MOT Risk Index.co.uk

Ford EcoSport — MOT statistics 2024

The Ford EcoSport failed 21.69% of 102,987 first MOT attempts in 2024 ("first-time", excluding retests). Adjusted for the age of the fleet, its initial-failure ratio is 116.6 (100 = expected for its age profile). This car fails its MOT about 17% more often than expected for its age.

MOT risk index 116.6, 95% CI 115.2–117.9 (100 = national average) 100 116.6 0 200
Index
116.6
100 = age-normal
Raw fail rate
21.69%
n = 102,987
Dangerous /100
5
national ≈11
Diesel − petrol
+7.4 pp
fail-rate gap
Rank
618 of 761
lower index = better

Age-adjusted peer: Kia Ceed (index 116.5) — the two published results are 0.1 index points apart.

Ford EcoSport common problems: what actually fails the MOT

Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment stand out at 6.3 per 100 tests, against 4.4 per 100 tests across UK vehicles of the same ages.

higher bar = fails more oftenrate per 100 tests

Ford EcoSport common problems: what actually fails the MOT — 2024 UK MOT data

family vs national — matched to UK vehicles of the same ages — top component groups, per 100 tests. Legend: This family · National avg. Combined labels: family / national average. A gap here reflects how these vehicles are driven, used and maintained as well as how they were built — an MOT defect is a test outcome, not a breakdown.

Component-group comparison table

Each ratio carries a 95% interval. With 6 groups compared here, roughly one apparent difference in twenty is chance alone.

GroupThis familyCases behind itUK, same agesFamily / national
Lamps & electrical6.327,3744.41.43×1.42–1.46
Brakes5.824,9634.31.36×1.34–1.38
Tyres5.523,9437.00.79×0.79–0.81
Visibility4.720,0695.30.89×0.86–0.89
Suspension2.18,9183.40.62×0.60–0.62
Body & structure1.56,4520.91.67×1.62–1.70
Named defects — items per 100 initial tests, this family vs UK national average; this model measured on 431,587 tests, 2019-2024, national column 2024
What failedper 100 tests (this family)per 100 tests (UK average)ratio family / UKWhat to check
Stop lamp missing, inoperative or in the case of…Stop lamp missing, inoperative or in the case of a multiple light source more than 1/2 not functioning2.491.501.66×Try every light and switch — lamps are a top failure
Parking brake efficiency below minimum requirementParking brake efficiency below minimum requirement1.321.241.07×Feel for brake judder and pulling on the test drive
Wiper blade defectiveWiper blade defective1.121.260.89×Check wipers, washers and windscreen chips in the driver's view
Tyre seriously damagedA tyre seriously damaged2.072.540.81×Check tyre tread depth across the full width
Windscreen washers not working or not providing…Windscreen washers not working or not providing sufficient fluid to clear the windscreen0.891.620.55×Check wipers, washers and windscreen chips in the driver's view
Wiper blade missing or obviously not clearing the…Wiper blade missing or obviously not clearing the windscreen1.432.220.64×Check wipers, washers and windscreen chips in the driver's view
Suspension joint dust cover severely deterioratedA suspension joint dust cover severely deteriorated0.931.900.49×Listen for knocks over bumps — worn joints show up on the test
Brake lining or pad worn below 1.5mma brake lining or pad worn below 1.5mm1.082.150.50×Feel for brake judder and pulling on the test drive
Windscreen or window damaged or seriously…Windscreen or window damaged or seriously discoloured but not adversely affecting driver's view0.842.360.36×Check wipers, washers and windscreen chips in the driver's view
Tyre tread depth not in accordance with the…Tyre tread depth not in accordance with the requirements1.913.590.53×Check tyre tread depth across the full width

Named defects ranked by how much more often they appear than the national average — not by raw rate.

Ford EcoSport MOT advisories: what gets flagged

Tyres are highest at 38.5 per 100 tests; Body & structure are lowest at 1.6 per 100 tests — the gap is 36.9 per 100 tests.

higher bar = flagged more oftenadvisory items per 100 initial tests

Ford EcoSport MOT advisories: what gets flagged — 2024 UK MOT data
Advisory rates table
GroupAdvisories per 100
Tyres38.5
Brakes14.6
Suspension13.1
Non-component advisories7.2
Lamps & electrical1.7
Body & structure1.6

Advisories are wear the tester noted but didn't fail — what will need money soon.

Tyres, brakes and suspension: Ford EcoSport against cars of the same age

AgePartFord EcoSportSame age, petrol and dieselDifference
3 yearsTyres3.164.17-1.01
3 yearsBrakes2.371.770.60
3 yearsSuspension0.160.63-0.47
4 yearsTyres3.614.54-0.93
4 yearsBrakes2.92.430.47
4 yearsSuspension0.261.21-0.95
5 yearsTyres4.225.06-0.84
5 yearsBrakes3.83.090.71
5 yearsSuspension0.522.19-1.67
6 yearsTyres4.625.54-0.92
6 yearsBrakes4.743.810.93
6 yearsSuspension1.243.72-2.48
7 yearsTyres5.045.95-0.91
7 yearsBrakes5.834.551.28
7 yearsSuspension3.125.68-2.56
8 yearsTyres5.966.31-0.35
8 yearsBrakes6.645.381.26
8 yearsSuspension5.57.78-2.28

Failing items per 100 initial tests, 2019-2024. The comparison group is every petrol or diesel car tested at the same age, so weight and drivetrain show up rather than fleet age.

If a car like this fails, does it fail again?

A failure rate does not say whether a failure is a one-off or the start of something. This follows the same vehicles into their next ordinary MOT a year later — retests after a repair are excluded, because they follow a failure by definition. 2019-2024.

After this year's testFails next yearVehicles followed
It failed28.2%22,710
It passed18.0%264,207

A failed test raises next year's chance of failing again by 10.2 percentage points. The failure most likely to come back is steering — 41.7% of those vehicles fail again next year. Some of this is the vehicle and some is the owner: a car that was let go once tends to be let go again. One caveat: a car that fails may be sold or scrapped rather than tested again, so these figures describe the vehicles that came back.

Adjusted for how much these are actually driven

The headline index adjusts for the fleet's age. Wear, though, follows mileage: a three-year-old taxi and a three-year-old garage queen sit in the same age band. These two rows compare every car with vehicles of the same age, and then with vehicles of the same age and the same annual mileage, 2019-2024, on 427,689 tests. Both stand on the six-year corpus so they are measured on identical data — compare them with each other, not with the headline index above, which is measured on 2024 alone.

