Pass rate
84.1%
Around average — 0.1 pts ahead of the 84.0% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 133,159 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £33–£79
2016 Mercedes-Benz A-Class MOT pass rate
- 2016
- 2 trims combined
- typical 65,195 mi
Most common fault
Tyres
36.5% of faults · 19.8% nationally
mostly tread below the limit, cuts and sidewall bulges.
Part only £55–£85 for Tread depth below 1.6 mm. What fitting it takes →
1.9 pts up across model years — 4.3% in 2001, 6.2% in 2019.
Which year to buy
- Best 2021 93.0% pass
- Avoid 2000 70.6% pass
Across the 22 years on record, a spread of 22.4 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 81.3%
- Typical mileage
- 65k mi
The 2016 Mercedes-Benz A-Class MOT pass rate is 84.1% of its MOT tests — about what its age and mileage predict. Tyres is the biggest single reason it fails, at 36.5% of what testers record.
Check your postcode
MOT pass rates are national — type your postcode to see how Mercedes-Benz A-Class does in your corner of the country.
Expert verdict
Tyres: 1.8× the national share
Tyres make up 36.5% of everything recorded on the 2016 Mercedes-Benz A-Class, against 19.8% nationally — 16.7 points above. Check all four tyres yourself, including the inner shoulders, and look at the date stamp — a tyre can pass on tread and still be six years old.
- When it fails, it costs. Only 16% of this model’s typical repairs come in under £30 in parts — the failures here tend to be the kind that need a garage rather than a bulb.
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 Mercedes-Benz A-Class? Get an email when these numbers change .
Every Mercedes-Benz A-Class first registered in 2016 is combined here — 2 trim and body variants in total — so the sample is as large as the DVSA data allows.
How does the 2016 Mercedes-Benz A-Class compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 84.0%, so this figure is 0.1 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 81.3%. The median 2016 Mercedes-Benz A-Class in this dataset had covered 65,195 mi.
76% of the tests on this vehicle ran on Diesel, which passed 83.3% of the time. Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 84.3% of the time, April–September 83.8%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Coil spring fractured or broken", noted on 2.75% of tests.
- 133,159 recorded tests behind this page.
- 84.1% overall pass rate, 81.3% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the Mercedes-Benz A-Class, the average is 82.5% — best year 2021 (93.0%), worst 2000 (70.6%).
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
- 133,159
- Typical mileage (median)
- 65,195 mi
- Make and model
- Mercedes-Benz A-Class
- Updated
- 2026-11-05
Source: DVSA anonymised MOT test data (2023–2025), OGL v3.0.
Top part to budget for
Coil Spring
Usually a DIY or independent-garage job.
Does mileage affect the A-Class MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 70% so small gaps stay visible.
Fuel type and reliability
Pass rate by fuel type. Diesel is the most common here (76% of tests).
Regional pass rates for the A-Class
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| South East | 23,731 | 85.4% |
| North West | 17,543 | 84.5% |
| Yorkshire | 14,554 | 83.6% |
| West Midlands | 13,993 | 85.4% |
| East of England | 13,009 | 84.1% |
| Scotland | 10,572 | 80.3% |
| South West | 9,964 | 81.4% |
| East Midlands | 9,469 | 83.7% |
| London | 7,496 | 87.8% |
| Wales | 6,770 | 83.3% |
| North East | 6,050 | 83.6% |
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 2016 A-Class
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 2016 A-Class
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 coil springs 2.8% of tests
“coil spring fractured or broken”
Look up inside each wheel arch with a torch, all the way round the spring. A snapped spring usually breaks at the very bottom coil, where a quick glance will not reach.
-
Check the windscreen 2.1% 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.
-
Check the suspension joints 1.8% of tests
“linkage ball joint dust cover ball joint dust cover severely 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.
