2004 Toyota YARIS MOT pass rate

Pass rate

72.7%

Below average — 0.5 pts ahead of the 72.2% that cars this age and mileage manage.

Across 52,684 recorded tests.

Typical repair bill £36–£100

Which year to buy

  • Best 2023 96.3% pass
  • Avoid 2000 71.7% pass

Across the 24 years on record, a spread of 24.6 points. See every year →

First-attempt pass
64.3%
Typical mileage
92k mi

The 2004 Toyota YARIS MOT pass rate is 72.7% of its MOT tests — about what its age and mileage predict. Suspension is the biggest single reason it fails, at 29.6% of what testers record.

MOT PASS RATES

The 2004 Toyota YARIS on the real record

72.7% of 2004 Toyota YARIS MOTs passed — 52,684 tests, 2023–2025

Pass rate

The answer from the DVSA's class-4 MOT records.

Check your postcode

MOT pass rates are national — type your postcode to see how Toyota YARIS does in your corner of the country.

How one model's pass rate varies by postcode →

Expert verdict

Suspension: 1.4× the national share

Suspension accounts for 29.6% of everything recorded on the 2004 Toyota Yaris, against 21.0% nationally — 8.6 points above. Ask for the front and rear suspension to be checked on a ramp before you buy — worn bushes and broken springs are cheap to look at and expensive to discover at test time.

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 YARIS? Get an email when these numbers change .

How does the 2004 Toyota YARIS compare?

Cars of this age and mileage average 72.2%, so this figure is 0.5 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 64.3%. The median 2004 Toyota YARIS in this dataset had covered 91,740 mi.

The most common fuel recorded here is Petrol — 93% of tests, with a 72.7% pass rate. Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 72.8% of the time, April–September 72.5%.

The single most recorded failure item is "Headlamp lens slightly defective", noted on 7.58% of tests.

  • 52,684 recorded tests behind this page.
  • 72.7% overall pass rate, 64.3% on a first attempt.
  • Across every year of the Toyota YARIS, the average is 82.8% — best year 2023 (96.3%), worst 2000 (71.7%).

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
52,684
Typical mileage (median)
91,740 mi
Make and model
Toyota YARIS
Updated
2026-11-05

Source: DVSA anonymised MOT test data (2023–2025), OGL v3.0.

Top part to budget for

Headlight Bulb

Usually a DIY or independent-garage job.

Does mileage affect the YARIS MOT pass rate?

0-30k 84.5%
30-60k 78.1%
60-90k 73.5%
90-120k 71.0%
120k+ 69.1%

Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 61% so small gaps stay visible.

Fuel type and reliability

Petrol 72.7%
Diesel 71.4%

Pass rate by fuel type. Petrol is the most common here (93% of tests).

Regional pass rates for the YARIS

Region Tests Pass rate
South East 12,715 74.6%
North West 6,975 71.5%
South West 6,275 67.8%
Yorkshire 5,114 72.1%
East of England 5,031 74.1%
West Midlands 4,644 76.7%
East Midlands 3,721 72.1%
London 3,524 78.1%
Wales 2,099 67.7%
Scotland 1,389 63.9%
North East 1,197 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 YARIS

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.

Suspension 29.6%
+8.6 pts vs national national 21.0% Price suspension parts
Brakes 18.7%
−2.2 pts vs national national 20.9% Price brakes parts
Lamps & electrics 18.3%
+6.1 pts vs national national 12.2% Order bulbs & wipers
Tyres 10.9%
−8.9 pts vs national national 19.8% Compare tyre prices
Show the other 6 fault categories
  • Body & chassis 7.6%
  • Visibility 4.3%
  • Emissions & leaks 4.0%
  • Identification 2.4%
  • Advisories 2.2%
  • Steering 0.8%

Shares are of every item recorded on 2004 Toyota YARIS tests — a composition, so they add to 100% across all sections, not per test.

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 YARIS

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.

  1. Check the lights 7.6% of tests

    “headlamp lens slightly defective”

    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.

  2. Check corrosion 3.5% of tests

    “component mounting prescribed areas prescribed area excessively corroded significantly reducing structural strength”

    Look under the sills, around the jacking points and where the suspension mounts meet the body. Flaking, holed or crumbly metal fails; a brown stain on sound metal does not.

  3. Check the suspension joints 3.3% of tests

    “linkage pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn”

    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 2004 YARIS through its MOT

Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £36–£100 — and 57% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.

Average repair across the 10 common items
£36–£100
Cheapest common item: stop lamp not working
£3–£12
Dearest common item: component mounting prescribed areas…
£180–£450
Common items a careful owner can do at home
50%
Repairs that still cost under £30
57%

Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 52,684 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 YARIS, side by side

24 model years on record, from 2000 to 2023. Across them the pass rate runs from 71.7% to 96.3% — a spread of 24.6 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.

