MOT pass rate · 2025 data
Ford S-MAX MOT pass rate
The Ford S-MAX passed 70.33% of its 67,274 initial MOT tests in 2025 — below the 77.3% average across all cars tested that year. That is 7 percentage points worse than average.
How the Ford S-MAX holds up with age
Every car fails the MOT more often as it gets older. What matters when you are buying is how steeply that happens for this particular model. These are the 2025 pass rates for the Ford S-MAX grouped by the vehicle's age at the time of the test.
| Age at test | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| 3–5 years | 1,999 | 84.14% |
| 6–10 years | 20,040 | 80.46% |
| 11 years and over | 45,229 | 65.23% |
The Ford S-MAX drops 18.9 percentage points between its early years and the 11-plus bracket, which is a steep decline. On an older example, the MOT history is worth reading closely before you buy.
Why the Ford S-MAX fails its MOT
Across every Ford S-MAX that failed its 2025 MOT, the most common area of failure was suspension, accounting for 20.63% of all recorded failure items. These are the areas worth having checked before you buy, and worth budgeting for on an older example.
| Failure area | Share of failure items | Recorded items |
|---|---|---|
| Suspension | 20.63% | 10,899 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 20.34% | 10,745 |
| Tyres | 17.55% | 9,272 |
| Brakes | 13.86% | 7,321 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 8.65% | 4,571 |
| Visibility | 5.29% | 2,797 |
How the Ford S-MAX compares
Ranked on pass rate, the Ford S-MAX sits 513th of 651 models in this data , and 23rd of the 24 Ford models covered . Ford as a whole averaged 75.22%, so this model runs 4.9 points behind its own brand average.
What this means when buying a used Ford S-MAX
A pass rate is a population average, not a verdict on the specific car in front of you. The average Ford S-MAX came to its 2025 test at 106,847 miles and 12.1 years old. Most examples tested were diesel.
The useful check is the individual car's own MOT record: how many times it has failed, what for, and whether advisories keep reappearing. A recurring advisory on corrosion, suspension or brakes tells you far more than a model-wide average, and a mileage that does not move consistently between tests is a warning in itself.
Check a specific Ford S-MAX
Run the registration through a free MOT history check to see that car's test results, advisories and recorded mileages. For the risks an MOT never covers — outstanding finance, insurance write-off records, stolen markers and ownership history — a full car history check brings them together in one £15 report.
Also useful: mileage check · write-off check · free car check
Other Ford models
- Ford Fiesta 72.78% pass rate · 1,355,783 tests
- Ford Focus 74.62% pass rate · 890,938 tests
- Ford Transit 74.63% pass rate · 644,474 tests
- Ford Kuga 83.58% pass rate · 304,554 tests
- Ford Mondeo 73.09% pass rate · 171,873 tests
- Ford KA 72.11% pass rate · 169,319 tests
Models with a similar pass rate
- Fiat 500 70.89% pass rate
- MINI Mini 70% pass rate
- Nissan Micra 71.53% pass rate
- Citroen Berlingo 69.15% pass rate
- Vauxhall Zafira 69.21% pass rate
- Peugeot 308 69.7% pass rate
Figures aggregated from the DVSA MOT Anonymised data set for 2025, class 4 initial tests only, contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Retests are excluded, so these are first-time pass rates.