Pass rate
73.6%
Below average — 1.2 pts ahead of the 72.4% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 87 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £21–£61
2005 Smart Fortwo MOT pass rate
- 2005
- typical 57,506 mi
Only 87 tests of this exact model and year are in the DVSA data, below the 100 we ask for before a page goes in the index. The figures are still shown, because they are the only ones there are.
Most common fault
Brakes
26.7% of faults · 20.9% nationally
mostly worn pads and discs, corroded pipes and a handbrake that will not hold.
Which year to buy
- Best 2013 83.4% pass
- Avoid 2006 71.2% pass
Across the 8 years on record, a spread of 12.2 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 68.1%
- Typical mileage
- 58k mi
The 2005 Smart Fortwo MOT pass rate is 73.6% of its MOT tests — 1.2 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. Brakes is the biggest single reason it fails, at 26.7% of what testers record.
Check your postcode
MOT pass rates are national — type your postcode to see how Smart Fortwo does in your corner of the country.
Expert verdict
Lamps & electrics: 1.6× the national share
Lamps & electrics make up 19.8% of everything recorded on the 2005 Smart Fortwo, against 12.2% nationally — 7.6 points above. Brakes are still the single largest share at 26.7%, but at 20.9% 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.
- Based on a small sample. 87 tests back this page. That is enough to publish and to index, not enough to treat the decimal places as precise — read the pattern, not the second digit.
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 Smart Fortwo? Get an email when these numbers change .
How does the 2005 Smart Fortwo compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 72.4%, so this figure is 1.2 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 68.1%. The median 2005 Smart Fortwo in this dataset had covered 57,506 mi.
Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 74.0% of the time, April–September 73.0%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources", noted on 8.05% of tests.
- 87 recorded tests behind this page.
- 73.6% overall pass rate, 68.1% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the Smart Fortwo, the average is 79.7% — best year 2013 (83.4%), worst 2006 (71.2%).
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
- 87
- Typical mileage (median)
- 57,506 mi
- Make and model
- Smart Fortwo
- Updated
- 2026-11-05
Source: DVSA anonymised MOT test data (2023–2025), OGL v3.0.
Top part to budget for
Number Plate Lamp
Usually a DIY or independent-garage job.
Does mileage affect the Fortwo MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 42% so small gaps stay visible.
Regional pass rates for the Fortwo
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| South West | 24 | 70.8% |
| South East | 21 | 76.2% |
| East of England | 16 | 68.8% |
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 2005 Fortwo
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 2005 Fortwo
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 lights 8.1% 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 brake pipes 4.6% of tests
“flexible brake hoses excessively deteriorated”
Brake pipes run under the car, usually in front of the rear wheels. Flaking or crusty metal is what fails; a light dusting of surface rust does not. Worth asking a garage to look while it is on a ramp.
-
Check the coil springs 3.5% 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 2005 Fortwo through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £21–£61 — and 48% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £21–£61
- Cheapest common item: registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the…
- £5–£20
- Dearest common item: door condition cannot be opened from inside…
- £80–£250
- Common items a careful owner can do at home
- 70%
- Repairs that still cost under £30
- 48%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 87 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 Fortwo, side by side
8 model years on record, from 2004 to 2013. Across them the pass rate runs from 71.2% to 83.4% — a spread of 12.2 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2004 72.2% headlamp lens slightly defective
- 2005 73.6%registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2006 71.2% headlamp aim projected beam image…
- 2007 72.4% headlamp lens slightly defective
- 2008 72.1% coil spring fractured or broken
- 2009 75.4% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2012 82.3% service brake performance…
- 2013 83.4% service brake performance…
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 2005 Smart Fortwo 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 2005 cars with a similar record
- Audi Tt 73.6%
- Saab 9-3 73.6%
- Suzuki Wagon-R+ 73.6%
- Honda Accord 73.5%
- Ford Fusion 73.7%
- Toyota Celica 73.7%
Closest pass rates among 2005 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 2005 Smart Fortwo 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 198 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 | 54 | 26.70% | 20.89% | +5.81 |
| Suspension | 46 | 22.80% | 20.98% | +1.82 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 40 | 19.80% | 12.21% | +7.59 |
| Tyres | 15 | 7.40% | 19.76% | −12.36 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 12 | 5.90% | 5.52% | +0.38 |
| Visibility | 9 | 4.50% | 4.97% | −0.47 |
| Non-component advisories | 8 | 4.00% | 4.18% | −0.18 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 7 | 3.50% | 5.57% | −2.07 |
| Identification of the vehicle | 4 | 2.00% | 1.76% | +0.24 |
| Steering | 3 | 1.50% | 2.57% | −1.07 |
The exact failure items, in the tester's words
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 8.1% | £5–20 |
| Flexible brake hoses excessively deteriorated Brakes | Major | 4.6% | £25–70 |
| Headlamp aim projected beam image is obviously incorrect Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 4.6% | £30–80 |
| Headlamp lens slightly defective Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 4.6% | £5–25 |
| Coil spring fractured or broken Suspension | Major | 3.5% | £25–65 |
| Horn not working Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 3.5% | £8–25 |
| Door condition cannot be opened from inside the vehicle Body, chassis, structure | Major | 2.3% | £80–250 |
| Driver's view to the front outside the swept area of the windscreen wipers restricted by an obstruction Visibility | Minor | 2.3% | £8–22 |
| Has a tear, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres | Major | 2.3% | £45–95 |
| Headlamp aim too high Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 2.3% | £30–80 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Flexible brake hoses excessively deteriorated Brakes | Advisory | 18.4% | £25–70 |
| Brake discs in such a condition that it is seriously weakened Brakes | Advisory | 17.2% | £45–110 |
| Has a tear, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres | Advisory | 10.3% | £45–95 |
| Coil spring corroded so that its cross sectional area is reduced and seriously weakened Suspension | Advisory | 9.2% | £25–65 |
| Linkage ball joints ball joint excessively worn Suspension | Advisory | 9.2% | £18–45 |
| Rigid brake pipes excessively corroded Brakes | Advisory | 9.2% | £80–180 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 18 | 66.7% | 23,795 mi |
| 30-60k | 27 | 77.8% | 47,113 mi |
| 60-90k | 31 | 74.2% | 74,943 mi |
| 90-120k | 7 | 85.7% | 96,503 mi |
| 120k+ | 4 | 50.0% | 128,527 mi |
Source: 87 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.
2005 Fortwo MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2005 Smart Fortwo?
73.6% of the 87 2005 Smart Fortwo tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 72.4% for cars first used in 2005. First-attempt pass rate: 68.1%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2005 Smart Fortwo?
The three most recorded items are registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources (8.05%), flexible brake hoses excessively deteriorated (4.60%), headlamp aim projected beam image is obviously incorrect (4.60%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2005 Smart Fortwo MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 66.7% of the time, falling to 50.0% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2005 Smart Fortwo in this dataset had covered 57,506 mi.
Does the season affect the 2005 Smart Fortwo MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 74.0% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 73.0%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.