MOT advisory explained
“Anti-roll bar linkage pin or bush worn but not resulting in excessive movement”
The cheapest line you can have in the suspension section of an MOT, and on three small cars in particular, close to a standard feature. Here is what is worn and what it costs.
The anti-roll bar is joined to the suspension at each end by a short link. The rubber bush or the pin in one of those links has wear the tester could see or feel. The link still holds, so the car passed.
Just 4.8% of these fail on the same link at the next test. It is a small, cheap part and the usual cost of leaving it is a rattle, not a failed MOT.
Per side at an independent garage. Links are sold singly but usually wear as a pair. No alignment is needed afterwards.
If your certificate says the linkage “ball joint has slight play” instead, that is the other kind of link and it fails about twice as often. Most modern cars have the ball joint type.
An “anti-roll bar linkage pin or bush worn” advisory means a rubber bush or pin in one of the short links joining the anti-roll bar to the suspension is worn but still holding, so the car passes. A replacement link costs £40–£90 per side fitted at an independent garage. According to DVSA MOT data analysed by PriceMyRepair, 4.8% of 826,670 such advisories followed to the next test failed on the same link.
A small part with a simple job
What the bar does. The anti-roll bar is a sprung steel bar running across the car. When you corner, it resists the body leaning. It does not hold the wheel on or steer it. A worn link makes the car a little looser in corners and noisier over bumps, and that is the extent of it.
Two kinds of link. Some links have a rubber bush at each end, held by a pin or bolt. Those produce this advisory. Others have a small ball joint at each end and produce a different line. The repair is the same either way: the link is unbolted and replaced whole.
What testers mean by it. The third most common note testers add to this line is “d bush”, written 32,666 times. D bushes are the rubber blocks that clamp the bar to the car, not part of the link. So this wording is often used for any worn rubber on the anti-roll bar. Ask which one yours is, because a D bush is a different job.
Will it fail next year?
Out of 2,406,044 times this advisory has been recorded, 826,670 could be followed to the same car’s next MOT. This is what happened.
| What happened at the next test | Share |
|---|---|
| Failed on the same component | 4.8% |
| Failed on anything under defect 5.3.4 | 11.9% |
| Same advisory recorded again | 23.0% |
According to DVSA MOT data analysed by PriceMyRepair: 826,670 advisories followed to the same vehicle’s next test. Rows can overlap.
The two failure figures are far apart, and the gap needs explaining. Only 4.8% fail on the anti-roll bar link itself. 11.9% fail on something under the same defect code, which covers every pin, bush and joint in the suspension. A car old enough to have perished link bushes has other rubber of the same age, and it is more often one of those that fails.
Read that way, this advisory is less a warning about the link than a marker of age. The link is the first rubber to go because it is the smallest.
| Advisory wording | Fails on same part | Advised again | Followed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Suspension arm ball joint has slight play | 16.0% | 17.3% | 2,285,155 |
| Anti-roll bar linkage ball joint has slight play | 10.0% | 17.1% | 2,098,185 |
| 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 |
| Anti-roll bar linkage pin or bush worn | 4.8% | 23.0% | 826,670 |
| Anti-roll bar pin or bush worn | 4.5% | 13.8% | 1,324,400 |
The age table is unusually flat. The advisory gets more common with age, from 0.7 per 1,000 tests at 3–4 years to 17.0 at 20 years and over, but the share that goes on to fail hardly moves. It is 5.0% on the youngest cars and 5.2% on the oldest.
| Age of car | Per 1,000 tests | Fails on same part | Followed |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3–4 years | 0.7 | 5.0% | 20,747 |
| 5–6 years | 1.6 | 4.7% | 48,147 |
| 7–9 years | 2.9 | 4.2% | 121,930 |
| 10–12 years | 4.6 | 4.0% | 155,918 |
| 13–15 years | 7.6 | 4.7% | 183,651 |
| 16–19 years | 12.5 | 5.7% | 190,910 |
| 20 years and over | 17.0 | 5.2% | 95,012 |
A part this cheap tends to get replaced. When the repair costs less than a tank of fuel, most owners have it done at the next service, and the advisory never gets the chance to become a failure.
The ones that do fail are mostly links that were left until the bush had gone completely and the link was knocking metal on metal.
A knock over small bumps at low speed is the sound of this advisory getting worse. It is annoying long before it is an MOT problem.
