A wheel is being held on by fewer fixings than it should be, or one of them isn't doing its job. It sounds trivial next to a corroded subframe, but a wheel coming off at speed is one of the worst failures there is, so it's marked hard.
Wording as it commonly appears on an MOT certificate: “Wheel nut or stud missing or insecure”.
What does it mean?
A wheel is being held on by fewer fixings than it should be, or one of them isn't doing its job. It sounds trivial next to a corroded subframe, but a wheel coming off at speed is one of the worst failures there is, so it's marked hard.
How serious is it?
Usually recorded as: Major, Dangerous. The tester assesses the actual vehicle on the day, so your certificate is what counts.
What normally causes it?
- A stud stretched or snapped by an air gun over-tightening it
- A cross-threaded nut from a rushed tyre change
- A rounded or seized locking wheel nut that nobody could remove, so it was left off
- Corroded alloy nut caps swelling so the nut can't be torqued properly
What a mechanic would check
I check every fixing with a torque wrench rather than a rattle gun, and I look at the seat of each nut — a nut sitting proud or a shiny witness mark around the hole means it isn't seating. If a locking nut is rounded I'd rather remove it properly and fit a full set of standard nuts than pretend it's fine.
What might need replacing
- Wheel nuts or bolts
- A wheel stud, which usually means removing the hub
- A locking wheel nut removal set
- Torque-checking all four wheels
Can you still drive it?
This can be recorded as Dangerous. Don't drive with a missing or loose fixing — vibration builds quickly and the remaining studs fail one after another.
More tyres and wheels failures · MOT failure decoder · Ask a mechanic about your certificate
This is general guidance from a UK mechanic, not a substitute for a physical inspection. Only the tester who inspected your vehicle can confirm what was recorded and why.