Standardised forIndexReading
Age only107.5fails more often than expected
Age and annual mileage122.4fails more often than vehicles driven as much
Share doing under 3,000 miles a year10.9%a normal spread of use

Mileage matters here: matching on how much these are driven moves the figure by 14.9 points — this fleet is driven less than the vehicles it is measured against, so the age-only view flatters it — but it does not change which side of normal the car sits on. One limit to keep in mind: mileage is partly a result of how often a car breaks down — one that spends weeks in the workshop covers fewer miles — so the mileage-matched figure can understate a real weakness. Tests with no usable odometer reading are left out of it.

How the Ford EcoSport compares with cars of its own age and size

Not against the whole fleet — against cars of the same size class tested at the same age, 2019-2024.

AgeFord EcoSportSame class, same ageDifferenceTests
3 years12.28%10.77%+1.5 pp95,530
4 years14.89%13.77%+1.12 pp95,205
5 years18.37%17.3%+1.06 pp88,922
6 years21.91%20.57%+1.33 pp63,870
7 years26.38%23.42%+2.96 pp40,964
8 years29.63%26.7%+2.94 pp27,372
9 years33.43%30.31%+3.12 pp13,084
10 years34.69%33.49%+1.2 pp2,560

Raw first-time failure rates within each age, so fleet age cannot flatter either side. A positive difference means this model fails more often than its own class at that age.

How does the Ford EcoSport perform as it gets older?

The EcoSport at age 7 stands out at 27.2%, against 20.2% for all vehicles of the same age.

higher = larger sharecompare shares in percentage points

How does the Ford EcoSport perform as it gets older? — 2024 UK MOT data

Chart axes: car age, years · failure-rate scale 0–37%.

Takeaway: a 10-year-old EcoSport has roughly a 35% chance of failing its MOT; from about age 3 it stays above the national age curve.

Data table
AgeFord EcoSportAll vehiclesGap
315.6%12.4%+3.2 pp
413.9%13.1%+0.8 pp
515.9%15.1%+0.7 pp
617.9%17.5%+0.5 pp
727.2%20.2%+7.0 pp
829.6%23.3%+6.2 pp
933.3%26.5%+6.7 pp
1034.7%30.1%+4.6 pp

Is a Ford EcoSport ULEZ compliant?

The share of classifiable 2024 Ford EcoSport MOT tests likely ULEZ compliant by first-registration date is 97.3%.

Based on 102,984 classifiable initial MOT tests. This describes the tested fleet, not a specific car. MOT data do not record Euro class, so likely compliance is inferred from fuel and first-registration date. For the only authoritative answer, check the registration with TfL's official ULEZ checker.

higher = larger share likely compliantinferred from fuel and first-registration date; not a recorded Euro class

Age-band estimate from classifiable initial MOT tests
Vehicle age at testLikely ULEZ-compliant shareTests
Under 3 yearsSuppressed — sample below publication threshold
Check a registration with TfL
n = 486
3–5 years100.0%
Check a registration with TfL
n = 39,397
6–7 years100.0%
Check a registration with TfL
n = 35,848
8 years100.0%
Check a registration with TfL
n = 14,215
9 years83.6%
Check a registration with TfL
n = 10,477
10–14 years56.7%
Check a registration with TfL
n = 2,561
15–17 yearsSuppressed — sample below publication threshold
Check a registration with TfL
n = 0
18 yearsSuppressed — sample below publication threshold
Check a registration with TfL
n = 0
19 yearsSuppressed — sample below publication threshold
Check a registration with TfL
n = 0
20+ yearsSuppressed — sample below publication threshold
Check a registration with TfL
n = 0

Ford EcoSport petrol vs diesel: which ages best

Diesel is highest at 28.2%; Petrol is lowest at 20.8% — the gap is 7.4 percentage points.

higher = larger sharecompare shares in percentage points

Ford EcoSport petrol vs diesel: which ages best — 2024 UK MOT data
Fuel split table
FuelTests% failingGap vs best
Petrol90,14320.8%+0.0 pp
Diesel12,84328.2%+7.4 pp

Chart sample sizes: n=90k · n=13k.

How dangerous are Ford EcoSport MOT failures?

Major defects are well below the reference at 18.9 per 100 tests, against 52.8 per 100 tests nationally.

higher bar = fails more oftenrate per 100 tests

How dangerous are Ford EcoSport MOT failures? — 2024 UK MOT data
Severity table
SeverityThis family /100National /100Family / national
Minor4.5314.220.32×
Major18.9252.750.36×
Dangerous5.2511.150.47×

Chart values: Minor 4.5 · Major 18.9 · Dangerous 5.3.

Per 100 tests on this family. National average: Minor 14.2 · Major 52.8 · Dangerous 11.2 per 100.

Does the month of a Ford EcoSport MOT matter?

Nov is highest at 20.2%; May is lowest at 17.3% — the gap is 3.0 percentage points.

higher = larger sharecompare shares in percentage points

Does the month of a Ford EcoSport MOT matter? — 2024 UK MOT data

Chart scale: 16%–33%.

bars: Ford EcoSport · dashed: all class-4 cars

Month-by-month table
MonthFord EcoSportAll vehiclesGap
Jan19.26%31.12%-11.9 pp
Feb18.4%29.99%-11.6 pp
Mar17.46%28.26%-10.8 pp
Apr18.16%29.78%-11.6 pp
May17.27%28.79%-11.5 pp
Jun18.24%28.15%-9.9 pp
Jul19.14%29.33%-10.2 pp
Aug18.98%29.2%-10.2 pp
Sep18.41%28.19%-9.8 pp
Oct19.86%30.34%-10.5 pp
Nov20.24%30.58%-10.3 pp
Dec20.01%29.33%-9.3 pp

Takeaway: the spread between best and worst month is 3.0 percentage points — noticeable seasonality. Seasonality partly reflects registration-date clustering, not weather.

Before reading the shape: most of it is not about cars. Britain changes its registration plates twice a year, and 18.9% of these cars were first registered in March with another17.1% in September — 36% in two months against the 17% an even spread would give. An MOT falls due three years after first registration, so the buying calendar becomes the testing calendar. That shapes how many cars are tested each month — not how often they fail: the busiest months here are not the worst ones, so read the failure line on its own and the volume behind it separately.

Ford EcoSport average mileage by age

At age 8, the middle half of EcoSports runs from 37,984 miles to 65,580 miles, against 50,806 miles as the median.

further right = more milesmedian is the typical car; band is p25–p75

Bars: Ford EcoSport · dashed: all class-4 cars — 2024 UK MOT data

Chart axes: car age, years · odometer scale 0–87k mi.

Does high mileage mean more Ford EcoSport MOT failures at the same age?