  1. 2000 71.7% headlamp lens slightly defective
  2. 2001 72.9% headlamp lens slightly defective
  3. 2002 74.0% headlamp lens slightly defective
  4. 2003 73.0% headlamp lens slightly defective
  5. 2004 72.7%
    headlamp lens slightly defective
  6. 2005 73.8% headlamp lens slightly defective
  7. 2006 74.4% headlamp lens slightly defective
  8. 2007 75.1% joints constant velocity boot…
  9. 2008 75.3% joints constant velocity boot…
  10. 2009 78.9% coil spring fractured or broken
  11. 2010 78.5% coil spring fractured or broken
  12. 2011 81.7% coil spring fractured or broken
  13. 2012 82.0% coil spring fractured or broken
  14. 2013 82.4% coil spring fractured or broken
  15. 2014 84.0% coil spring fractured or broken
  16. 2015 88.1% registration plate lamp(s)…
  17. 2016 89.2% registration plate lamp(s)…
  18. 2017 88.8% wheel bearings rough when rotated
  19. 2018 90.6% wheel bearings rough when rotated
  20. 2019 92.7% wipers does not clear the…
  21. 2020 94.1% wipers does not clear the…
  22. 2021 95.3% wipers blade defective
  23. 2022 95.2% wipers blade defective
  24. 2023 96.3% shock absorbers has a serious…

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 YARIS 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.

Compare 2004 with another year →

Compare two different cars instead →

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 YARIS 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 167,399 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 50,095 29.60% 20.98% +8.62
Brakes 31,679 18.70% 20.89% −2.19
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 31,077 18.30% 12.21% +6.09
Tyres 18,413 10.90% 19.76% −8.86
Body, chassis, structure 12,841 7.60% 5.57% +2.03
Visibility 7,347 4.30% 4.97% −0.67
Noise, emissions and leaks 6,773 4.00% 5.52% −1.52
Identification of the vehicle 4,120 2.40% 1.76% +0.64
Non-component advisories 3,737 2.20% 4.18% −1.98
Steering 1,317 0.80% 2.57% −1.77

The exact failure items, in the tester's words

Share of the 52,684 tests on this vehicle that recorded each item
Recorded item Severity Tests Est. cost Part
Headlamp lens slightly defective Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment Minor 7.6% £5–25 Headlight Bulb →
Headlamp aim projected beam image is obviously incorrect Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment Major 4.5% £30–80 Headlight Alignment →
Position lamp not working Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment Major 4.3% £5–25 Headlight Bulb →
Stop lamp not working Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment Major 3.9% £3–12 Stop Light Bulb →
Component mounting prescribed areas prescribed area excessively corroded significantly reducing structural strength Suspension Major 3.5% £180–450 Corrosion Welding Repair →
Linkage pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn Suspension Major 3.3% £40–150 Suspension Component →
Wipers does not clear the windscreen effectively Visibility Major 2.9% £8–22 Wiper Blade →
Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view Visibility Minor 2.6% £80–200 Windscreen →
Registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of a single lamp or all lamps Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment Major 2.6% £5–20 Number Plate Lamp →
Service brake performance excessively binding Brakes Major 2.3% £60–150 Brake Servicing →

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.

Items recorded as advisory on this vehicle
Recorded item Severity Tests Est. cost
Linkage pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn Suspension Advisory 17.1% £40–150
Coil spring corroded so that its cross sectional area is reduced and seriously weakened Suspension Advisory 14.5% £25–65
Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres Advisory 14.4% £45–95
Rigid brake pipes excessively corroded Brakes Advisory 14.1% £80–180
Has a tear, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres Advisory 13.7% £45–95
Component mounting prescribed areas prescribed area excessively corroded significantly reducing structural strength Suspension Advisory 8.6% £180–450

Pass rate by mileage

Mileage Tests Pass rate Median odometer
0-30k 1,084 84.5% 22,726 mi
30-60k 8,373 78.1% 48,104 mi
60-90k 15,808 73.5% 75,577 mi
90-120k 14,853 71.0% 104,043 mi
120k+ 12,235 69.1% 147,068 mi

Source: 52,684 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 YARIS MOT questions

What is the MOT pass rate for a 2004 Toyota YARIS?

72.7% of the 52,684 2004 Toyota YARIS tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 72.2% for cars first used in 2004. First-attempt pass rate: 64.3%.

What are the most common MOT failures on a 2004 Toyota YARIS?

The three most recorded items are headlamp lens slightly defective (7.58%), headlamp aim projected beam image is obviously incorrect (4.45%), position lamp not working (4.33%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.

Does mileage affect the 2004 Toyota YARIS MOT pass rate?

Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 84.5% of the time, falling to 69.1% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2004 Toyota YARIS in this dataset had covered 91,740 mi.

Which fuel type is most reliable for a 2004 Toyota YARIS?

Petrol: 72.7% pass rate across 49,082 tests. Diesel: 71.4% pass rate across 3,592 tests. Shares are of the tests on this vehicle that recorded each fuel type.

Does the season affect the 2004 Toyota YARIS MOT pass rate?

Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 72.8% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 72.5%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.