Pass rate
88.8%
Above average — 11.6 pts ahead of the 77.2% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 934 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £17–£46
2012 Honda Stepwagon MOT pass rate
- 2012
- typical 72,417 mi
Check your postcode
Most common fault
Suspension
25.7% of faults · 21.0% nationally
mostly worn arm bushes, split ball-joint boots and broken coil springs.
Which year to buy
- Best 2012 88.8% pass · this year
- Avoid 2015 74.9% pass
Across the 21 years on record, a spread of 13.9 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 87.6%
- Typical mileage
- 72k mi
The 2012 Honda Stepwagon MOT pass rate is 88.8% of its MOT tests — 11.6 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. Suspension is the biggest single reason it fails, at 25.7% of what testers record.
Expert verdict
Lamps & electrics: 1.6× the national share
Lamps & electrics make up 19.5% of everything recorded on the 2012 Honda Stepwagon, against 12.2% nationally — 7.3 points above. Suspension is still the single largest share at 25.7%, but at 21.0% nationally that one is ordinary. Walk round the car with the lights on before the test: bulbs, indicators and number-plate lamps are the cheapest failures to prevent and among the most common.
- Beats its own age and mileage. Once you allow for how old and how far these cars have been driven, the expected pass rate is 77.2% and this one manages 88.8% — 11.6 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict.
Written from this page's own figures: fault shares against the national composition, the like-for-like pass rate, and the priced repair list. How these are worked out
Watching a Honda Stepwagon? Get an email when these numbers change .
How does the 2012 Honda Stepwagon compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 77.2%, so this figure is 11.6 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 87.6%. The median 2012 Honda Stepwagon in this dataset had covered 72,417 mi.
Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 87.5% of the time, April–September 90.0%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Track rod end ball joint dust cover damaged or deteriorated, but preventing the ingress of dirt", noted on 3.75% of tests.
- 934 recorded tests behind this page.
- 88.8% overall pass rate, 87.6% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the Honda Stepwagon, the average is 82.6% — best year 2012 (88.8%), worst 2015 (74.9%).
Figures count every completed test on this vehicle-year in the dataset, including retests. See methodology for the exact definition.
This page's data
- Tests analysed
- 934
- Typical mileage (median)
- 72,417 mi
- Make and model
- Honda Stepwagon
- Updated
- 2026-11-07
Source: DVSA anonymised MOT test data (2023–2025), OGL v3.0.
Top part to budget for
Ball Joint
Usually a DIY or independent-garage job.
Does mileage affect the Stepwagon MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 57% so small gaps stay visible.
Where the Honda Stepwagon is most common
Across all Stepwagon model years on record (2001–2021): 5,254 Honda Stepwagon cars tested in a recordable postcode area, across 10,513 tests. Maidstone (ME) has the most, with 264 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.
| # | Postcode area | Cars | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Maidstone (ME) | 264 | 89.9% |
| 2 | Birmingham (B) | 262 | 91.1% |
| 3 | Bradford (BD) | 176 | 94.1% |
| 4 | Portsmouth (PO) | 166 | 76.8% |
| 5 | Leicester (LE) | 119 | 89.6% |
| 6 | Romford (RM) | 118 | 90.6% |
| 7 | Derby (DE) | 116 | 86.7% |
| 8 | Southampton (SO) | 115 | 80.0% |
| 9 | Brighton (BN) | 114 | 71.6% |
| 10 | Hounslow (TW) | 105 | 92.3% |
| 11 | Bristol (BS) | 99 | 74.2% |
| 12 | Coventry (CV) | 95 | 85.1% |
| 13 | London (E) | 89 | 90.6% |
| 14 | Manchester (M) | 88 | 88.1% |
| 15 | Wembley (HA) | 85 | 93.0% |
| 16 | London (SE) | 83 | 86.7% |
| 17 | Sheffield (S) | 79 | 88.3% |
| 18 | London (N) | 73 | 88.2% |
| 19 | Hayes (UB) | 73 | 92.2% |
| 20 | Exeter (EX) | 71 | 74.3% |
The twenty areas with the most Honda Stepwagon 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 →
Regional pass rates for the Stepwagon
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| South East | 330 | 86.7% |
| West Midlands | 107 | 94.4% |
| Yorkshire | 80 | 92.5% |
| South West | 75 | 78.7% |
| London | 75 | 92.0% |
| North West | 74 | 86.5% |
| East of England | 66 | 89.4% |
| East Midlands | 57 | 93.0% |
| Scotland | 28 | 89.3% |
| North East | 28 | 92.9% |
Regions come from the postcode area recorded at the test station. Areas on region borders are assigned to the region with the majority of their population.
