Dacia Duster Essential MOT Pass Rate & Official DVSA Failure Statistics

Dacia Duster Essential MOT History and Failure Rates vs UK National Average

The Dacia Duster Essential passed on its first attempt in 86.8%, and its overall record sits +7.3 percentage points above the national average for all cars. These figures come from every recorded DVSA MOT test for the Dacia Duster Essential in the 2023–2025 data: 6,539 tests across 4 model years (2019–2022). A test still carries exactly one pass or fail verdict.

Figures are computed from every recorded DVSA test for this model in the 2023–2025 data.

Most Common Dacia Duster Essential MOT Problems by Failure Category

Every MOT failure a tester records belongs to one inspection section of the DVSA manual. For the Dacia Duster Essential, the Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment section leads the record — the breakdown below shows where the recorded failures cluster, then the exact strings behind the three biggest sections.

Shares are over the Dacia Duster Essential's recorded defect strings, merged across its year pages.

Top Recorded Dacia Duster Essential DVSA MOT Test Statistics & Defect Descriptions

The descriptions below are the exact DVSA failure strings testers recorded most often for the Dacia Duster Essential, each with how many of the model's 6,539 tests it was noted on.

• "Headlamp not working on dipped beam" (Rectified) — noted on about 238 Dacia Duster Essential tests, 3.6% of the model's MOT record.
• "Headlamp aim projected beam image is obviously incorrect" (Rectified) — noted on about 194 Dacia Duster Essential tests, 3.0% of the model's MOT record.
• "Wipers does not clear the windscreen effectively" (Major) — noted on about 184 Dacia Duster Essential tests, 2.8% of the model's MOT record.
• "Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm" (Major) — noted on about 106 Dacia Duster Essential tests, 1.6% of the model's MOT record.
• "Wipers blade defective" (Minor) — noted on about 97 Dacia Duster Essential tests, 1.5% of the model's MOT record.
• "Brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick" (Major) — noted on about 73 Dacia Duster Essential tests, 1.1% of the model's MOT record.

Best and Worst Dacia Duster Essential Model Years by Pass Rate

The strongest Dacia Duster Essential model year on record is 2021 (89.5% across 1,894 tests), and the weakest is 2020 (87.7%). The gap between them is 1.8 points. Years with fewer than 50 recorded tests are excluded, so these are the years with enough MOT history to mean something.

Newest model year first. Only years with at least 50 recorded tests are listed.

Pre-MOT Inspection Checklist for Dacia Duster Essential Owners

These checks follow this Dacia Duster Essential's own most-recorded failure strings, starting with what a tester is most likely to flag on a Dacia Duster Essential.

• the lights — “headlamp not working on dipped beam”

  Switch everything on and walk round the car: both headlamps on dip and main, every indicator, both brake lights, reverse, fog and the two number-plate lamps. A bulb is a few pounds and a five-minute job.

• the wipers and washers — “wipers does not clear the windscreen effectively”

  Run the wipers with the screen wet: they should clear it in one sweep without smearing or juddering. Top the washer bottle up and check both jets hit the screen.

• the tyre tread — “tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm”

  Check all four tyres cold, including the inner shoulder where wear hides — 1.6mm across the central three-quarters is the legal limit, and most testers fail at 1.6mm without argument.

Derived from the DVSA failure strings testers recorded for the Dacia Duster Essential. A check that finds nothing means the item is likely fine, not that the test is guaranteed.

Where the Dacia Duster Essential is most common

Across every Duster Essential model year on record (2019–2022): 3,252 Dacia Duster Essential cars tested in a recordable postcode area, across 6,539 tests. Glasgow (G) has the most, with 135 cars tested there. Cars are counted by the postcode area of the MOT station, so this is where they were tested, not necessarily where their owners live.

The twenty areas with the most Dacia Duster Essential cars in the record, sorted by car count — sort the columns for a different question. Cars tested at a station whose postcode area could not be resolved are counted in the model's total but in no area, so the shares add up to slightly under 100% even across every area, and an area's cars are a subset of the model's. Pass rate is blank below 30 tests in an area, where a percentage is noise rather than a finding. How this model's pass rate varies by postcode →

Frequently Asked Questions: Dacia Duster Essential MOT & Reliability