Pass rate
83.8%
Around average — 2.2 pts behind the 86.0% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 41,983 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £22–£54
2017 Vauxhall Zafira MOT pass rate
- 2017
- typical 52,779 mi
Most common fault
Tyres
31.7% 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 →
Which year to buy
- Best 2018 85.8% pass
- Avoid 2000 68.2% pass
Across the 19 years on record, a spread of 17.6 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 80.9%
- Typical mileage
- 53k mi
The 2017 Vauxhall Zafira MOT pass rate is 83.8% of its MOT tests — 2.2 points behind what its age and mileage predict. Tyres is the biggest single reason it fails, at 31.7% of what testers record.
Check your postcode
MOT pass rates are national — type your postcode to see how Vauxhall Zafira does in your corner of the country.
Expert verdict
Tyres: 1.6× the national share
Tyres make up 31.7% of everything recorded on the 2017 Vauxhall Zafira, against 19.8% nationally — 11.9 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 Vauxhall Zafira? Get an email when these numbers change .
How does the 2017 Vauxhall Zafira compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 86.0%, so this figure is 2.2 points behind what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 80.9%. The median 2017 Vauxhall Zafira in this dataset had covered 52,779 mi.
The most common fuel recorded here is Petrol — 85% of tests, with a 83.9% pass rate. Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 84.1% of the time, April–September 83.5%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Malfunction indicator lamp inoperative or indicates a malfunction", noted on 2.69% of tests.
- 41,983 recorded tests behind this page.
- 83.8% overall pass rate, 80.9% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the Vauxhall Zafira, the average is 75.7% — best year 2018 (85.8%), worst 2000 (68.2%).
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
- 41,983
- Typical mileage (median)
- 52,779 mi
- Make and model
- Vauxhall Zafira
- Updated
- 2026-11-05
Source: DVSA anonymised MOT test data (2023–2025), OGL v3.0.
Top part to budget for
Indicator Bulb
Usually a DIY or independent-garage job.
Does mileage affect the Zafira MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 71% so small gaps stay visible.
Fuel type and reliability
Pass rate by fuel type. Petrol is the most common here (85% of tests).
Regional pass rates for the Zafira
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| South East | 9,865 | 85.5% |
| North West | 4,354 | 82.9% |
| East of England | 4,058 | 85.0% |
| West Midlands | 4,010 | 83.9% |
| South West | 3,993 | 81.9% |
| Scotland | 3,529 | 77.5% |
| London | 3,392 | 88.9% |
| Yorkshire | 3,101 | 83.6% |
| East Midlands | 2,672 | 83.6% |
| North East | 1,532 | 82.0% |
| Wales | 1,471 | 82.8% |
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 2017 Zafira
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 2017 Zafira
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 2.7% of tests
“malfunction indicator lamp inoperative or indicates a malfunction”
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 brakes 1.8% of tests
“brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick”
Look through the spokes of each wheel at the pad — less than 3mm of friction material, or a lip on the disc edge, is the usual failure. Check the handbrake holds on a slope with a few clicks, not at the top of its travel.
-
Check the wipers and washers 1.8% of tests
“wipers does not clear the windscreen effectively”
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.