What fails a 2012 Stepwagon
Everything a tester recorded on this vehicle, grouped into the inspection sections that produced it. The notch on each bar is the national share, so you can see at a glance whether this car is unusual or just ordinary.
A test can record several items, so these percentages do not add up to 100%. The exact strings, with prices, are in the full DVSA record at the bottom of this page.
Before your test
Three checks worth doing on a 2012 Stepwagon
These are not generic tips — they are the faults recorded most often on this exact model, rewritten as things you can check yourself. All three take about ten minutes and cost nothing.
-
Check the suspension joints 3.8% of tests
“track rod end ball joint dust cover damaged or deteriorated,”
With the car parked on level ground, rock the top of each front wheel in and out while someone watches the suspension arm. Clunks, or rubber boots split and greasy, are what testers record here.
-
Check the lights 2.5% of tests
“registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources”
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.
-
Check the windscreen 1.3% of tests
“windscreen damaged”
Check the driver’s side of the screen within the swept area for chips and cracks; anything larger than 10mm in the driver’s central view is a fail. Most chips can be resin-repaired for far less than a new screen.
Shares are the proportion of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item, so they overlap: one test can record several.
What it costs to get a 2012 Stepwagon through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £17–£46 — and 43% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £17–£46
- Cheapest common item: registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the…
- £5–£20
- Dearest common item: windscreen damaged
- £80–£200
- Common items a careful owner can do at home
- 90%
- Repairs that still cost under £30
- 43%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 934 MOT tests on this vehicle. They exclude diagnostics, retest fees and garage labour where the part is a DIY fit, and they are not figures from the DVSA dataset. Older and higher-mileage examples cost more than the average. How these estimates are built → · All MOT repair costs → · Cheapest cars to put through a test →
Every year of the Stepwagon, side by side
21 model years on record, from 2001 to 2021. Across them the pass rate runs from 74.9% to 88.8% — a spread of 13.9 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2001 81.0% headlamp lens slightly defective
- 2002 75.3% position lamp not working
- 2003 80.9% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2004 82.1% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2005 76.7% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2006 79.5% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2007 78.8% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2008 81.6% track rod end ball joint dust…
- 2009 82.6% track rod end ball joint dust…
- 2010 84.5% track rod end ball joint dust…
- 2011 83.0% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2012 88.8%track rod end ball joint dust…
- 2013 88.3% track rod end ball joint dust…
- 2014 85.5% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2015 74.9% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2016 77.1% track rod end ball joint dust…
- 2017 77.9% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2018 80.0% ball joint dust cover severely…
- 2019 83.4% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2020 79.2% headlamp lens slightly defective
- 2021 82.2% ball joint dust cover severely…
Colour is the pass rate on a fixed scale, so a block means the same thing on any model. Each year links to its own page with the full fault breakdown.
Compare the 2012 Honda Stepwagon with another year
The raw pass rate mostly measures age. The year comparison adds the like-for-like figure, the mileage bands and the repair bill.
Other 2012 cars with a similar record
Closest pass rates among 2012 cars with at least 2,000 tests, so a small sample cannot flatter itself into the list. See the full rankings: best and worst MOT pass rates.
