Ford S MAX MOT failures and reliability

In 2023 the Ford S MAX took 78,247 MOT tests in Britain and passed 65% of them first time, below the national average of 71% for all cars. The figures below come from the DVSA's record of every test, so they show what testers actually found on these cars rather than what owners report.

MOT tests in 2023: 78,247
First-time pass rate: 65%
All cars: 71%

What the S MAX fails on

Share of tests with at least one failure in each area, against the figure for all cars.

Lights and electrics14.0% (all cars 11.3%)
Tyres9.6% (all cars 6.4%)
Suspension9.3% (all cars 9.0%)
Brakes7.4% (all cars 6.8%)
Body and structure5.7% (all cars 3.5%)
Visibility4.6% (all cars 4.8%)
Exhaust and emissions3.4% (all cars 3.1%)
Steering2.7% (all cars 1.8%)

Most common failure items

Share of tests on which each item was recorded.

Tread depth: tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm 4.1%
Brake pads: less than 1.5 mm thick 3.8%
Position lamp: not working 3.4%
Tyres, condition: has ply or cords exposed 3.0%
Suspension arms, pins and bushes: pin or bush excessively worn 2.9%
Stop lamp: not working 2.6%
Joints: constant velocity boot split or insecure, no longer prevents the ingress of dirt 2.5%
Registration plate lamp(s): inoperative in the case of a single lamp or all lamps 2.3%

Most common advisories

Tread depth: worn close to legal limit/worn on edge 28.4%
Brake pads: wearing thin 14.7%
Brake discs: worn, pitted or scored, but not seriously weakened 11.9%
Suspension arms, pins and bushes: pin or bush worn but not resulting in excessive movement 10.2%
Coil spring: corroded 7.8%
Non-component advisories: Child Seat fitted not allowing full inspection of adult belt 6.2%
Engine oil leaks: leak, but not excessive 6.2%
Tyres, condition: slightly damaged/cracking or perishing 5.8%

Pass rate by year of registration

Older cars fail more often whatever the model, so compare a car with others of the same age.

First registered	Tests	Pass rate
2006	2,058	49%
2007	5,893	52%
2008	5,456	55%
2009	6,697	55%
2010	9,502	60%
2011	6,771	64%
2012	7,257	63%
2013	6,387	65%
2014	6,698	65%
2015	3,292	74%
2016	6,875	80%
2017	5,318	81%
2018	2,429	81%
2019	2,333	79%
2020	1,198	81%

Typical mileage by age

Average odometer reading at the MOT, by the car's age in years at the test.

Age at test	Average mileage
3 years	27,319 miles
4 years	36,644 miles
5 years	43,482 miles
6 years	56,048 miles
7 years	63,050 miles
8 years	72,778 miles
9 years	84,107 miles
10 years	93,441 miles
11 years	103,512 miles
12 years	113,124 miles
13 years	118,819 miles
14 years	128,671 miles
15 years	136,395 miles
16 years	139,344 miles
17 years	137,499 miles

Check a particular S MAX

Model figures tell you what to look out for. To see one car's own MOT history, mileage and tax, enter its registration.

Other Ford models

Source: Department for Transport, Anonymised MOT tests and results, 2023, cars and light vans, normal tests only. Pass rates are first-time passes; a pass after repair at the test station counts as a fail. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.