Within the same age group, split by odometer (2024 MOTs), so this separates wear from age: at ages 6–9, 16.3% of those with under 40,000 miles failed first time versus 38.9% of those with over 140,000 miles.Inside this age group, higher mileage goes with more failures.

Does high mileage mean more Ford EcoSport MOT failures at the same age? — 2024 UK MOT data
Ford EcoSport: first-time failure by mileage within each age group (2024)
AgeOdometer% failing95% intervalTests
3–5<40k miles13.5%13.1–13.9%33,499
3–540-70k miles25.9%24.8–27.1%5,569
3–570-100k miles29.8%25–35.2%305 (rough estimate)
6–9<40k miles16.3%15.9–16.8%26,228
6–940-70k miles30%29.4–30.5%26,098
6–970-100k miles39%37.8–40.1%6,993
6–9100-140k miles45.3%42.1–48.5%929
6–9140k+ miles38.9%28.5–50.4%72 (rough estimate)
10–14<40k miles21%16.8–26%300 (rough estimate)
10–1440-70k miles34%31.2–36.8%1,116
10–1470-100k miles36.6%33.4–39.9%842
10–14100-140k miles45%38.7–51.5%231 (rough estimate)

line: median · band: middle half of the fleet (p25–p75)

Mileage by age (p25 / median / p75)
Agep25Medianp75Tests
311,16917,24525,0185,495
415,45722,43130,9258,941
518,51726,90736,63524,962
623,94333,44244,54122,547
732,27743,77156,95413,301
837,98450,80665,58014,215
944,56058,43073,97210,477
1050,63665,94883,0662,552

A typical 8-year-old EcoSport has ~50,806 miles on the clock. Much more — ask why; much less — check for gaps in the MOT history.

Where in Britain the Ford EcoSport fails its MOT most

London W area is highest at 27.2%; Nottingham area is lowest at 11.7% — the gap is 15.5 percentage points.

higher = larger sharecompare shares in percentage points

Ford EcoSport line: median · band: middle half of the fleet (p25–p75) — 2024 UK MOT data
Toughest areas% failingvs model overall
London W (W)27.2%+8.5 pp
Lerwick (ZE)26.85%+8.1 pp
Dundee (DD)26.24%+7.5 pp
Harrow (HA)25.37%+6.6 pp
Aberdeen (AB)25.08%+6.3 pp
Easiest areas% failingvs model overall
Nottingham (NG)11.69%-7.0 pp
Hereford (HR)12.42%-6.3 pp
Dorchester (DT)13.32%-5.4 pp
Llandrindod Wells (LD)14.54%-4.2 pp
Peterborough (PE)14.56%-4.2 pp

Why do areas differ?

For each external factor we correlate the area fail rate with the factor across postcode areas that have ≥800 tests of this family, then compare the bottom vs top fifth (quintile) of the factor. Correlation, not causation — factors travel together (the north is colder and often poorer; urban areas are denser and less salted). Road surface condition is joined now, for the 91 English areas the DfT publishes, and it explains nothing: the correlation with suspension failures is −0.01 and with body and structure failures 0.07. Potholes wreck wheels and tyres between tests, but by the time a car reaches the bay the road it drives on leaves no measurable trace.

In areas with the highest road-salt proxy this model fails 2.4 pp more often than in the lowest fifth (r=0.34, n=111 areas with ≥800 tests).

In areas with the highest frost days this model fails 1.6 pp more often than in the lowest fifth (r=0.34, n=111 areas with ≥800 tests).

In areas with the highest income deprivation this model fails 1.4 pp more often than in the lowest fifth (r=0.24, n=94 areas with ≥800 tests).

Ford EcoSport Why do areas differ? — 2024 UK MOT data
Values shown in the quintile chart
FactorLow QHigh QGapCorrelation
Road-salt proxy18.5%20.9%+2.4 ppr=0.34
Frost days19.4%21.0%+1.6 ppr=0.34
Income deprivation18.5%19.9%+1.4 ppr=0.24

Factors that only mean something combined

Some conditions are useless on their own and informative multiplied together. Frost days alone say little — Britain barely freezes. Salt tonnage alone says little — it tracks frost. Distance to the sea alone says little. Multiply the first two and divide by the third and you get an index of how hard an area attacks a car's underside, and it lines up with the corrosion defects we actually record. We built five such combinations and tested each against our own data. Three survived; two did not, and the failures are listed here on purpose — a proxy that was never checked is decoration. One survivor only survived on the second attempt: built from a crude stand-in for street parking it failed outright, and rebuilt from the census — terraced streets carrying more cars than they have driveways — it works, and carries information the salt index does not.

Composite area indicators, each tested against a defect rate we measure
CompositeBuilt fromTested againstrVerdict
Underbody corrosionfrost days × salt load ÷ (distance to coast + 1)share of tests with a corrosion defect+0.42holds (116 areas)
Tyre wearrain days × annual miles ÷ age at first tyre advisoryshare of tests failing on tyres+0.45holds (116 areas)
Overnight corrosionterraced housing × cars per household × frost daysshare with a corrosion defect+0.41holds (102 areas) — and adds signal beyond the first index
Deferred maintenancedeprivation × advisory-to-failure conversion ÷ labour ratecars repeating the same advisory−0.26fails (118 areas)
Powertrain stressengine capacity ÷ kerb weightsuspension, brake and emissions failures−0.16fails (22 models)

The deprivation result is the one worth dwelling on. The intuition that poorer areas defer repairs is strong enough that most people treat it as established. We tested it twice — once on raw failure rates (r = 0.04) and again, more fairly, on whether an advisory turns into a failure — and it did not hold any of the three times we tried it — on raw failure rates, on advisory-to-failure conversion, and again with deprivation measured properly inside each nation rather than England alone. We are closing it. What does predict local failure rates is the density of test centres, which is a statement about testing, not about cars.

All external-factor correlations (machine-readable)
Factorrn areasLow-Q fail %High-Q fail %Gap ppLow-Q factorHigh-Q factor
Road-salt proxy (g/m²-yr)0.34411118.520.9+2.4222.5675.1
Frost days (days/year)0.33911119.421.0+1.611.738.1
Income deprivation (score)0.2419418.519.9+1.40.10.2
Urban share (0–1)0.20811117.919.8+2.00.41
Terrain gradient (% grade)0.1256618.719.8+1.10.53.7
Distance to coast (km)-0.12211120.318.8-1.56.279.2
MOT centre density (per 10k vehicles)-0.07511119.719.1-0.658.7

Deprivation uses England IMD 2019 income score only (Scotland SIMD is a different scale). Salt proxy is a simplified NWSRG-style dry-salt sum from air Tmin; coastalness is distance from the area centroid to the nearest coastline.

