Does the Ford EcoSport fail the MOT on steering more than it should?

The Ford EcoSport records 0.79 steering failure items per 100 initial MOT tests (2019–2024), against 0.71 expected for a car of the same age mix: about as expected for its class and age (the difference is within its interval or under 0.5 items per 100 tests) (+0.08, 95% interval +0.06 to +0.11). It ranks 212 of 640 models on steering (1 = most failures above expected).

Data release dvsa-2024-v2 (24 Sep 2026) · page updated 30 Sep 2026 · all models on steering · check a Ford EcoSport by registration

What exactly fails on steering?

The most frequent DVSA defect wording in this group on the Ford EcoSport is “A steering ball joint with excessive wear or free play”, recorded 2,773 times in 2019–2024.

Ford EcoSport: most frequent steering defect wordings, 2019–2024 (30+ items each)
DVSA defect wording	Items	Per 100 tests
A steering ball joint with excessive wear or free play	2,773	0.64
Steering rack gaiter or ball joint dust cover missing or no longer prevents the ingress of dirt etc	324	0.08
Steering rack gaiter or ball joint dust cover damaged or deteriorated	118	0.03
A steering ball joint worn to the extent there is a serious risk of detachment	91	0.02

Source: DVSA MOT bulk data (OGL v3.0) · Window: 2019–2024 · n = 431,587 (initial tests) · Method: failure items (major and minor) grouped by DVSA's defect tree; wordings with 30+ items · Updated: 30 Sep 2026 · Release: dvsa-2024-v2 · CSV

If a Ford EcoSport gets a steering advisory, how often does it fail next time?

23.1% of Ford EcoSport MOTs with a steering advisory were followed by a fail in the same group at the next MOT, typically 12 months and 7,588 miles later (1,578 advisories followed).

Source: DVSA MOT bulk data (OGL v3.0) · Window: 2019–2024 · n = 1,578 (advisories followed) · Method: the same vehicles followed to their next ordinary MOT · Updated: 30 Sep 2026 · Release: dvsa-2024-v2 · CSV

Does the Ford EcoSport fail the MOT on steering more than it should?

What exactly fails on steering?

If a Ford EcoSport gets a steering advisory, how often does it fail next time?

Related pages

Other pages for this model