MOT advisory explained
“Axle swivel pin and/or bush slightly worn”
A wording written for old trucks with kingpins, now used almost entirely for the two big rubber bushes that hinge a car’s rear axle beam to the body. Nine in ten are at the rear, and the Ford Fiesta alone accounts for a remarkable share of them.
Many small and medium cars have a rear torsion beam: one axle carrying both rear wheels, hinged to the body at its front corners through a large rubber bush each side. The tester levered the axle and found play in one of those bushes. It is within limits, and the axle is still located, so it passes.
4.7% fail on the axle pivot at the next test and 25.0% are advised again. A quarter carried over is high for a suspension bush, and the reason is the job: the axle has to come down to press the bushes out, which is why it waits.
A worn rear axle bush changes the angle of the whole rear axle. The first thing most owners notice is not a noise but the inside edge of a rear tyre wearing away, or the back of the car feeling loose under braking. If the same certificate has a tyre worn on inner edge at the rear, that is the bush.
An “axle swivel pin and/or bush slightly worn” advisory means a pivot bush on the axle has play, which on most cars is one of the two large rubber bushes hinging the rear axle beam to the body, but the play is within limits so the car passes. The repair is a pair of axle bushes. According to DVSA MOT data analysed by PriceMyRepair, 4.7% of 585,293 such advisories followed to the next test failed on the axle pivot.
What the wording means on a modern car
The rear beam. Look under the back of a small hatchback and you will see one steel beam running across the car with a wheel at each end. At its front corners it hinges on two rubber bushes, bolted to the body. Those bushes take every bump, every braking load and every cornering force the rear wheels see. “axle bush” and “trailing arm bush” are the two most common notes after “both”.
Kingpins and swivels. The wording comes from an older world. On trucks, old 4x4s and classic cars, each front wheel swivels on a pin through the axle end, and that pin wears in its bushes. Those vehicles are still tested, and the Land Rover Defender in the table below is one of them. On everything else the tester is borrowing the words.
How it is checked. With the rear wheel raised, the tester levers the axle against the body and watches the bush. Slight movement is this advisory. Movement the tester judges excessive, or a bush that has split so the metal centre moves in the rubber, is a failure.
Will it fail next year?
One wording, recorded 1,852,229 times, with 585,293 followed to the same vehicle’s next MOT.
| What happened at the next test | Share |
|---|---|
| Failed on the same component | 4.7% |
| Same advisory recorded again | 25.0% |
According to DVSA MOT data analysed by PriceMyRepair: 585,293 advisories followed to the same vehicle’s next test. Rows can overlap.
It sits with the other bush advisories. A worn suspension arm bush fails 7.4% of the time and a MacPherson strut bush 2.0%. Rubber wears slowly and testers give it time.
The repeat rate is the number to notice. One in four is written down again a year later, unchanged. It is not a cheap job, it makes no noise, and the tyre wear it causes is easy to blame on something else.
| Advisory wording | Fails on same part | Advised again | Followed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Suspension arm ball joint has slight play | 16.0% | 17.3% | 2,285,155 |
| Shock absorbers has a slightly worn bush | 8.9% | 19.9% | 607,181 |
| Suspension arm pin or bush worn | 7.4% | 29.3% | 8,344,577 |
| Coil spring corroded | 5.0% | 39.1% | 4,780,118 |
| Axle swivel pins and bushes swivel pin and/or bush slightly worn | 4.7% | 25.0% | 585,293 |
| Suspension component pin or bush slightly worn | 2.7% | 10.4% | 529,133 |
| Macpherson strut pin or bush worn | 2.0% | 19.5% | 562,037 |
The advisory rises from 0.4 per 1,000 tests at 3–4 years to 6.2 in the late teens. The failure rate does the opposite of most: it peaks at 5.5% at 7–9 years and falls to 2.9% on the oldest cars, which do fewer miles and put less through the axle.
| Age of car | Per 1,000 tests | Fails on same part | Followed |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3–4 years | 0.4 | 3.4% | 13,769 |
| 5–6 years | 1.3 | 5.1% | 45,477 |
| 7–9 years | 3.0 | 5.5% | 128,688 |
| 10–12 years | 4.7 | 5.3% | 143,275 |
| 13–15 years | 6.1 | 4.7% | 129,809 |
| 16–19 years | 7.5 | 3.5% | 91,018 |
| 20 years and over | 6.2 | 2.9% | 28,140 |
On some cars the rear axle bushes are sold on their own and pressed into the beam with a tool, and the job is labour plus two modest parts. On others the bush is not available separately and the answer is a complete trailing arm or, in the worst case, the beam. Which applies is a matter of the car, not the garage.
Ask before agreeing to anything. A garage that says the beam must be replaced when the bushes are available separately is either unaware or hoping you are.
After new axle bushes, the rear alignment should be checked. The bushes set the angle of the axle, and the tyres pay for a badly aligned one within months.