Every dot is a postcode area — size = how many were tested there, colour = share failing. These figures are not age-adjusted: coastal and rural areas often run older fleets and salted roads, so higher raw fail rates do not automatically mean a worse local stock of this model.

Map labels: Scotland · N. England · Wales · London · S. West. Colour scale: 15%–25% failing.

Ford EcoSport survival: which cars are still on the road

By age 10 is well below the reference at 3.1%, against 100.0% at the ages 4–6 reference level.

higher = larger sharecompare shares in percentage points

Ford EcoSport survival: which cars are still on the road — 2024 UK MOT data

Chart axes: car age, years · survival vs ages 4–6 · scale 0–105%.

Survival vs fail rate by age
AgeTestsSurvival vs ages 4–6Fail %
395,530100%12.28%
495,205100%14.89%
588,922100%18.37%
663,87077.3%21.91%
740,96449.6%26.38%
827,37233.1%29.63%
913,08415.8%33.43%
102,5603.1%34.69%

By age 10, only about 3% as many cars of this family present for MOT as at ages 4–6 (reference n≈82,665); survivors still fail at 34.7% vs 14.9% at age 4. Older cars that still appear are a selected subset — weaker ones have already left.

How many miles does a Ford EcoSport last?

100,000+ miles stands out at 0.6%.

higher = larger sharecompare shares in percentage points

OdometerTests ≥ thresholdShare of sample
100,000+ miles2,3750.56%

Of 427,694 tests of this family with a usable odometer in 2024, 0.6% had reached 100k miles. This is a cross-section of cars still presenting for MOT, not a full birth cohort.

How many years is a Ford EcoSport likely to last?

Bought at age 5 is highest at 2.3 years; Bought at age 10 is lowest at 0.5 years — the gap is 1.8 years.

bigger number = longer remaining lifeyears on the observed survival curve

Age nowTypical mileage (p50)Expected years left
5—2.3
8—at least 1.1
10—at least 0.5

estimateEstimate only — not a warranty: a typical 10-year-old example of this family has at least 0.5 expected years of further MOT-present life. The curve is observed only until age 10, so the true figure is likely higher.

Ford EcoSport faults that come together

Body & structure + Emissions & leaks stand out at 25.20×, against 1.00× if the faults were independent.

above 1.0× = more than expectedbelow 1.0× = less

Group AGroup BTogetherLift
Body, chassis, structureNoise, emissions and leaks1,93425.2×
Road WheelsSteering239.64× (rough estimate)
SteeringSuspension3889.14× (rough estimate)
Body, chassis, structureSteering3437.91× (rough estimate)
Noise, emissions and leaksSteering2847.11× (rough estimate)
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipmentRoad Wheels996.66× (rough estimate)
Noise, emissions and leaksSuspension4826.41× (rough estimate)
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipmentSteering8906.33×
Body, chassis, structureSuspension5156.31×
Road WheelsTyres876.28× (rough estimate)
Road WheelsSuspension286.24× (rough estimate)
BrakesSteering7426.06×
Identification of the vehicleLamps, reflectors and electrical equipment975.8× (rough estimate)
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipmentNoise, emissions and leaks1,4345.76×
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipmentSeat belts and supplementary restraint systems3105.74× (rough estimate)
BrakesLamps, reflectors and electrical equipment4,3025.64×
BrakesRoad Wheels715.48× (rough estimate)
Noise, emissions and leaksRoad Wheels235.44× (rough estimate)
Body, chassis, structureLamps, reflectors and electrical equipment1,4485.36×
BrakesNoise, emissions and leaks1,1415.26×
Body, chassis, structureBrakes1,1865.04×
Body, chassis, structureRoad Wheels235.02× (rough estimate)
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipmentSuspension1,3014.92×
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipmentTyres3,9614.86×
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipmentVisibility3,5904.81×
BrakesSuspension1,0454.53×
BrakesIdentification of the vehicle664.53× (rough estimate)
Identification of the vehicleTyres694.43× (rough estimate)
BrakesTyres3,0654.31×
Identification of the vehicleVisibility604.21× (rough estimate)
Identification of the vehicleNoise, emissions and leaks204.21× (rough estimate)
BrakesSeat belts and supplementary restraint systems1974.19× (rough estimate)
Road WheelsVisibility534.18× (rough estimate)
Body, chassis, structureSeat belts and supplementary restraint systems694.14× (rough estimate)
BrakesVisibility2,6234.03×
Seat belts and supplementary restraint systemsVisibility1854.02× (rough estimate)
SteeringVisibility4703.92× (rough estimate)
SteeringTyres5063.87×
Seat belts and supplementary restraint systemsTyres1923.82× (rough estimate)
SuspensionVisibility8363.71×
Noise, emissions and leaksSeat belts and supplementary restraint systems573.71× (rough estimate)
Noise, emissions and leaksVisibility7723.64×
Body, chassis, structureVisibility8193.56×
TyresVisibility2,4683.55×
Noise, emissions and leaksTyres8053.47×
SuspensionTyres8313.37×
Body, chassis, structureTyres8443.36×
Seat belts and supplementary restraint systemsSteering273.12× (rough estimate)
Seat belts and supplementary restraint systemsSuspension503.07× (rough estimate)
Body, chassis, structureIdentification of the vehicle18too few (rough estimate)
Identification of the vehicleSuspension16too few (rough estimate)
Identification of the vehicleSteering9too few (rough estimate)
Road WheelsSeat belts and supplementary restraint systems8too few (rough estimate)

Defects in «Body, chassis, structure» and «Noise, emissions and leaks» appear together 25.20× more often than chance (1,934 co-occurrences in the same test; lift≥1.3, n≥500).

Lift = how many times more often both groups appear on the same test than if independent. A pair is listed from 5 tests with both faults; the lift is shown from 20, and called above chance only when its 95% interval excludes 1 (see rough estimates).

Is low mileage better for a Ford EcoSport?