Exact wording on your certificate
One code covers the pass and the fail. The tester decides between them on how much the link can move.
| Line on the certificate | Result | Code |
|---|---|---|
| Anti-roll bar linkage pin or bush worn but not resulting in excessive movement | Advisory — pass | 5.3.4 (a) (i) |
| Anti-roll bar linkage pin or bush excessively worn | Major — fail | 5.3.4 (a) (i) |
Most instances are at the front, where every car has an anti-roll bar. Many small cars have none at the rear. Nearside and offside are level, which fits a part that wears with age and not with which side hits the kerb.
| Position written by the tester | Share of all instances |
|---|---|
| Nearside front | 27% |
| Offside front | 26% |
| Front | 11% |
| Nearside rear | 10% |
| Offside rear | 9% |
| Rear | 5% |
From 2,406,044 recorded instances. Testers can add their own note after the standard wording. The most common on this advisory: “both sides” (80,895), “both” (78,331), “d bush” (32,666), “both front” (22,362), “nearside and offside” (12,057), “both side” (11,535), “drop link” (10,324), “perished” (9,080).
What a new link costs
| Job | Price fitted | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Anti-roll bar drop link, one side | £40–£90 | Unbolt, replace, no alignment needed |
Parts and labour at an independent garage. Two links in one visit cost less than twice the single price, because the car is already on the ramp. If the worn part turns out to be a D bush, ask for a separate price. Related jobs are on the suspension repair cost page.
Can I still drive with this advisory?
You may notice a rattle over rough roads and slightly more lean in corners. If the knock becomes loud or constant, the bush has probably gone completely and the link should be changed soon, mainly because it will fail the next test in that state.
Put in your reg and we’ll list every advisory your car has had, test by test, with a price for each job on your model.
Which cars get this advisory most?
On an average vehicle this line turns up on 4.8 of every 1,000 tests. Then there are these.
| Model | Per 1,000 tests | Vs all cars | Tests |
|---|---|---|---|
| Peugeot 107 | 68 | 14.2× | 1,292,695 |
| Citroen C1 | 60 | 12.5× | 1,686,560 |
| Toyota Aygo | 56 | 11.8× | 2,282,030 |
| Mercedes-Benz Sprinter | 51 | 10.6× | 2,101,182 |
| Peugeot 108 | 41 | 8.7× | 609,329 |
| Toyota Yaris | 36 | 7.5× | 4,619,042 |
| Renault Kangoo | 31 | 6.4× | 700,467 |
| Volkswagen Crafter | 26 | 5.3× | 585,956 |
| Audi A6 | 25 | 5.3× | 1,247,436 |
| Renault Clio | 20 | 4.3× | 4,086,721 |
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 top three are one car. The Peugeot 107, Citroen C1 and Toyota Aygo were built together in the same factory on the same parts, and they get this advisory 14.2, 12.5 and 11.8 times as often as the average vehicle. The Peugeot 108, their successor, is fifth. Three badges from one production line fill the top three places.
If you own one of them, this line on the certificate is ordinary and the parts are among the cheapest on the car. The vans in the list, the Mercedes-Benz Sprinter and Volkswagen Crafter, are there for a different reason: weight.
What to do next
- Pin down the part. Link or D bush. Front or rear. The tester’s note often says, and the garage can confirm in a minute.
- Have both sides checked. “Both sides” and “both” are the two most common notes testers add to this advisory. If one link has perished, the other is the same age.
- Add it to the next service. It is a short job with the car already in the air. There is no reason to book it on its own unless the knocking bothers you.
- Look at what else is rubber. The data says the link is rarely what fails next. On an older car ask the garage to check the arm bushes while they are under there.
Anti-roll bar linkage advisory FAQ
What does anti-roll bar linkage pin or bush worn mean?
A rubber bush or pin in one of the short links joining the anti-roll bar to the suspension has visible wear. The link still does its job, so it is an advisory and not a failure.
Is a worn anti-roll bar link an MOT failure?
Not unless the wear is excessive. According to DVSA MOT data analysed by PriceMyRepair, 4.8% of 826,670 such advisories failed on the same link at the next test. The failure wording is “pin or bush excessively worn”.
How much does it cost to replace an anti-roll bar link?
A replacement drop link costs £40–£90 per side fitted at an independent garage, and no wheel alignment is needed afterwards. These are estimates and final quotes come from garages.
Is it safe to drive with a worn anti-roll bar link?
Yes. The anti-roll bar only controls how much the body leans in corners. A worn link causes a rattle and a little more roll. It does not affect steering or braking.
What is the difference between a drop link and a D bush?
The drop link is the short rod joining the end of the anti-roll bar to the suspension. The D bush is the rubber block clamping the bar to the car. Testers use this advisory for both, so ask which one is worn.
Why do the Peugeot 107, Citroen C1 and Toyota Aygo get this advisory so often?
They are the same car, built in one factory with shared parts, and the advisory appears on them 11.8 to 14.2 times as often as on the average vehicle. It is a known wear item on that design and cheap to fix.
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 2,406,044 times; 826,670 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.