Defects, advisories and dangerous items on an MOT test

This page is for anyone who has clicked a test in a vehicle's MOT history and wants to read the list of defects and advisories.

How do I open the defects for a test?

In the History tab of a vehicle, click the test's row. A window titled "MOT Defects - " followed by the MOT test number opens. It can be dragged and resized. Close it with the cross in its top corner.

The Defects column in the history table shows how many items the test has. It is left blank for a test with no items.

What columns does the defect list have?

The list can be sorted by clicking a heading, uses the column chooser, and pages at 10 rows with options for 5, 10, 15, 20, 50 and All.

What do dangerous, major, minor and advisory mean?

These are the DVSA's defect categories. A dangerous defect is a direct and immediate risk to road safety or the environment, and the vehicle fails. A major defect may affect safety or the environment, and the vehicle fails. A minor defect has no significant effect on safety, and the vehicle passes. An advisory is something to monitor, and the vehicle passes. The signed-in window shows whichever type the DVSA recorded in Description; it does not recolour or re-group items.

What if the list is empty?

The window shows "No defects recorded for this test." A clean pass has no items, so this is normal.

How does the public checker label defects?

The public checker at /mot-history uses coloured labels: Dangerous, Major, Minor, Advisory, Repaired (the DVSA's repaired-during-test type) and Note (no type given). A FAIL type is shown as Major, and anything marked dangerous is shown as Dangerous. See The public MOT history checker.

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