Cars driven under 5,000 miles a year is well below the reference at 14.8%, against 31.5% for cars driven 8,000–12,000 miles a year.

higher = larger sharecompare shares in percentage points

BandFail %Tests
<5k miles/year14.76%76,004
8–12k miles/year31.45%52,178
Gap (low − normal)-16.69 pp—
By fuel and age

Diesel

AgeLow-use fail %nNormal fail %nGap pp
511.982,25325.14,267-13.12 pp
614.651,99328.384,031-13.73 pp
716.291,56532.023,510-15.73 pp
818.451,17137.172,631-18.73 pp
922.3760839.821,326-17.45 pp
1023.2221139.22357-15.99 pp

Petrol

AgeLow-use fail %nNormal fail %nGap pp
510.6330,01326.9813,593-16.35 pp
613.3918,97331.039,781-17.64 pp
717.269,94634.666,365-17.4 pp
820.146,22038.124,087-17.98 pp
922.742,66043.441,943-20.69 pp
1025.3839041.81287-16.43 pp

At matched ages 5–14, cars averaging under 5k miles/year fail at 14.8% vs 31.4% for 8–12k miles/year — 16.7 pp lower (n_low=76,004, n_normal=52,178). In this family low annual use is associated with fewer MOT fails, not more — the ‘garage queen’ penalty is not visible in overall fail rates. Diesel alone: 15.4% low-use vs 30.4% normal (-15.0 pp).

Which Ford EcoSport engine is best?

diesel 1.2–1.5 is highest at 109.7; petrol 1.2–1.5 is lowest at 95.3 — the gap is 14.4 points.

below 100 is betterabove 100 is worse100 = normal for this model at that age

Engine bands against this model's own failure rate at the same ages
FuelCapacityvs own age normRaw fail %Tests
petrol1.2–1.5 litre95.320.19%52,322
petrolunder 1.0 litre98.417.53%308,871
petrol1.0–1.2 litre103.318.13%673 (rough estimate)
petrol1.5–1.8 litre108.723.13%294 (rough estimate)
diesel1.5–1.8 litre10923.37%368 (rough estimate)
diesel1.2–1.5 litre109.723%69,026

Splitting this model by fuel alone hides the thing that actually differs. Within the same badge, the diesel 1.2–1.5 runs at 109.7 against this model's own age norm while the petrol 1.2–1.5 runs at 95.3 — a spread of 14.4 points between two cars that share a name.

Read this one with more care than the rest of the page. Age is held constant, but who buys which engine is not: the largest capacity in a range is often a performance or executive variant that is garaged, cherished and lightly driven, while the smallest is frequently a fleet or entry car worked hard from new. The gap below is real in the test records; how much of it is the engine and how much is the owner, this data cannot separate. Bands under 100 tests are not shown; bands under 5,000 tests are rough estimates.

Best year for a Ford EcoSport, and the years to avoid

Build year 2017 is highest at 111.5; Build year 2018 is lowest at 81.4 — the gap is 30.1 points.

below 100 is betterabove 100 is worse100 = normal for this model at that age

build year vs the same model at the same age · 100 = as expected

Ford EcoSport build year vs the same model at the same age · 100 = as expected — 2024 UK MOT data
Ford EcoSport by build year, tests 2019–2024. Below 100 is better than the model's own age norm.
Every build year with its confidence interval
Build yearvs own age norm95% CIRaw fail %TestsVerdict
202010499.9–108.113.65%18,391no different
20199088.2–91.813.2%75,553better
201881.480–82.913.36%90,443better
2017111.5109.7–113.420.12%70,851worse
2016110.9109.4–112.522.49%87,299worse
2015109.3107.6–110.926.02%63,822worse
2014105.3102.2–108.428.59%15,607worse

The best build year here is 2018 and the weakest is 2017. Comparing build years sounds simple and is not: within a single year of testing, a car's build year and its age are the same number, so a naive comparison of years is a comparison of ages wearing a disguise. Each year below is measured against the same model at the same age in other cohorts, across six years of testing — 6 of 7 years come out distinguishable from their own model's age norm.

Two limits worth knowing before you act on this. Age, test year and build year are locked together by arithmetic, so the test-year effect is taken from the observed national failure level of each year rather than estimated — it is an adjustment, not a solution.

Ford EcoSport MOT repair costs

The MOT-failure repair budget per test runs from £26.25 to £49.88, against £54.85 for the test itself.

bigger number = costs morepounds per test, MOT-failing faults only

MOT repairs, budget
£26–50
per test, repairs only
The test itself
£54.85
statutory cap, unchanged since 2010
How the figure is built: chance of failing × typical price of that repair
ComponentFails per 100 testsTypical repairIts priceContribution
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment6.3 (nat. 18.09)Battery replacement (standard 12V lead-acid)£140£8.82
Brakes5.8 (nat. 11.25)Front brake pads (parts + labour, typical hatchback)£150£8.70
Tyres5.5 (nat. 8.7)Tyre (single mid-range 16" fitted)£90£4.95
Suspension2.1 (nat. 15.36)Suspension coil spring (single corner)£180£3.78

Multiply how often each component fails on this model by what that repair usually costs, and you get the amount an owner should expect to budget per test for MOT-failing faults only — roughly £26 to £50, on top of the test fee itself. It is a budgeting figure, not a quote: the spread between a set of pads and a set of discs is most of the range.

Prices are modal quotes from a hand-kept catalogue of published UK garage guides — we do not scrape the booking sites, their terms forbid it, so this list is short and updated by hand with a source and date against each line. Each line prices one typical repair in that group, not a full remedy, and only groups our catalogue actually covers are counted. The contrast worth noticing is the second card: the legal maximum for the test has been £54.85 since 2010, while the repairs it uncovers have followed inflation the whole time.

For scale from a different direction: Warrantywise, which sees used-car warranty claims rather than test failures, puts the average claim at £2,052 across the ten highest-claim models it ranks and £539 for Honda, the lowest-claim make in its index (Warrantywise index 2026, 1.6 million claims, cars aged 3–15). Those sit an order of magnitude above the figures in this table, and the gap is the point: a warranty claim is a gearbox or an engine, which almost never fails an MOT, while the faults that do fail one are corrosion, lamps and tyres, which no warranty pays for. The two numbers answer different questions and neither replaces the other.

Ford EcoSport running costs for a fleet

Vehicles failing at age 10 stand out at 35.0%, against 16.0% at age 5, tested in the same year.

higher = larger sharecompare shares in percentage points

Fails per 100 at age 5
16
vehicles needing work
At age 10
35
other cars of this model tested at age 10 in 2024
Repairs per 100
£2,625
plus £5,485 in test fees
Off the road
0d
median; 55.32% cleared same day
Failure rate and typical odometer by age
AgeFailsMedian odometerTestsGap vs age 5
315.63%17,2455,495-0.2 pp
413.9%22,4318,941-2.0 pp
515.86%26,90724,962+0.0 pp
617.95%33,44222,547+2.1 pp
727.16%43,77113,301+11.3 pp
829.57%50,80614,215+13.7 pp
933.25%58,43010,477+17.4 pp
1034.68%65,9482,552+18.8 pp

The number a fleet manager needs is not the failure rate, it is the year the car starts costing more. Between cars aged 6 and cars aged 7, both tested in 2024, the failure rate of this model is 9.21 percentage points higher — the steepest one-year step in this cross-section of different cars, and a natural planning point for replacement.

