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MOT failure item explained

“Position lamp not working”

Recorded on 2,422 of the 25,257 cars checked on this site. It is a failure item. In 36% of cases it was put right during the test.

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Cars with it
2,422
of 25,257 checked
Share of cars
9.6%
at least once
Recorded as
Fail
64% of 3,350 visits
Back next time
5.8%
of 2,737 follow-up visits

What it means

Position lamps are the side lights at the front and the tail lights at the rear. This entry means one of them did not light during the test. That is a failure until it works.

A pass recorded shortly after the failed test shows the retest was done.

How it shows up in the records

Fail 64%Fail, put right during the test 36%Advisory 0.1%Fail, marked dangerous 0.1%
5.8% came back
The same entry, on the same part of the car, was recorded again at the next test in 5.8% of cases.
63,840 miles
Median recorded mileage when it first appeared, on cars a median of 7 years old. From the 282 cars whose whole MOT history is recent enough to compare.

Share of cars with this entry, by year of manufacture

17%1971–7320%1980–8213%1983–8511%1986–8818%1989–9115%1992–9418%1995–9718%1998–0018%2001–0320%2004–0625%2007–0922%2010–1210.0%2013–153.1%2016–180.8%2019–210.1%2022–24

Models where it is recorded most

ModelCars with itShareSame-age cars
Peugeot Partner18 of 5632%6.3%
Renault Trafic15 of 5129%8.2%
Nissan Note27 of 7636%15%
Land Rover Defender17 of 5531%12%
Nissan Navara7 of 2627%7.9%
Peugeot 10714 of 3540%21%
Fiat Punto8 of 2236%18%
Mitsubishi L2009 of 3228%11%

Models with 20 or more cars checked here. “Same-age cars” is the share among all checked cars built in the same years, so an older model is compared with older cars.

What to check before you buy

  • Switch on the side lights and walk round the car. Check every lamp, front and rear.
  • Confirm the pass that followed the failed test.
  • Look through the history for lamp failures in several different years.

Cars checked here with this entry

Other lighting entries explained

Headlamp aim too lowRegistration plate lamp inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sourcesStop lamp not workingHeadlamp not working on dipped beamHeadlamp aim too highRegistration plate lamp inoperative in the case of a single lamp or all lampsHeadlamp aim projected beam image is obviously incorrect

Checking a car with this on its MOT?

Repair costs depend on the car, so this page does not quote one. Enter the plate and the free report estimates them for that car, alongside every test and advisory on its record.

Check a car’s MOT history

Counts are of cars checked on this site, from official public records. Updated 19 Sept 2026 · figures as of 4 Oct 2026. All MOT entries explained.