70.8%
Subaru Forester
Subaru Forester MOT pass rate and common problems
The Subaru Forester passed 70.8% of its initial MOT tests in 2025, 1.6 percentage points below the 72.3% UK average. The item testers recorded most often was pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn.
Checking a specific car? Its own results, advisories and recorded mileages are in a free MOT history check.
How the Forester compares
Initial MOT tests in 2025, retests excluded. A car that failed and was repaired at the test station counts as a fail.
74.5%
Subaru average
72.3%
UK average, all cars
The Forester runs 3.7 points behind the Subaru average. It is 5th of the 6 Subaru models in the data. The average Forester arrived at its test 12.8 years old with 90,016 miles recorded.
A pass rate records whether cars met the roadworthiness standard on test day. It is not a reliability score, and part of any gap reflects how old the tested cars were.
Forester MOT pass rate by age
The same 2025 tests split by the car's age at test.
Subaru Forester cars aged 3 to 5 years passed 89.7% of MOT tests. For cars aged 11 years and over that fell to 62.3%, a drop of 27.4 percentage points.
| Age at test | Tests | Pass rate | vs UK average |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3 to 5 years | 1,950 | 89.7% | 17.4 pts above |
| 6 to 10 years | 5,028 | 76.6% | 4.3 pts above |
| 11 years and over | 8,422 | 62.3% | 10 pts below |
That is a steep decline with age, so the headline rate flatters older examples. The UK average of 72.3% covers cars of every age, so compare like with like.
Where Forester failures cluster
Every failure item recorded on Subaru Forester cars in 2025, grouped into the DVSA's test areas.
Suspension and lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment together account for 55.8% of recorded failure items. These are recorded failures across the model, not faults every car has.
The 10 most common Forester MOT failures
Specific items recorded on Subaru Forester cars that failed their 2025 MOT, as a share of all recorded failure items.
Together these 10 items make up 39.6% of everything testers recorded against failed Subaru Forester cars. The rest is spread across many smaller items, and one failed test often records several at once.
What to look at on a Forester
The recorded failures above, grouped by area, biggest first.
1
Suspension
Recorded most often: pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn, ball joint excessively worn, component mounting prescribed areas prescribed area excessively corroded significantly reducing structural strength, coil spring fractured or broken and ball joint dust cover no longer prevents the ingress of dirt. 21.2% of failure items.
2
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment
Recorded most often: position lamp not working, stop lamp not working and headlamp aim projected beam image is obviously incorrect. 11.3% of failure items.
3
Noise, emissions and leaks
Recorded most often: malfunction indicator lamp inoperative or indicates a malfunction. 3.6% of failure items.
4
Visibility
Recorded most often: wipers does not clear the windscreen effectively. 3.6% of failure items.
The car's own MOT history matters more than any model average. A free MOT history check shows whether a specific Forester has failed on these items before, or had them noted as advisories. Buying one? See the used Subaru Forester buying guide.
Already found one?
Check its finance, write-off, theft, mileage and keeper history with a £15 vehicle history report.
Subaru Forester MOT FAQs
What is the Subaru Forester MOT pass rate?
70.8% of Subaru Forester cars passed their initial MOT first time in 2025, from 15,623 tests. That is 1.6 percentage points below the 72.3% average for all cars, and ranks 340th of 575 models.
What does a Subaru Forester most commonly fail its MOT on?
The item testers recorded most often on Subaru Forester cars failing their 2025 MOT was pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn, on 6.9% of failure items. Next were position lamp not working (5.2%) and ball joint excessively worn (4.6%).
Which area causes the most Subaru Forester MOT failures?
Across every recorded failure item, the largest area was suspension at 31.2%, followed by lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment at 24.7%.
Do older Subaru Forester cars fail their MOT more often?
Subaru Forester cars aged 3 to 5 years passed 89.7% of MOT tests in 2025, against 62.3% for cars aged 11 years and over.
Does this mean every Subaru Forester has these problems?
No. These are the items testers recorded across every Subaru Forester that failed in 2025. They show where the model most often needs attention, not the condition of any individual car.
How do I see a specific Subaru Forester's MOT history?
Enter its registration on the free Carpeep MOT history check to see that car's own test results, failures, advisories and recorded mileages.
MOT figures are aggregated from the DVSA MOT Anonymised data set for 2025: class 4 initial tests, retests excluded, with failure items from failed tests (advisories and minor defects excluded), licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. MOT results describe roadworthiness at test, not mechanical reliability.