MOT Risk Index.co.uk

Ford Mustang — MOT statistics 2024

The Ford Mustang failed 16.84% of 12,248 first MOT attempts in 2024 ("first-time", excluding retests). Adjusted for the age of the fleet, its initial-failure ratio is 73.1 (100 = expected for its age profile). This car fails its MOT about 27% less often than expected for its age.

MOT risk index 73.1, 95% CI 70.3–76.0 (100 = national average) 100 73.1 0 200
Index
73.1
100 = age-normal
Raw fail rate
16.84%
n = 12,248
Dangerous /100
7
national ≈11
Rank
201 of 761
lower index = better

Age-adjusted peer: Seat Ateca (index 73.1) — the two published results are 0.0 index points apart.

Ford Mustang common problems: what actually fails the MOT

Suspension is well below the reference at 4.1 per 100 tests, against 8.8 per 100 tests across UK vehicles of the same ages.

higher bar = fails more oftenrate per 100 tests

Ford Mustang 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, and 2 of these are already inside an interval that includes 1.00×.

GroupThis familyCases behind itUK, same agesFamily / national
Lamps & electrical8.34,94211.10.75×0.73–0.77
Brakes8.24,8598.11.01×0.98–1.03 · not distinguishable
Tyres6.03,5317.40.81×0.78–0.83
Visibility4.82,8756.70.72×0.70–0.75
Suspension4.12,4578.80.46×0.45–0.49
Steering1.91,1441.90.98×0.94–1.05 · not distinguishable
Named defects — items per 100 initial tests, this family vs UK national average; this model measured on 59,344 tests, 2019-2024, national column 2024
What failedper 100 tests (this family)per 100 tests (UK average)ratio family / UKWhat to check
Parking brake efficiency below minimum requirementParking brake efficiency below minimum requirement2.111.241.70×Feel for brake judder and pulling on the test drive
Parking brake inoperative on one sideParking brake inoperative on one side1.290.612.13×Feel for brake judder and pulling on the test drive
Lamp emitted colour, position or intensity not in…Lamp emitted colour, position or intensity not in accordance with the requirements1.160.851.37×Try every light and switch — lamps are a top failure
Tyre cords visible or damagedA tyre cords visible or damaged1.801.631.10×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 windscreen1.151.620.71×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 windscreen1.522.220.68×Check wipers, washers and windscreen chips in the driver's view
Aim of a headlamp is not within limits laid down…The aim of a headlamp is not within limits laid down in the requirements1.292.570.50×Try every light and switch — lamps are a top failure
Tyre tread depth not in accordance with the…Tyre tread depth not in accordance with the requirements2.293.590.64×Check tyre tread depth across the full width
Tyre seriously damagedA tyre seriously damaged1.232.540.48×Check tyre tread depth across the full width
Suspension pin, bush or joint excessively wornA suspension pin, bush or joint excessively worn1.734.870.36×Listen for knocks over bumps — worn joints show up on the test

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

Ford Mustang MOT advisories: what gets flagged

Tyres are highest at 29.2 per 100 tests; Body & structure are lowest at 1.5 per 100 tests — the gap is 27.7 per 100 tests.

higher bar = flagged more oftenadvisory items per 100 initial tests

Ford Mustang MOT advisories: what gets flagged — 2024 UK MOT data
Advisory rates table
GroupAdvisories per 100
Tyres29.2
Brakes12.9
Suspension8.7
Non-component advisories3.3
Emissions & leaks2
Body & structure1.5

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

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

AgePartFord MustangSame age, petrol and dieselDifference
3 yearsTyres4.594.170.42
3 yearsBrakes1.161.77-0.61
3 yearsSuspension1.460.630.83
4 yearsTyres5.034.540.49
4 yearsBrakes2.312.43-0.12
4 yearsSuspension1.441.210.23
5 yearsTyres4.975.06-0.09
5 yearsBrakes4.023.090.93
5 yearsSuspension1.872.19-0.32
6 yearsTyres4.955.54-0.59
6 yearsBrakes5.843.812.03
6 yearsSuspension2.383.72-1.34
7 yearsTyres5.185.95-0.77
7 yearsBrakes6.414.551.86
7 yearsSuspension2.525.68-3.16
8 yearsTyres4.146.31-2.17
8 yearsBrakes75.381.62
8 yearsSuspension4.027.78-3.76

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 failed19.8%2,287
It passed14.2%35,021

A failed test raises next year's chance of failing again by 5.6 percentage points. The failure most likely to come back is noise, emissions and leaks — 26.2% 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 58,105 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 only69.3fails less often than expected
Age and annual mileage85.4fails less often than vehicles driven as much
Share doing under 3,000 miles a year32.7%a large low-use population — often second vehicles or cars kept for occasional use

Split by how much each car is driven. This is a split by annual mileage, not by body type — the MOT record does not say whether a car is a conversion. Within each band the index compares with vehicles of the same age driven as much.

Miles a yearTestsFailed first timeIndex within band
under 3,00019,02210.6%71.0
3,000–6,00022,93616.1%85.3
6,000–9,00010,83520.5%94.5
9,000–12,0003,50223.6%102.2
12,000–16,0001,11323.0%97.3
16,000 and over69722.8%104.9

Mileage matters here: matching on how much these are driven moves the figure by 16.1 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 Mustang 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 MustangSame class, same ageDifferenceTests
3 years11.56%10.77%+0.79 pp10,298
4 years12.89%12.34%+0.55 pp9,253
5 years15.07%14.16%+0.91 pp8,453
6 years16.8%16.08%+0.72 pp7,227
7 years17.18%18.25%-1.07 pp5,116
8 years17.89%20.55%-2.65 pp3,258
9 years17.88%23.1%-5.22 pp755
10 years18.58%25.6%-7.02 pp565
11 years17.57%28.23%-10.67 pp649
12 years18.56%30.57%-12.01 pp862
13 years19.22%32.64%-13.43 pp1,098
14 years18.6%34.6%-16.01 pp1,328
15 years18.07%36.06%-17.99 pp1,201
16 years18.88%37.11%-18.23 pp1,165
17 years18.32%37.49%-19.18 pp1,021
18 years19.21%37.87%-18.66 pp786
19 years19.71%37.47%-17.76 pp548
20 years17.42%36.98%-19.55 pp264

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 Mustang perform as it gets older?

