The short answer
Brake advisories come in two kinds. Wear notes, such as pads getting thin, are recorded at a similar rate whatever the car's age: between 6.1% and 8.7% of first tests in every age band in 2021 to 2025. Corrosion notes are different. Corroded rigid brake pipes were noted on about 1 in 9 first tests on cars aged 15 and over (11.5% of 31,405,150 tests), against almost none on cars aged 3 to 5. Disc condition notes and binding brakes follow the same upward path.
None of these is a fail. GOV.UK describes advisories as problems to monitor or fix in the future. The useful question is which kind you are looking at. A pad note on a car you are buying is a cost to budget for soon. A pipe or hose note on an older car is a sign of where the next fail is likely to come from, and worth having looked at before you pay.
What the data shows
The table is the share of all class 4 first tests in each age band that recorded the brake item as an advisory, test years 2021 to 2025 pooled. A test can record several items, so rows do not add up. Age is the test year minus the first-used year.
| Brake advisory | Aged 3-5 | Aged 6-9 | Aged 10-14 | Aged 15 and over |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Disc condition deteriorating | 5.2% | 8.2% | 10.3% | 10.7% |
| Pads wearing thin | 7.0% | 8.7% | 7.6% | 6.1% |
| Rigid brake pipes corroded | 0.1% | 1.3% | 4.5% | 11.5% |
| Discs worn | 1.6% | 2.5% | 2.5% | 1.9% |
| Brake binding | 0.2% | 0.7% | 1.7% | 2.4% |
| Flexible hose ferrules corroded | - | 0.2% | 0.9% | 2.3% |
Read the rows two ways. Pads and worn discs peak in the 6 to 9 band and then fall back, which is what you would expect of parts that are replaced when they wear out: on the oldest cars many have been changed more than once. Disc condition, pipes, hoses and binding keep rising to the oldest band. About 1 in 10 tests on cars aged 10 to 14 (10.3%) carried a disc condition note. The dataset records what the tester saw, not why, and it does not say whether a noted item was later fixed.
How to read a brake note on a history
The GOV.UK MOT history shows every test result for a car, with the advisory wording the tester typed. The brake wordings map onto defects in the DVSA inspection manual, which also tells you how serious the fail version is.
- Pads. A pad worn below 1.5mm is a dangerous defect at the test. A pad advisory means the tester judged them to be heading that way.
- Discs. A disc that is significantly and obviously worn is a major defect; one that is likely to fail is dangerous. Disc condition notes are the most common brake advisory on cars aged 6 and over.
- Pipes and hoses. A brake pipe that is excessively corroded, and hose ferrules that are excessively corroded, are major defects. These are the notes that climb hardest with age.
- Binding. Significant brake effort with no brake applied is a major defect. The advisory version often shows up as a car that pulls or a wheel that runs hot.
What to do with it
- Compare two tests. If the same brake note appears on consecutive histories, the work was not done. If it disappears, ask for the receipt.
- Price the pad and disc notes. They are routine wear and a fair point in a negotiation, not a reason to walk away.
- Treat pipe and hose notes on an older car as an inspection item. Corrosion does not reverse, and the fail version is a major defect that keeps the car off the road until fixed.
- Check the fluid. The Highway Code warns that low brake fluid may result in brake failure. A low-fluid note is rare in the data but worth acting on the same day.
- Do not read a clean brake line as a guarantee. Advisories depend on what the tester chose to note; a car with none may still need pads.
What this does not mean
These are fleet shares, not predictions for one car. A fifteen-year-old car that has had its pipes replaced carries no pipe note; a six-year-old car driven hard may carry two. The figures describe what testers recorded as advisories across tens of millions of tests, and advisories involve judgement, so one note on one car is a prompt to look, not a verdict. The dataset has no part brands, no repair records and no cause, and this article does not supply any.
Frequently asked questions
It is a warning on a pass, not a fail. GOV.UK describes advisories as problems to monitor or fix in the future. The seriousness depends on the item: the fail version of a thin pad is a dangerous defect, while worn discs, corroded pipes and binding brakes are major defects in the DVSA manual.
On cars aged 3 to 5, thinning pads, at 7.0% of first tests in 2021 to 2025. From age 6 upwards, disc condition takes over, reaching 10.7% on cars aged 15 and over. On the oldest cars corroded rigid brake pipes are the single most recorded brake note, at 11.5%.
The data only shows that they do: from 0.1% of tests on cars aged 3 to 5 to 11.5% on cars aged 15 and over. It does not record why. Pipes are not routinely replaced the way pads and discs are, and the dataset has no information on climate, storage or mileage per car.
Yes. An advisory is recorded on a pass and the car remains legal to drive. GOV.UK says the vehicle must still meet the minimum standards of roadworthiness at all times, so an advisory is a prompt to have the item checked rather than left until the next test.
Sources and method
Each figure is the number of class 4 first tests in an age band that recorded the named brake item as an ADVISORY, divided by all first tests in that band, test years 2021 to 2025 pooled; age is test year minus first-used year. Bands hold 33,793,352 (aged 3-5), 50,103,915 (6-9), 44,980,002 (10-14) and 31,405,150 (15 and over) first tests. Items are per test and are not added. The dataset carries the service brake 'excessively binding' wording under two item ids; the table shows the larger row (0.2%, 0.7%, 1.7%, 2.4%) and the smaller (up to 0.5%) is not added to it. The hose ferrule item did not clear the item floor in the 3-5 band and is shown as a dash. Advisories are the tester's judgement; the dataset records what was noted, not why or whether it was later repaired.
- DVSA anonymised MOT results, class 4 first tests, 2021-2025
- GOV.UK: Check the MOT history of a vehicle
- GOV.UK: MOT inspection manual, section 1 (brakes)
- GOV.UK: After the MOT test
- GOV.UK: The Highway Code, Annex 6 vehicle maintenance
About these figures. Figures are computed by SortedCars from the DVSA anonymised MOT results dataset (class 4, first tests only, test years 2021-2025), published under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Pass rate = passes divided by first tests, with pass-after-rectification counted as a fail. No figure is shown for any group with fewer than 500 tests. Test class 4 only, first tests only; retests are excluded. Pass rates describe fleets, not individual machines: they reflect how cars were driven, maintained and used as well as how they were built, and beyond recorded mileage none of that is in the data. A well-kept example of a model with a weak average can still pass; a neglected example of a strong one can still fail. Alias spellings of a make are counted under one make name and all trims of a model under one model name, using SortedCars' grouping tables.
This article is general information drawn from published test records. It is not professional, mechanical or legal advice, and an MOT pass or a clean MOT history does not guarantee that a car is roadworthy today. If you are unsure about a car, have it inspected by a qualified mechanic. You can check any vehicle's MOT history free on the official GOV.UK MOT history service.
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