Pass rate
82.9%
Around average — 5.7 pts ahead of the 77.2% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 199 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £15–£39
2012 Mercedes-Benz B180 MOT pass rate
- 2012
- typical 72,560 mi
Most common fault
Brakes
27.7% of faults · 20.9% nationally
mostly worn pads and discs, corroded pipes and a handbrake that will not hold.
Which year to buy
- Best 2012 82.9% pass · this year
- Avoid 2009 71.9% pass
Across the 4 years on record, a spread of 11 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 79.8%
- Typical mileage
- 73k mi
The 2012 Mercedes-Benz B180 MOT pass rate is 82.9% of its MOT tests — 5.7 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. Brakes is the biggest single reason it fails, at 27.7% of what testers record.
Check your postcode
MOT pass rates are national — type your postcode to see how Mercedes-Benz B180 does in your corner of the country.
Expert verdict
Brakes: 1.3× the national share
Brakes make up 27.7% of everything recorded on the 2012 Mercedes-Benz B180, against 20.9% nationally — 6.8 points above. Have the discs and pads measured rather than glanced at, and ask whether the handbrake holds on a slope.
- 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 82.9% — 5.7 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict.
- When it fails, it costs. Only 29% 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 B180? Get an email when these numbers change .
How does the 2012 Mercedes-Benz B180 compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 77.2%, so this figure is 5.7 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 79.8%. The median 2012 Mercedes-Benz B180 in this dataset had covered 72,560 mi.
The most common fuel recorded here is Diesel — 62% of tests, with a 79.8% pass rate. Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 83.3% of the time, April–September 82.5%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated", noted on 5.53% of tests.
- 199 recorded tests behind this page.
- 82.9% overall pass rate, 79.8% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the Mercedes-Benz B180, the average is 78.5% — best year 2012 (82.9%), worst 2009 (71.9%).
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
- 199
- Typical mileage (median)
- 72,560 mi
- Make and model
- Mercedes-Benz B180
- Updated
- 2026-11-05
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 B180 MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 64% so small gaps stay visible.
Fuel type and reliability
Pass rate by fuel type. Diesel is the most common here (62% of tests).
Regional pass rates for the B180
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| South East | 51 | 80.4% |
| East of England | 35 | 91.4% |
| West Midlands | 25 | 80.0% |
| South West | 25 | 76.0% |
| Yorkshire | 18 | 77.8% |
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 B180
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 B180
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 5.5% of tests
“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.
-
Check the lights 2.5% of tests
“srs malfunction indicator lamp warning lamp indicates a fault”
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 coil springs 2.0% 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.
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 B180 through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £15–£39 — and 29% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £15–£39
- Cheapest common item: srs malfunction indicator lamp warning lamp…
- £3–£12
- Dearest common item: coil spring fractured or broken
- £25–£65
- Common items a careful owner can do at home
- 100%
- Repairs that still cost under £30
- 29%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 199 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 B180, side by side
4 model years on record, from 2009 to 2012. Across them the pass rate runs from 71.9% to 82.9% — a spread of 11 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2009 71.9% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2010 75.9% joints constant velocity boot…
- 2011 78.7% service brake performance…
- 2012 82.9%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 Mercedes-Benz B180 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
- Land Rover Range Rover 82.9%
- Audi Q5 83.0%
- Toyota Rav-4 82.8%
- Honda Cr-Z 82.8%
- Volkswagen Touareg 83.1%
- Honda Civic 82.7%
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 Mercedes-Benz B180 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 247 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brakes | 69 | 27.70% | 20.89% | +6.81 |
| Tyres | 56 | 22.50% | 19.76% | +2.74 |
| Suspension | 47 | 18.90% | 20.98% | −2.08 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 20 | 8.00% | 12.21% | −4.21 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 12 | 4.80% | 5.52% | −0.72 |
| Visibility | 10 | 4.00% | 4.97% | −0.97 |
| Non-component advisories | 9 | 3.60% | 4.18% | −0.58 |
| Identification of the vehicle | 9 | 3.60% | 1.76% | +1.84 |
| Road Wheels | 8 | 3.20% | 0.75% | +2.45 |
| Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems | 7 | 2.80% | 0.82% | +1.98 |
The exact failure items, in the tester's words
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated Suspension | Minor | 5.5% | £18–45 |
| Linkage ball joint dust cover ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated Suspension | Minor | 5.0% | £18–45 |
| Ball joint dust cover no longer prevents the ingress of dirt Suspension | Major | 2.5% | £18–45 |
| Srs malfunction indicator lamp warning lamp indicates a fault Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems | Major | 2.5% | £3–12 |
| Coil spring fractured or broken Suspension | Major | 2.0% | £25–65 |
| Wipers does not clear the windscreen effectively Visibility | Major | 2.0% | £8–22 |
| Fractured Road Wheels | Major | 1.5% | £20–55 |
| Linkage ball joint dust cover ball joint dust cover no longer prevents the ingress of dirt Suspension | Major | 1.5% | £18–45 |
| Malfunction indicator lamp inoperative or indicates a malfunction Noise, emissions and leaks | Rectified | 1.5% | £3–12 |
| Registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of a single lamp or all lamps Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 1.5% | £5–20 |
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 | 12.1% | £45–95 |
| Brake discs in such a condition that it is seriously weakened Brakes | Advisory | 9.6% | £45–110 |
| Has a tear, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres | Advisory | 8.0% | £45–95 |
| Rigid brake pipes excessively corroded Brakes | Advisory | 7.5% | £80–180 |
| Brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick Brakes | Advisory | 5.0% | £18–45 |
| Registration plates inscription illegible Identification of the vehicle | Advisory | 4.5% | £20–80 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 4 | 100.0% | 25,056 mi |
| 30-60k | 43 | 83.7% | 49,352 mi |
| 60-90k | 104 | 85.6% | 73,926 mi |
| 90-120k | 37 | 75.7% | 100,677 mi |
| 120k+ | 11 | 72.7% | 139,530 mi |
Source: 199 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 B180 MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2012 Mercedes-Benz B180?
82.9% of the 199 2012 Mercedes-Benz B180 tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 77.2% for cars first used in 2012. First-attempt pass rate: 79.8%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2012 Mercedes-Benz B180?
The three most recorded items are ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated (5.53%), linkage ball joint dust cover ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated (5.03%), ball joint dust cover no longer prevents the ingress of dirt (2.51%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2012 Mercedes-Benz B180 MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 100.0% of the time, falling to 72.7% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2012 Mercedes-Benz B180 in this dataset had covered 72,560 mi.
Which fuel type is most reliable for a 2012 Mercedes-Benz B180?
Diesel: 79.8% pass rate across 124 tests. Petrol: 88.0% pass rate across 75 tests. Shares are of the tests on this vehicle that recorded each fuel type.
Does the season affect the 2012 Mercedes-Benz B180 MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 83.3% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 82.5%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.