referencesource/vehicle-inspection-defect-categories

Vehicle inspection defect categories: MOT major, minor and dangerous verdicts

Canonical, always-current version: https://referencesource.org/vehicle-inspection-defect-categories/ Machine-readable: https://referencesource.org/vehicle-inspection-defect-categories/data.json — this mirror is a point-in-time copy.

• —Last verified: 2026-08-06
• —Stale after: 2027-02-02 (past this date, prefer the canonical copy — it re-verifies on a cadence this snapshot does not)
• —Records: 1422

What each vehicle defect is categorised as at a roadworthiness inspection, and therefore whether it fails the test. Each record is one defect under one authority, stating the defect reference, the defect wording as published, and the category (Minor, Major or Dangerous). Covers the DVSA MOT inspection manual for cars, vans and passenger vehicles (classes 3, 4, 5 and 7), the DVSA MOT inspection manual for motorcycles (classes 1 and 2), EU Directive 2014/45/EU Annex I, and the US minimum periodic inspection standards in 49 CFR Appendix A to Part 396. Answers 'is a cracked windscreen a major or minor MOT defect', 'MOT inspection manual zone A windscreen damage', 'does a worn wheel bearing fail an MOT', 'is a tyre bulge dangerous or major', and 'what fails an MOT test'. The same defect usually appears twice, once Major and once Dangerous, separated only by a severity qualifier, and the UK, EU and US verdicts for the same physical fault do not always agree.

Provenance — what every record carries

Every record carries source (the URL the value was read from) and source_quote (a verbatim quote from that page stating it). A value you cannot check against its page is indistinguishable from an invented one; these can all be checked. Each record is also individually addressable on the canonical site at its url.

Licence position

Facts extracted from freely published government inspection manuals and legislation. gov.uk content is published under the Open Government Licence v3.0; EUR-Lex reuse is permitted under Commission Decision 2011/833/EU; US CFR text is a US government work and not subject to copyright. Each record quotes a short verbatim span and links back to the section it came from.

Facts are not copyrightable; what this dataset takes from each source is a fact plus a short attributed quote linking back to the page that states it.

Sources

• —https://www.gov.uk/guidance/mot-inspection-manual-for-private-passenger-and-light-commercial-vehicles/1-brakes
• —https://www.gov.uk/guidance/mot-inspection-manual-for-private-passenger-and-light-commercial-vehicles/2-steering
• —https://www.gov.uk/guidance/mot-inspection-manual-for-private-passenger-and-light-commercial-vehicles/3-visibility
• —https://www.gov.uk/guidance/mot-inspection-manual-for-private-passenger-and-light-commercial-vehicles/4-lamps-reflectors-and-electrical-equipment
• —https://www.gov.uk/guidance/mot-inspection-manual-for-private-passenger-and-light-commercial-vehicles/5-axles-wheels-tyres-and-suspension
• —https://www.gov.uk/guidance/mot-inspection-manual-for-private-passenger-and-light-commercial-vehicles/6-body-structure-and-attachments
• —https://www.gov.uk/guidance/mot-inspection-manual-for-private-passenger-and-light-commercial-vehicles/7-other-equipment
• —https://www.gov.uk/guidance/mot-inspection-manual-for-private-passenger-and-light-commercial-vehicles/8-nuisance
• —https://www.gov.uk/guidance/mot-inspection-manual-for-motorcycles/1-brakes
• —https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/HTML/?uri=CELEX:32014L0045
• —https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/49/appendix-Atopart_396

Fields

See any record in data/records.jsonl — field names are self-describing, and the canonical page for each record renders them with labels: https://referencesource.org/vehicle-inspection-defect-categories/