections in 2024 make this one of the adequately-documented electric cars in the data.
Visibility take 1.4× the share of failures they take on petrol and diesel cars of the same age.
Failure rate rises from 8.7% at 3 years to 29.3% at 10: a steep 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.