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 2016 A-Class through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £33–£79 — and 16% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £33–£79
- Cheapest common item: malfunction indicator lamp inoperative or…
- £3–£12
- Dearest common item: windscreen damaged
- £80–£200
- Common items a careful owner can do at home
- 90%
- Repairs that still cost under £30
- 16%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 133,159 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 A-Class, side by side
22 model years on record, from 2000 to 2021. Across them the pass rate runs from 70.6% to 93.0% — a spread of 22.4 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2000 70.6% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2001 72.6% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2002 72.1% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2003 72.2% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2004 73.1% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2005 74.2% joints constant velocity boot…
- 2006 73.6% joints constant velocity boot…
- 2007 74.5% joints constant velocity boot…
- 2008 74.2% joints constant velocity boot…
- 2009 75.1% joints constant velocity boot…
- 2010 76.5% side repeaters not working
- 2011 78.4% side repeaters not working
- 2012 78.8% coil spring fractured or broken
- 2013 79.7% coil spring fractured or broken
- 2014 80.5% linkage ball joint dust cover…
- 2015 82.4% coil spring fractured or broken
- 2016 84.1%coil spring fractured or broken
- 2017 85.8% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2018 88.1% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2019 88.9% srs malfunction indicator lamp…
- 2020 87.3% has a cut in excess of the…
- 2021 93.0% windscreen damaged but not…
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 2016 Mercedes-Benz A-Class 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 2016 cars with a similar record
- Volvo XC70 84.1%
- Kia Sportage 84.0%
- Mazda Cx-5 84.0%
- Jeep Cherokee 84.0%
- Volvo XC90 84.2%
- Volkswagen Touareg 83.9%
Closest pass rates among 2016 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 2016 Mercedes-Benz A-Class 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 140,842 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tyres | 51,861 | 36.50% | 19.76% | +16.74 |
| Brakes | 38,852 | 27.30% | 20.89% | +6.41 |
| Suspension | 15,652 | 11.00% | 20.98% | −9.98 |
| Visibility | 8,717 | 6.10% | 4.97% | +1.13 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 7,415 | 5.20% | 12.21% | −7.01 |
| Non-component advisories | 7,268 | 5.10% | 4.18% | +0.92 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 3,980 | 2.80% | 5.52% | −2.72 |
| Identification of the vehicle | 2,828 | 2.00% | 1.76% | +0.24 |
| Road Wheels | 2,740 | 1.90% | 0.75% | +1.15 |
| Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems | 1,529 | 1.10% | 0.82% | +0.28 |
The exact failure items, in the tester's words
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Coil spring fractured or broken Suspension | Major | 2.8% | £25–65 |
| Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view Visibility | Minor | 2.1% | £80–200 |
| Linkage ball joint dust cover ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated Suspension | Minor | 1.8% | £18–45 |
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Major | 1.5% | £45–95 |
| Malfunction indicator lamp inoperative or indicates a malfunction Noise, emissions and leaks | Major | 1.4% | £3–12 |
| Has a cut in excess of the requirements deep enough to reach the ply or cords Tyres | Major | 1.4% | £45–95 |
| Linkage ball joint dust cover ball joint dust cover no longer prevents the ingress of dirt Suspension | Major | 1.3% | £18–45 |
| Brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick Brakes | Major | 1.1% | £18–45 |
| Has ply or cords exposed Tyres | Major | 1.0% | £45–95 |
| Wipers blade defective Visibility | Minor | 0.95% | £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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Advisory | 17.4% | £45–95 |
| Brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick Brakes | Advisory | 9.3% | £18–45 |
| Brake discs in such a condition that it is seriously weakened Brakes | Advisory | 9.2% | £45–110 |
| Has a tear, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres | Advisory | 8.9% | £45–95 |
| Brake discs significantly and obviously worn Brakes | Advisory | 4.5% | £45–110 |
| Tread depth tread pattern not visible over the whole tread area when minimum depth required is 1.0mm Tyres | Advisory | 2.5% | £45–95 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 5,855 | 91.6% | 23,030 mi |
| 30-60k | 48,956 | 86.7% | 47,622 mi |
| 60-90k | 54,596 | 82.8% | 73,327 mi |
| 90-120k | 18,667 | 79.9% | 101,472 mi |
| 120k+ | 4,992 | 78.6% | 138,634 mi |
Source: 133,159 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.
2016 A-Class MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2016 Mercedes-Benz A-Class?
84.1% of the 133,159 2016 Mercedes-Benz A-Class tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 84.0% for cars first used in 2016. First-attempt pass rate: 81.3%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2016 Mercedes-Benz A-Class?
The three most recorded items are coil spring fractured or broken (2.75%), windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view (2.14%), linkage ball joint dust cover ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated (1.82%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2016 Mercedes-Benz A-Class MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 91.6% of the time, falling to 78.6% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2016 Mercedes-Benz A-Class in this dataset had covered 65,195 mi.
Which fuel type is most reliable for a 2016 Mercedes-Benz A-Class?
Diesel: 83.3% pass rate across 101,709 tests. Petrol: 86.4% pass rate across 31,450 tests. Shares are of the tests on this vehicle that recorded each fuel type.
Does the season affect the 2016 Mercedes-Benz A-Class MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 84.3% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 83.8%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.