Pass rate
78.3%
Around average — 6.1 pts ahead of the 72.2% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 3,136 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £21–£64
2004 Toyota Prius MOT pass rate
- 2004
- typical 153,700 mi
Most common fault
Suspension
25.8% of faults · 21.0% nationally
mostly worn arm bushes, split ball-joint boots and broken coil springs.
Which year to buy
- Best 2025 97.6% pass
- Avoid 2001 76.2% pass
Across the 25 years on record, a spread of 21.4 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 73.6%
- Typical mileage
- 154k mi
The 2004 Toyota Prius MOT pass rate is 78.3% of its MOT tests — 6.1 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. Suspension is the biggest single reason it fails, at 25.8% of what testers record.
Check your postcode
MOT pass rates are national — type your postcode to see how Toyota Prius does in your corner of the country.
Expert verdict
Lamps & electrics: 1.6× the national share
Lamps & electrics make up 19.1% of everything recorded on the 2004 Toyota Prius, against 12.2% nationally — 6.9 points above. Suspension is still the single largest share at 25.8%, 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 72.2% and this one manages 78.3% — 6.1 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict.
- Failures here tend to be cheap ones. 57% of the repairs this model fails on cost under £30 in parts. The pass rate matters less than what a bad afternoon at the test centre actually costs you.
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 Toyota Prius? Get an email when these numbers change .
How does the 2004 Toyota Prius compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 72.2%, so this figure is 6.1 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 73.6%. The median 2004 Toyota Prius in this dataset had covered 153,700 mi.
Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 79.1% of the time, April–September 77.4%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources", noted on 7.97% of tests.
- 3,136 recorded tests behind this page.
- 78.3% overall pass rate, 73.6% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the Toyota Prius, the average is 88.3% — best year 2025 (97.6%), worst 2001 (76.2%).
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
- 3,136
- Typical mileage (median)
- 153,700 mi
- Make and model
- Toyota Prius
- 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 Prius MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 69% so small gaps stay visible.
Regional pass rates for the Prius
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| South East | 965 | 78.3% |
| London | 679 | 82.2% |
| North West | 471 | 78.1% |
| East of England | 296 | 80.4% |
| West Midlands | 192 | 83.3% |
| East Midlands | 181 | 75.1% |
| South West | 145 | 65.5% |
| Yorkshire | 135 | 73.3% |
| Wales | 28 | 60.7% |
| North East | 28 | 67.9% |
| Scotland | 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 2004 Prius
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 2004 Prius
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 8.0% 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 suspension joints 4.5% 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.
-
Check the coil springs 3.0% 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 2004 Prius through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £21–£64 — and 57% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £21–£64
- Cheapest common item: malfunction indicator lamp inoperative or…
- £3–£12
- Dearest common item: joints constant velocity boot severely…
- £80–£250
- Common items a careful owner can do at home
- 80%
- Repairs that still cost under £30
- 57%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 3,136 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 Prius, side by side
25 model years on record, from 2001 to 2025. Across them the pass rate runs from 76.2% to 97.6% — a spread of 21.4 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2001 76.2% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2002 80.1% headlamp lens slightly defective
- 2003 78.7% headlamp lens slightly defective
- 2004 78.3%registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2005 79.3% headlamp lens slightly defective
- 2006 78.0% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2007 79.3% headlamp lens slightly defective
- 2008 80.2% headlamp lens slightly defective
- 2009 80.6% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2010 82.3% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2011 83.2% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2012 85.6% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2013 87.7% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2014 89.6% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2015 90.6% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2016 91.4% ball joint dust cover severely…
- 2017 92.8% ball joint dust cover severely…
- 2018 93.3% wipers does not clear the…
- 2019 93.5% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2020 92.1% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2021 93.8% wipers blade defective
- 2022 94.8% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2023 95.0% linkage ball joint dust cover…
- 2024 95.9% has ply or cords exposed
- 2025 97.6% rear fog lamp not working
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 2004 Toyota Prius 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 2004 cars with a similar record
Closest pass rates among 2004 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 2004 Toyota Prius 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 9,772 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 | 2,561 | 25.80% | 20.98% | +4.82 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 1,897 | 19.10% | 12.21% | +6.89 |
| Brakes | 1,702 | 17.20% | 20.89% | −3.69 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 1,048 | 10.60% | 5.57% | +5.03 |
| Tyres | 1,044 | 10.50% | 19.76% | −9.26 |
| Visibility | 417 | 4.20% | 4.97% | −0.77 |
| Identification of the vehicle | 376 | 3.80% | 1.76% | +2.04 |
| Non-component advisories | 307 | 3.10% | 4.18% | −1.08 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 263 | 2.70% | 5.52% | −2.82 |
| Steering | 157 | 1.60% | 2.57% | −0.97 |
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 | 8.0% | £5–20 |
| Headlamp lens slightly defective Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 7.4% | £5–25 |
| Joints constant velocity boot severely deteriorated Body, chassis, structure | Minor | 4.7% | £80–250 |
| Linkage ball joint dust cover ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated Suspension | Minor | 4.5% | £18–45 |
| Ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated Suspension | Minor | 4.4% | £18–45 |
| Position lamp not working Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Rectified | 4.0% | £5–25 |
| Position lamp not working Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 3.7% | £5–25 |
| Coil spring fractured or broken Suspension | Major | 3.0% | £25–65 |
| Malfunction indicator lamp inoperative or indicates a malfunction Noise, emissions and leaks | Major | 2.9% | £3–12 |
| Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view Visibility | Minor | 2.7% | £80–200 |
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 | 15.3% | £45–95 |
| Brake discs in such a condition that it is seriously weakened Brakes | Advisory | 14.2% | £45–110 |
| Headlamp has a product on the lens so that the light output is severely reduced Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Advisory | 12.7% | £5–25 |
| Coil spring corroded so that its cross sectional area is reduced and seriously weakened Suspension | Advisory | 12.5% | £25–65 |
| Rigid brake pipes excessively corroded Brakes | Advisory | 12.3% | £80–180 |
| Registration plates inscription illegible Identification of the vehicle | Advisory | 10.9% | £20–80 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 7 | 100.0% | 22,567 mi |
| 30-60k | 75 | 85.3% | 49,477 mi |
| 60-90k | 193 | 83.9% | 77,041 mi |
| 90-120k | 471 | 79.2% | 106,220 mi |
| 120k+ | 2,370 | 77.6% | 179,427 mi |
Source: 3,136 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.
2004 Prius MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2004 Toyota Prius?
78.3% of the 3,136 2004 Toyota Prius tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 72.2% for cars first used in 2004. First-attempt pass rate: 73.6%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2004 Toyota Prius?
The three most recorded items are registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources (7.97%), headlamp lens slightly defective (7.40%), joints constant velocity boot severely deteriorated (4.72%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2004 Toyota Prius MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 100.0% of the time, falling to 77.6% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2004 Toyota Prius in this dataset had covered 153,700 mi.
Does the season affect the 2004 Toyota Prius MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 79.1% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 77.4%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.