Pass rate
93.8%
Above average — 2.6 pts ahead of the 91.2% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 7,110 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £27–£65
2021 Toyota Prius MOT pass rate
- 2021
- 4 trims combined
- typical 49,247 mi
Most common fault
Tyres
42.2% 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 →
1.8 pts down across model years — 5.5% in 2004, 3.7% in 2023.
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
- 93.4%
- Typical mileage
- 49k mi
The 2021 Toyota Prius MOT pass rate is 93.8% of its MOT tests — 2.6 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. Tyres is the biggest single reason it fails, at 42.2% 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
Tyres: 2.1× the national share
Tyres make up 42.2% of everything recorded on the 2021 Toyota Prius, against 19.8% nationally — 22.4 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.
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 .
Every Toyota Prius first registered in 2021 is combined here — 4 trim and body variants in total — so the sample is as large as the DVSA data allows.
How does the 2021 Toyota Prius compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 91.2%, so this figure is 2.6 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 93.4%. The median 2021 Toyota Prius in this dataset had covered 49,247 mi.
Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 93.3% of the time, April–September 94.2%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Wipers blade defective", noted on 0.89% of tests.
- 7,110 recorded tests behind this page.
- 93.8% overall pass rate, 93.4% 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
- 7,110
- Typical mileage (median)
- 49,247 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
Wiper Blade
Usually a DIY or independent-garage job.
Does mileage affect the Prius MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 79% so small gaps stay visible.
Regional pass rates for the Prius
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| South East | 1,789 | 95.4% |
| West Midlands | 1,699 | 92.9% |
| London | 964 | 97.0% |
| North West | 755 | 94.2% |
| East of England | 430 | 89.8% |
| Yorkshire | 404 | 94.3% |
| East Midlands | 381 | 92.4% |
| South West | 272 | 87.5% |
| Scotland | 188 | 90.4% |
| North East | 114 | 92.1% |
| Wales | 114 | 90.4% |
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 2021 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 2021 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 wipers and washers 0.9% of tests
“wipers blade defective”
Run the wipers with the screen wet: they should clear it in one sweep without smearing or juddering. Top the washer bottle up and check both jets hit the screen.
-
Check the tyre tread 0.9% of tests
“tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm”
Check all four tyres cold, including the inner shoulder where wear hides — 1.6mm across the central three-quarters is the legal limit, and most testers fail at 1.6mm without argument.
-
Check the lights 0.8% 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.
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 2021 Prius through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £27–£65 — and 53% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £27–£65
- Cheapest common item: rear fog lamp not working
- £3–£15
- Dearest common item: windscreen damaged
- £80–£200
- Common items a careful owner can do at home
- 80%
- Repairs that still cost under £30
- 53%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 7,110 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 2021 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 2021 cars with a similar record
- Volkswagen T-Roc 93.8%
- Honda Civic 93.8%
- Peugeot 108 93.7%
- Kia Stonic Connect 93.7%
- Citroen C1 93.9%
- Land Rover Defender 93.9%
Closest pass rates among 2021 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 2021 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 2,864 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 | 1,215 | 42.20% | 19.76% | +22.44 |
| Brakes | 457 | 15.90% | 20.89% | −4.99 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 441 | 15.30% | 12.21% | +3.09 |
| Visibility | 266 | 9.20% | 4.97% | +4.23 |
| Suspension | 242 | 8.40% | 20.98% | −12.58 |
| Non-component advisories | 137 | 4.80% | 4.18% | +0.62 |
| Identification of the vehicle | 43 | 1.50% | 1.76% | −0.26 |
| Steering | 27 | 0.90% | 2.57% | −1.67 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 23 | 0.80% | 5.57% | −4.77 |
| Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems | 13 | 0.50% | 0.82% | −0.32 |
The exact failure items, in the tester's words
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wipers blade defective Visibility | Minor | 0.89% | £8–22 |
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Major | 0.86% | £45–95 |
| Registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 0.79% | £5–20 |
| Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view Visibility | Minor | 0.70% | £80–200 |
| Has a cut in excess of the requirements deep enough to reach the ply or cords Tyres | Major | 0.66% | £45–95 |
| Rear fog lamp not working Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 0.66% | £3–15 |
| Wipers does not clear the windscreen effectively Visibility | Rectified | 0.66% | £8–22 |
| Wipers does not clear the windscreen effectively Visibility | Major | 0.65% | £8–22 |
| Has ply or cords exposed Tyres | Major | 0.60% | £45–95 |
| Headlamp aim too high Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Rectified | 0.45% | £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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Advisory | 9.0% | £45–95 |
| Brake discs in such a condition that it is seriously weakened Brakes | Advisory | 2.5% | £45–110 |
| Has a tear, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres | Advisory | 2.0% | £45–95 |
| Tread depth tread pattern not visible over the whole tread area when minimum depth required is 1.0mm Tyres | Advisory | 2.0% | £45–95 |
| Brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick Brakes | Advisory | 1.8% | £18–45 |
| Non-component advisories Nail in tyre Non-component advisories | Advisory | 0.77% | £45–95 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 1,787 | 97.1% | 19,299 mi |
| 30-60k | 2,555 | 93.8% | 44,173 mi |
| 60-90k | 1,382 | 93.9% | 73,164 mi |
| 90-120k | 681 | 90.5% | 103,057 mi |
| 120k+ | 691 | 87.7% | 154,988 mi |
Source: 7,110 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.
2021 Prius MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2021 Toyota Prius?
93.8% of the 7,110 2021 Toyota Prius tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 91.2% for cars first used in 2021. First-attempt pass rate: 93.4%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2021 Toyota Prius?
The three most recorded items are wipers blade defective (0.89%), tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm (0.86%), registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources (0.79%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2021 Toyota Prius MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 97.1% of the time, falling to 87.7% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2021 Toyota Prius in this dataset had covered 49,247 mi.
Does the season affect the 2021 Toyota Prius MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 93.3% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 94.2%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.