The full DVSA record for the 2012 Honda Stepwagon 10 failure items · 6 advisories · 10 inspection categories · mileage brackets · all of it in the page, none of it above the fold
Every inspection category
Shares of the 889 individual items recorded on this vehicle, and the same share across all cars nationally. A single test can record several items, so a row is not a percentage of tests.
| Category | Items | This car | Nationally | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Suspension | 229 | 25.70% | 20.98% | +4.72 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 174 | 19.50% | 12.21% | +7.29 |
| Tyres | 173 | 19.40% | 19.76% | −0.36 |
| Brakes | 101 | 11.30% | 20.89% | −9.59 |
| Steering | 61 | 6.80% | 2.57% | +4.23 |
| Visibility | 48 | 5.40% | 4.97% | +0.43 |
| Non-component advisories | 46 | 5.20% | 4.18% | +1.02 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 30 | 3.40% | 5.52% | −2.12 |
| Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems | 14 | 1.60% | 0.82% | +0.78 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 13 | 1.50% | 5.57% | −4.07 |
The exact failure items, in the tester's words
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Track rod end ball joint dust cover damaged or deteriorated, but preventing the ingress of dirt Steering | Minor | 3.8% | £18–45 |
| Registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 2.5% | £5–20 |
| Ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated Suspension | Minor | 2.3% | £18–45 |
| Linkage ball joint dust cover ball joint dust cover no longer prevents the ingress of dirt Suspension | Major | 1.8% | £18–45 |
| Headlamp lens slightly defective Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 1.6% | £5–25 |
| Position lamp not working Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Rectified | 1.4% | £5–25 |
| Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view Visibility | Minor | 1.3% | £80–200 |
| Linkage ball joint dust cover ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated Suspension | Minor | 1.2% | £18–45 |
| Registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of a single lamp or all lamps Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Rectified | 1.2% | £5–20 |
| Wipers does not clear the windscreen effectively Visibility | Major | 1.2% | £8–22 |
Severity is as recorded: Major and Dangerous fail the test outright; Minor and Advisory do not. Costs are estimates from typical UK parts prices — see how they are built.
What testers noted without failing the car
Advisories are the early warnings — the same parts a year or two before they fail. Reading them is how you tell a car that has been maintained from one that has been patched.
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn Suspension | Advisory | 8.9% | £40–150 |
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Advisory | 8.5% | £45–95 |
| Brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick Brakes | Advisory | 5.8% | £18–45 |
| Has a tear, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres | Advisory | 5.6% | £45–95 |
| Non-component advisories Child Seat fitted not allowing full inspection of adult belt Non-component advisories | Advisory | 2.5% | £20–80 |
| Engine oil leaks leaking excessively from engine Noise, emissions and leaks | Advisory | 2.1% | £200–700 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 2 | 100.0% | 24,933 mi |
| 30-60k | 231 | 90.9% | 50,326 mi |
| 60-90k | 532 | 90.4% | 73,997 mi |
| 90-120k | 110 | 87.3% | 99,992 mi |
| 120k+ | 55 | 65.5% | 163,662 mi |
Source: 934 recorded tests on this vehicle-year. Every row above is recomputed from the same DVSA extract as the rest of the page — see the methodology.
2012 Stepwagon MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2012 Honda Stepwagon?
88.8% of the 934 2012 Honda Stepwagon tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 77.2% for cars first used in 2012. First-attempt pass rate: 87.6%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2012 Honda Stepwagon?
The three most recorded items are track rod end ball joint dust cover damaged or deteriorated, but preventing the ingress of dirt (3.75%), registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources (2.46%), ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated (2.25%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2012 Honda Stepwagon MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 100.0% of the time, falling to 65.5% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2012 Honda Stepwagon in this dataset had covered 72,417 mi.
Does the season affect the 2012 Honda Stepwagon MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 87.5% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 90.0%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.