Repair spend uses the same modal prices as the section above, so it inherits the same limits: one typical repair per component group, not a full remedy. Downtime is the gap between the failed test and the passed re-test, which is the window a vehicle is legally off the road.

Ford EcoSport rust problems: where they corrode

Age-standardised corrosion susceptibility is well below the reference at <0.1×, against 1.00× for the national age-standardised rate.

above 1.0× = rusts more than averagebelow 1.0× = rusts less

How it rusts
<0.1×
0.03% of tests record a corrosion defect vs 0.77% typical — age-standardised
Salt Belt exposure
77th
percentile among the models published here, from its tests across 111 postcode areas

This Ford EcoSport virtually never fails on corrosion once age is held constant, and its owners live in areas that are saltier than most for the models we publish. Both point the same way and reinforce each other: it resists corrosion even though its owners live in saltier areas than most.

Corrosion is the one failure mode that is as much about geography as about the car. We keep the two apart on purpose: a model can look rusty simply because it is popular in Scotland, and a model can look clean simply because it is bought in Surrey. Blending them into a single score would hide which of the two is doing the work.

Exposure is this model's tests weighted by an area corrosion index built from frost days, salt load and distance to the coast — the composite validated at r = 0.42 against corrosion defects we actually record. It is published as a rank, not a raw score, because every mainstream model skews towards low-corrosion areas for the simple reason that most of Britain's cars are in the south. Susceptibility is standardised to the national age profile, so an old fleet does not get labelled a rusty model.

Does a Ford EcoSport advisory become a failure?

Steering is highest at 23.1%; Road wheels are lowest at 0.9% — the gap is 22.2 percentage points.

higher = more likelypercentage is the observed transition probability

chance the same component fails at the next MOT, given an advisory now

Ford EcoSport chance the same component fails at the next MOT, given an advisory now — 2024 UK MOT data
Ford EcoSport, advisory → failure conversion by component group, chained tests 2019–2024. Chart labels and rates: Steering 23.1% · Lamps & electrical 13.3% · Body & chassis 9.8% · Brakes 9.6% · Suspension 7.5% · Tyres 6.6% · Noise, emissions, leaks 4.5% · Seat belts & restraints 2.1%.
Advisory today → failure at the next test, with how long you have
ComponentFails next timeTypical lead timeMiles of warningAdvisories tracked
Steering23.1%12 months7,5881,578
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment13.3%12 months7,4362,858
Body, chassis, structure9.8%12 months7,5564,112
Brakes9.6%12 months7,02732,622
Suspension7.5%12 months6,33219,310
Tyres6.6%12 months6,93466,591
Noise, emissions and leaks4.5%12 months7,5123,825
Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems2.1%11.9 months5,650666
Identification of the vehicle1.0%12.2 months7,9591,491
Road wheels0.9%11.8 months5,0811,634

This is the question an advisory note actually raises, and it needs six years of test history to answer. We followed the same vehicles from one MOT to the next across 2019–2024 and measured how often a component that was merely advised came back as a genuine failure at the next test.

Read it as a budgeting horizon, not a prophecy: the most likely component above turns into a failure for about 23 in 100 cars, and the median gap is 12 months and roughly 7,588 miles. The rest were repaired, sold, scrapped, or simply held. Rows with fewer than 500 tracked advisories are not shown.

What will fail next on a Ford EcoSport?

Suspension after a advisory at age 9-11 is highest at 13.8%; Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment after a passed at age <3 are lowest at 2.2% — the gap is 11.6 percentage points.

higher = more likelypercentage is the observed transition probability

Probability of each component failing at the next test, by age and last result
AgeLast testMost likely next failuresCars tracked
<3passedTyres 2.7% · Visibility 2.4% · Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 2.2%51,472
<3advisoryTyres 4.2% · Visibility 3.6% · Brakes 3.5%11,215
<3failureLamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 5.3% · Tyres 4.6% · Visibility 4.3%8,192
3-5passedLamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 3.5% · Tyres 3.3% · Visibility 3.3%115,714
3-5advisoryLamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 5.6% · Tyres 5.4% · Brakes 5.2%49,170
3-5failureLamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 8.3% · Brakes 7.1% · Tyres 6.5%34,181
6-8passedLamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 6.5% · Brakes 4.9% · Visibility 4.5%24,386
6-8advisoryLamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 9.0% · Brakes 7.2% · Suspension 6.9%18,997
6-8failureLamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 12.1% · Brakes 9.0% · Visibility 8.2%16,255
9-11passedLamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 9.6% · Brakes 8.4% · Visibility 7.7%261 (rough estimate)
9-11advisorySuspension 13.8% · Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 9.4% · Brakes 8.0%276 (rough estimate)
9-11failureLamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 11.8% · Suspension 11.8% · Brakes 8.8%364 (rough estimate)

The same chains, cut differently: given a car's age and how its last test went, which component most often causes trouble at the following one.

The pattern that repeats across every family: a failure at one test roughly doubles the chance of a failure on the same component at the next one, and an advisory sits about half-way between a clean pass and a failure. Age bands in years; probabilities are per car, not per defect item.

Ford EcoSport ownership: what six years of MOTs show

The same-day re-test pass rate is highest at 55.3%; The later re-test pass rate is lowest at 1.6% — the gap is 53.8 percentage points.

higher = larger sharecompare shares in percentage points

Fixed same day
55.32%
of failures re-tested
Fails /10k miles
0.338
miles actually driven
Clean streaks
47.08%
3+ tests, nothing noted
Odometer anomaly
1.156%
reading went backwards

Failing is usually a same-week event, not a disaster. Of 50,073 failures followed through to their re-test, 55.32% were repaired and passed the same day and 43.11% within ten days; the median gap is 0 days. 99,710 defect items were cleared in the process.

Per mile driven, not per year. Dividing failures by the miles that actually went onto the odometers between consecutive tests gives 0.338 failures per 10,000 miles, on a median of 5,384 miles a year across 96,969 chains. This is the number to compare between models — an annual rate quietly rewards cars that barely leave the drive.

Two populations hide inside one model. 47.08% of these cars strung together three or more tests with nothing recorded at all, while 13.04% carried the same advisory three times or more — the same fault, noted, ignored, noted again. When you buy used you are buying one of those two histories, and the MOT record shows which.