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 2017 Zafira through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £22–£54 — and 53% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £22–£54
- Cheapest common item: malfunction indicator lamp inoperative or…
- £3–£12
- Dearest common item: windscreen damaged
- £80–£200
- Common items a careful owner can do at home
- 90%
- Repairs that still cost under £30
- 53%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 41,983 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 Zafira, side by side
19 model years on record, from 2000 to 2018. Across them the pass rate runs from 68.2% to 85.8% — a spread of 17.6 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2000 68.2% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2001 71.5% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2002 71.3% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2003 70.1% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2004 70.5% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2005 70.0% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2006 69.9% headlamp lens slightly defective
- 2007 69.5% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2008 70.2% coil spring fractured or broken
- 2009 70.7% coil spring fractured or broken
- 2010 72.5% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2011 73.7% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2012 76.0% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2013 77.4% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2014 78.9% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2015 81.0% coil spring fractured or broken
- 2016 82.3% malfunction indicator lamp…
- 2017 83.8%malfunction indicator lamp…
- 2018 85.8% brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick
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 2017 Vauxhall Zafira 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 2017 cars with a similar record
- Ford B-Max 83.8%
- Fiat 500X 83.8%
- Citroen C4 Picasso 83.8%
- Citroen C3 83.7%
- Dacia Duster 83.7%
- Nissan X-Trail 84.0%
Closest pass rates among 2017 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 2017 Vauxhall Zafira 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 53,418 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 | 17,052 | 31.70% | 19.76% | +11.94 |
| Brakes | 10,733 | 19.90% | 20.89% | −0.99 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 5,403 | 10.00% | 5.52% | +4.48 |
| Non-component advisories | 4,736 | 8.80% | 4.18% | +4.62 |
| Suspension | 4,576 | 8.50% | 20.98% | −12.48 |
| Visibility | 3,678 | 6.80% | 4.97% | +1.83 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 3,266 | 6.10% | 12.21% | −6.11 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 2,658 | 4.90% | 5.57% | −0.67 |
| Identification of the vehicle | 980 | 1.80% | 1.76% | +0.04 |
| Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems | 336 | 0.60% | 0.82% | −0.22 |
The exact failure items, in the tester's words
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Malfunction indicator lamp inoperative or indicates a malfunction Noise, emissions and leaks | Major | 2.7% | £3–12 |
| Brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick Brakes | Major | 1.8% | £18–45 |
| Wipers does not clear the windscreen effectively Visibility | Major | 1.8% | £8–22 |
| Has a cut in excess of the requirements deep enough to reach the ply or cords Tyres | Major | 1.6% | £45–95 |
| Wipers blade defective Visibility | Minor | 1.6% | £8–22 |
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Major | 1.5% | £45–95 |
| Washers not working Visibility | Major | 1.4% | £5–15 |
| Coil spring fractured or broken Suspension | Major | 1.3% | £25–65 |
| Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view Visibility | Minor | 1.3% | £80–200 |
| Registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 1.3% | £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 | 17.8% | £45–95 |
| Brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick Brakes | Advisory | 11.0% | £18–45 |
| Has a tear, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres | Advisory | 10.6% | £45–95 |
| Engine oil leaks leaking excessively from engine Noise, emissions and leaks | Advisory | 7.1% | £200–700 |
| Non-component advisories Child Seat fitted not allowing full inspection of adult belt Non-component advisories | Advisory | 5.3% | £20–80 |
| Exhaust system has a major leak of exhaust gases Body, chassis, structure | Advisory | 4.8% | £45–120 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 4,635 | 89.9% | 22,817 mi |
| 30-60k | 21,717 | 84.4% | 45,611 mi |
| 60-90k | 11,620 | 81.4% | 71,689 mi |
| 90-120k | 2,736 | 79.4% | 101,109 mi |
| 120k+ | 1,267 | 83.0% | 155,144 mi |
Source: 41,983 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.
2017 Zafira MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2017 Vauxhall Zafira?
83.8% of the 41,983 2017 Vauxhall Zafira tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 86.0% for cars first used in 2017. First-attempt pass rate: 80.9%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2017 Vauxhall Zafira?
The three most recorded items are malfunction indicator lamp inoperative or indicates a malfunction (2.69%), brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick (1.84%), wipers does not clear the windscreen effectively (1.82%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2017 Vauxhall Zafira MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 89.9% of the time, falling to 83.0% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2017 Vauxhall Zafira in this dataset had covered 52,779 mi.
Which fuel type is most reliable for a 2017 Vauxhall Zafira?
Petrol: 83.9% pass rate across 35,476 tests. Diesel: 83.4% pass rate across 6,499 tests. Shares are of the tests on this vehicle that recorded each fuel type.
Does the season affect the 2017 Vauxhall Zafira MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 84.1% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 83.5%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.