Exact wording on your certificate
One advisory and one failure, and the word that separates them is excessive.
| Line on the certificate | Result | Code |
|---|---|---|
| Axle swivel pins and bushes swivel pin and/or bush slightly worn | Advisory — pass | 5.1.2 (b) (i) |
| Axle swivel pin and/or bush excessively worn | Major — fail | 5.1.2 (b) (ii) |
The offside rear and nearside rear are almost exactly level and between them make up seven in ten, with plain “rear” most of the rest. Fewer than one in forty is at the front, and those are the kingpin vehicles the wording was written for.
| Position written by the tester | Share of all instances |
|---|---|
| Offside rear | 34% |
| Nearside rear | 34% |
| Rear | 22% |
| No position recorded | 4% |
| Offside front | 1% |
| Nearside front | 1% |
From 1,852,229 recorded instances. Testers can add their own note after the standard wording. The most common on this advisory: “both” (87,431), “both sides” (72,601), “axle bush” (31,490), “both rear” (24,821), “bush” (14,395), “trailing arm bush” (13,015), “both side” (9,045), “both rear axle bushes” (8,904).
What it costs
The parts are modest where the bushes are sold separately. The labour is what varies: the axle has to be lowered or partly removed, and the old bushes pressed out. On some cars the job is under two hours; on others it is most of a day or a replacement arm. We do not publish a range for that spread. Ask with your registration. Related prices are on the suspension repair cost page.
Can I still drive with this advisory?
Keep an eye on the rear tyres and on how the back of the car feels under braking. Plan the bushes for the next few months. If the rear starts to feel vague or a tyre edge is going, bring it forward.
Enter your reg to see your car’s full MOT history. An axle bush advisory beside a rear tyre edge advisory is one fault, seen twice.
Which cars get this advisory most?
The all-vehicle rate is 3.6 per 1,000 tests. On the models below it is three to nine times that.
| Model | Per 1,000 tests | Vs all cars | Tests |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ford Fiesta | 32 | 8.9× | 15,017,429 |
| Vauxhall Zafira | 23 | 6.3× | 2,851,349 |
| Toyota Corolla | 17 | 4.8× | 1,166,652 |
| Ford Ecosport | 15 | 4.2× | 748,092 |
| Vauxhall Astra | 15 | 4.1× | 8,030,795 |
| Ford B-Max | 15 | 4.0× | 544,180 |
| Ford Fusion | 13 | 3.6× | 717,369 |
| Land Rover Defender | 12 | 3.2× | 1,232,451 |
| Vauxhall Combo | 11 | 3.1× | 1,167,848 |
| Vauxhall Meriva | 11 | 3.1× | 1,207,698 |
Model families are grouped by the first word of the DVSA model name, so “Transit” covers every Transit variant. Only models with at least 60,000 tests are ranked.
The Ford Fiesta leads at 8.9 times the average, on fifteen million tests, which makes it one of the clearest single-model patterns in the suspension section. Its rear beam bushes are a known service item. The Ford Ecosport, Ford B-Max and Ford Fusion share its platform, and the Vauxhall Zafira, Vauxhall Astra, Vauxhall Combo and Vauxhall Meriva are Vauxhall’s equivalent beam-axle family.
The Land Rover Defender is the exception, and the one where the wording means what it says: a front swivel pin, not a rear bush.
What to do next
- Confirm which bush. Rear axle beam or trailing arm. The note usually says. It sets the job.
- Find out whether the bush is sold separately for your car. It is the difference between a modest job and an expensive one.
- Look at the rear tyres. Inner edge wear means the axle angle has already shifted. Do not fit new tyres before the bushes.
- Do both sides, and align afterwards. The axle comes down once. The alignment check protects the tyres.
Axle swivel pin and bush advisory FAQ
What does axle swivel pin and/or bush slightly worn mean?
A pivot bush on the axle has slight play. On most modern cars that is one of the two large rubber bushes hinging the rear axle beam to the body. The play is within limits, so it is an advisory and the car passes.
Why does it say swivel pin when my car has no kingpins?
The wording was written for vehicles whose front wheels swivel on a pin through the axle. Testers use the same line for the rear axle beam bushes on ordinary cars, because it is the closest item on the system. The notes usually say axle bush or trailing arm bush.
Will worn rear axle bushes fail the next MOT?
According to DVSA MOT data analysed by PriceMyRepair, 4.7% of 585,293 such advisories failed on the axle pivot at the next test. 25.0% were simply advised again.
What are the symptoms of worn rear axle bushes?
Usually none you can hear. The rear of the car feels loose or wanders under braking, and the inside edge of a rear tyre wears faster than the rest. Sometimes a clunk from the back over bumps.
How much does it cost to replace rear axle bushes?
The bushes are modest parts where sold separately. The labour varies from under two hours to most of a day depending on the car, and some cars need a complete arm instead. We do not publish a range. Any prices on this site are estimates and final quotes come from garages.
Which cars get this advisory most?
The Ford Fiesta, at 8.9 times the average rate, and its platform relatives the Ford Ecosport and Ford B-Max, along with Vauxhall’s beam-axle cars such as the Vauxhall Zafira and Vauxhall Astra.
How these figures were calculated. According to DVSA MOT data analysed by PriceMyRepair, from the DVSA anonymised MOT test results (Open Government Licence v3.0): 350,943,111 tests. This advisory was recorded 1,852,229 times; 585,293 of those were followed to the same vehicle’s next test between 180 and 730 days later. “Fails on the same part” means a failure at that next test under the same defect code and naming the same component, on either side of the vehicle. Testers do not always name a component the same way twice, so the figure is a floor. Method and how to cite.