Odometer anomalies: 1.156% of 96,998 chains show a reading lower than the previous test, with a median drop of 10,050 miles. We call this an anomaly and not fraud on purpose — instrument swaps, imports, unit mix-ups and keying errors all land in the same bucket. Obvious typos (drops under 100 miles or over 90% of the reading) are already excluded.

Ford EcoSport safety recalls and how to check yours

DVSA recall campaigns stand out at 9.

bigger number = more recorded casescompare like-for-like scope, not sample size alone

recall campaigns launched per year

Ford EcoSport recall campaigns launched per year — 2024 UK MOT data
Campaigns launched per year for the Ford EcoSport. Source: DVSA vehicle safety recalls. Chart values: 2015: 2 · 2016: 1 · 2017: 0 · 2018: 1 · 2019: 0 · 2020: 0 · 2021: 1 · 2022: 0 · 2023: 0 · 2024: 0 · 2025: 2 · 2026: 2.
Most recent safety recall campaigns for the Ford EcoSport
ReferenceLaunchedVehiclesConcern
R/2026/04706/02/2026325C76 EcoSport - Powertrain Control Module Software Update
R/2026/04706/02/2026125C76 EcoSport - Powertrain Control Module Software Update
R/2025/35908/09/20251CrossCar: Sync3 Rear-View Camera Software Update
R/2025/35908/09/20251CrossCar: Sync3 Rear-View Camera Software Update
R/2021/12314/04/20211,528VEHICLE SEATBELTS MAY HAVE A DEFECTIVE LOW G LOCKING MECHANISM
All 9 campaigns
ReferenceLaunchedBuild datesVehiclesConcern
R/2026/04706/02/202629/09/2020 – 09/10/2020325C76 EcoSport - Powertrain Control Module Software Update
R/2026/04706/02/202607/11/2020 – 07/11/2020125C76 EcoSport - Powertrain Control Module Software Update
R/2025/35908/09/202521/06/2019 – 21/06/20191CrossCar: Sync3 Rear-View Camera Software Update
R/2025/35908/09/202513/01/2020 – 13/01/20201CrossCar: Sync3 Rear-View Camera Software Update
R/2021/12314/04/202105/02/2021 – 24/03/20211,528VEHICLE SEATBELTS MAY HAVE A DEFECTIVE LOW G LOCKING MECHANISM
R/2018/24802/10/201802/05/2017 – 10/06/2017991LOWER CONTROL ARM WELD MAY NOT MEET SEPCIFICATION
R/2016/10223/05/201619/04/2013 – 26/06/20141,023FUEL LEAK MAY OCCUR
R/2015/12603/09/201529/11/2013 – 25/02/20151,264VEHICLE MAY BECOME UNSTABLE DUE TO REAR SUSPENSION FAULT
R/2015/02630/04/201522/02/2013 – 22/02/201435FUEL MAY LEAK

DVSA lists 9 safety recall campaigns for the Ford EcoSport, covering roughly 4,847 vehicles in total. A recall is the manufacturer fixing a fault for free, so an open recall on your car costs nothing to clear.

Counter-intuitive, and measured on our own data: across the 25 families published here, more recalls go with a lower MOT Risk Index (r = −0.52). Heavily recalled models are not worse cars in the test bay — an active manufacturer removes the fault before it becomes an MOT failure.

Check whether a specific car has an outstanding recall — free, by registration — at DVSA's recall service. Source: DVSA vehicle safety recalls (check-vehicle-recalls.service.gov.uk), OGL.

Ford EcoSport technical service bulletins: what dealers are told

US market, Ford ECOSPORT, model years 2018–2022 only. A count of bulletins, not a UK failure rate.

NHTSA manufacturer communications are 141.

bigger number = more recorded dealer communicationsnot affected vehicles or confirmed faults

These are the issues the manufacturer fixes quietly: service communications sent to dealers without a public recall campaign. They show what the service network has been told even when the issue never became news.

United States · NHTSA manufacturer communications

US technical service bulletins by communication year; leading subjects cover the full file
Communication yearBulletinsLeading subjects across all years
20171
  • Electrical system (78)
  • Equipment (48)
  • Other / uncategorised (17)
  • Powertrain (14)
  • Engine and cooling (12)
  • Engine (5)
  • Communication (4)
  • Adaptive and mobility equipment (4)
201833
201926
202024
202129
20227
20235
202411
20254
20261

Caveat worth stating plainly: this is NHTSA data about US-specification cars. British cars sold under the same name often use different gearboxes, engines and equipment, so a bulletin may describe a component that was never fitted here. The file counts dealer communications, not affected vehicles or confirmed failures, and it cannot tell you whether an individual UK car has the issue. A communication can carry more than one subject tag, so topic counts do not have to add up to the total. Source: NHTSA Manufacturer Communications API (US-market vehicles; queried model years 2015-2022). Licence: U.S. Government work / public domain · retrieved 2026-09-25.

Ford EcoSport owner complaints: what goes wrong

US market, Ford ECOSPORT, model years 2018–2022 only. A count of owner complaints, not a UK failure rate; NHTSA has no UK denominator.

Engine (not MOT-tested) is highest at 1,642; Steering is lowest at 16 — the gap is 1,626.

bigger number = more recorded casescompare like-for-like scope, not sample size alone

Owner complaints (US) against actual MOT failures (UK) for the same component groups
ComponentComplaintsShareMOT fail items per 100MOT rankAgreement
Engine (not MOT-tested)1,64288.8%not in top 6—complained about, rarely an MOT failure
Transmission (not MOT-tested)22111.9%not in top 6—complained about, rarely an MOT failure
Lamps & electrical945.1%6.3#1complained about and fails often
Brakes733.9%5.8#2complained about and fails often
Restraints372.0%not in top 6—complained about, rarely an MOT failure
Steering160.9%not in top 6—complained about, rarely an MOT failure

Two different populations answering two different questions: the MOT records what an inspector can measure once a year, the complaint file records what annoyed or frightened an owner on the road. A component high in one column and absent from the other is the interesting case — driver-assistance and electronics dominate complaints while almost never appearing as an MOT failure item.

What the reports actually say
While having oil changed at the Ford dealership, I was told there was a small oil leak. I made an appt for a diagnostic test for the following week. I was told the diagnostic test showed a cracked valve cover. I had it repaired while they had the vehicle.
NHTSA complaint, filed 09/03/2026 · ENGINE
1.0L EcoBoost suffered a repeat failure following Recall 23S64, Metro Ford of OKC confirmed in writing that prior dealer workmanship caused the failure, and Ford Corporate (Case # CXH-08846832) is completely unresponsive, leaving the vehicle inoperable and unsafe.
NHTSA complaint, filed 09/01/2026 · ENGINE

US owners have filed 1,850 complaints about the equivalent Ford EcoSport to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, including 38 that mention a crash, 13 a fire and 24 an injury. These are owner reports, not verified findings — but they are the only large public record of what drivers themselves notice, and they cover the years between MOT tests.

Caveat worth stating plainly: US-specification cars, self-selected reporters, no denominator — complaint counts scale with how many cars were sold there and how motivated owners are to file. The mechanical gap matters as much as the statistical one: American cars of the same name often carry different gearboxes, engines and equipment — automatics where Britain buys manuals — so a drivetrain complaint filed in Ohio may describe a part that was never fitted here. Read the ranking inside a model, not between models, and treat drivetrain entries with particular caution. Source: NHTSA ODI consumer complaints (US market, public domain) — US-spec vehicles, indicative only.

Ford EcoSport inspection results in other countries

Netherlands APK is well below the reference at 35.5%, against 50.8% nationally.

higher = larger sharecompare shares in percentage points

Same model, different national inspection regimes
CountryTestThis model failsNational averagePositionSample
United KingdomMOT (class 4)21.69%26.01%-4.3 pp102,987
NetherlandsAPK35.5%50.8%-15.3 pp6,857
FinlandKatsastus14.5%26.3%-11.8 pp677
NorwayPKK21.3%33.7%-12.4 pp503

The verdict is consistent across every regime where the difference is clear, which is the strongest form this comparison takes: independent inspectorates, different rulebooks, same direction of travel.

What Finland fails it for — share of recorded faults
Fault areaShare
Brake systems53.1%
Steering equipment29.7%
Axles, wheels and suspension7.8%
Environmental hazards7.8%
Additional inspections0.8%

Useful as a cross-check on the UK defect table above: the categories are named differently, but a component that dominates in both regimes is a genuine weak point of the model rather than an artefact of one country's testing style.

The exact faults Netherlands records — APK defect codes, 2024
CodeFaultRecordedType
210Tyre pressure not at the correct value1,201failure
205Tyre with insufficient tread613failure
576Indicator colour wrong or not permitted571failure
516Dipped headlight incorrectly aimed538failure
203Tyre damaged373failure
AC1Tyre down to 1.6–2.5 mm of tread308advisory
391Wipers leave insufficient visibility252failure
556Remlicht werkt niet (goed)211failure

Worth dwelling on how mundane the top of that list is: tyre pressure, tread depth, headlight aim. The Dutch APK records 0.796 defects per inspection against a much higher national failure rate than Britain's, and the reason is not that Dutch cars are worse — it is that the two regimes draw the line between "note it" and "fail it" in different places. Codes are the RDW's own; the English wording here is our translation of the Dutch original.

Britain is not the only country that inspects every car every year, and the Ford EcoSport is on the road in all of them. Each national regime writes its own rules, so the pass rates below are not comparable to each other — what does travel across a border is whether a model sits above or below its own country's average.

One caveat before you read the UK row: these are raw failure rates, because no other country publishes the age detail our index needs. This model's raw UK rate looks better than the national average while its age-adjusted index is 116.6 — the fleet here is unusually young, and the raw column silently credits that. The index above is the fair comparison; this table is for reading each country against itself.

Rows with fewer than 500 inspections are not published. Sources: RDW open data — Meldingen Keuringsinstantie + Geconstateerde Gebreken + Gekentekende voertuigen (2024), CC0. Not an RDW endorsement.; Traficom — Periodic inspections of cars by model / by model and fault object 2024, CC BY 4.0; Statens vegvesen — Periodisk kjøretøykontroll (PKK) 2024, CC BY 4.0. Adapted; licences and full notice.

Ford EcoSport MOT: quick answers

Ford EcoSport MOT Risk Index stands out at 116.6, against 100 for a car with the same age profile.

below 100 is betterabove 100 is worse100 = normal for this model at that age

What is the Ford EcoSport first-time MOT pass rate?
78.31% of first attempts passed in 2024 (102,987 tests). This is the first-time figure: retests after repair are excluded. Basis: first-time, excluding retests.
Why does this number differ from other sites?
Other sites often report a pass rate that includes retests or counts all attempts. Our 21.69% figure is the first-time initial failure rate, using 102,987 primary tests as the denominator (first-time, excluding retests). The age-adjusted MOT initial-failure ratio 116.6 is shown separately because raw rates compare fleet age as well as cars.

Compare the Ford EcoSport with other cars

Nissan Qashqai is highest at 118.2; Kia Ceed is lowest at 116.5 — the gap is 1.7 points.

below 100 is betterabove 100 is worse100 = normal for this model at that age

Same brand

All Ford MOT statisticsFord Fiesta MOT statsFord Ranger MOT stats

Similar risk

Kia Ceed (index 116.5)Hyundai i30 (index 117.2)Nissan Qashqai (index 118.2)

Same size class

how Renault Megane compareshow BMW X3 compareshow Vauxhall Combo compares

By build year

Ford EcoSport 2014Ford EcoSport 2015Ford EcoSport 2016Ford EcoSport 2017Ford EcoSport 2018Ford EcoSport 2019Ford EcoSport 2020

By area

Ford EcoSport MOT failure rate by postcode area

By failure group

Ford EcoSport body, chassis and structure failuresFord EcoSport brakes failuresFord EcoSport vehicle identification failuresFord EcoSport lamps, reflectors and electrics failuresFord EcoSport noise, emissions and leaks failuresFord EcoSport road wheels failuresFord EcoSport seat belts and airbags failuresFord EcoSport steering failuresFord EcoSport suspension failuresFord EcoSport tyres failuresFord EcoSport visibility failures

Inspections abroad

Ford EcoSport in NorwayFord EcoSport in FinlandFord EcoSport in the Netherlands


Data details & how to cite

Scope: class-4 vehicles (cars), initial tests only, outcomes pass / fail / fixed-on-the-spot at the station (PRS counts towards the failure rate — the defect was present at arrival). Index = observed initial failures ÷ failures expected for this fleet's exact age profile, ×100; margin of error is a 95% confidence interval. Covers ALL generations together — a 3-year-old and a 15-year-old are very different cars; a generation split is on the roadmap. Dataset release dataset_release_id=dvsa-2024-v2, frozen baseline; headline claim_id=family-stats:ford-ecosport:dvsa-2024-v2. Full method: methodology.

Cite: MOT Risk Index (2026). Ford EcoSport MOT statistics 2024 (data release dvsa-2024-v2; downloadable dataset motriskindex-families-2024-v5, doi:10.5281/zenodo.22975051). https://motriskindex.co.uk/cars/ford-ecosport/ · Published 2026-07-30.