The Mustang at age 17 is well below the reference at 13.5%, against 43.1% for all vehicles of the same age.

higher = larger sharecompare shares in percentage points

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

Chart axes: car age, years · failure-rate scale 0–47%.

Takeaway: solid line: this family; dashed: all cars.

Data table
AgeFord MustangAll vehiclesGap
312.6%12.4%+0.2 pp
414.2%13.1%+1.1 pp
517.2%15.1%+2.1 pp
617.4%17.5%-0.1 pp
716.1%20.2%-4.1 pp
818.4%23.3%-4.9 pp
916.2%26.5%-10.4 pp
1616.9%43.1%-26.2 pp
1713.5%43.1%-29.6 pp
1817.0%43.9%-26.9 pp
1914.7%43.5%-28.8 pp
2019.5%41.0%-21.5 pp

Is a Ford Mustang ULEZ compliant?

The share of classifiable 2024 Ford Mustang MOT tests likely ULEZ compliant by first-registration date is 92.7%.

Based on 11,782 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 = 23
3–5 years100.0%
Check a registration with TfL
n = 2,841
6–7 years100.0%
Check a registration with TfL
n = 3,994
8 years100.0%
Check a registration with TfL
n = 2,566
9 yearsSuppressed — sample below publication threshold
Check a registration with TfL
n = 328
10–14 yearsSuppressed — sample below publication threshold
Check a registration with TfL
n = 418
15–17 years99.8%
Check a registration with TfL
n = 518
18 yearsSuppressed — sample below publication threshold
Check a registration with TfL
n = 233
19 yearsSuppressed — sample below publication threshold
Check a registration with TfL
n = 285
20+ years0.0%
Check a registration with TfL
n = 576

How dangerous are Ford Mustang MOT failures?

Major defects are well below the reference at 24.7 per 100 tests, against 52.8 per 100 tests nationally.

higher bar = fails more oftenrate per 100 tests

How dangerous are Ford Mustang MOT failures? — 2024 UK MOT data
Severity table
SeverityThis family /100National /100Family / national
Minor5.7514.220.40×
Major24.6752.750.47×
Dangerous7.0111.150.63×

Chart values: Minor 5.8 · Major 24.7 · Dangerous 7.0.

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 Mustang MOT matter?

Jan is highest at 17.8%; Mar is lowest at 14.7% — the gap is 3.0 percentage points.

higher = larger sharecompare shares in percentage points

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

Chart scale: 13%–33%.

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

Month-by-month table
MonthFord MustangAll vehiclesGap
Jan17.77%31.12%-13.4 pp
Feb16.02%29.99%-14.0 pp
Mar14.72%28.26%-13.5 pp
Apr15.89%29.78%-13.9 pp
May15.03%28.79%-13.8 pp
Jun14.82%28.15%-13.3 pp
Jul15.8%29.33%-13.5 pp
Aug15.01%29.2%-14.2 pp
Sep15.98%28.19%-12.2 pp
Oct16.52%30.34%-13.8 pp
Nov15.68%30.58%-14.9 pp
Dec16.01%29.33%-13.3 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 Mustang average mileage by age

At age 8, the middle half of Mustangs runs from 20,899 miles to 47,640 miles, against 33,324 miles as the median.

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

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

Chart axes: car age, years · odometer scale 0–99k mi.

Does high mileage mean more Ford Mustang 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, 13.6% of those with under 40,000 miles failed first time versus 26.6% of those with 70,000–100,000 miles.Inside this age group, higher mileage goes with more failures.

Does high mileage mean more Ford Mustang MOT failures at the same age? — 2024 UK MOT data
Ford Mustang: first-time failure by mileage within each age group (2024)
AgeOdometer% failing95% intervalTests
3–5<40k miles14.8%13.5–16.2%2,654
3–540-70k miles19.1%13.9–25.6%173 (rough estimate)
6–9<40k miles13.6%12.7–14.6%4,798
6–940-70k miles26.1%24.1–28.1%1,785
6–970-100k miles26.6%21.6–32.3%263 (rough estimate)
10–14<40k miles12.3%7.8–18.8%138 (rough estimate)
10–1440-70k miles22.7%16.4–30.6%132 (rough estimate)
10–1470-100k miles16.3%10.5–24.6%104 (rough estimate)
15+<40k miles10.5%8–13.7%455 (rough estimate)
15+40-70k miles16.3%13.3–19.7%504
15+70-100k miles21.1%17.3–25.5%384 (rough estimate)
15+100-140k miles24.8%19.4–31.1%206 (rough estimate)
15+140k+ miles15.4%8.6–26.1%65 (rough estimate)

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

Mileage by age (p25 / median / p75)
Agep25Medianp75Tests
38,48212,93219,413556
410,38516,58325,1251,066
513,03320,49330,3901,219
617,97327,41438,1342,097
718,48229,68243,3091,897
820,89933,32447,6402,566
922,25332,69948,954328
1029,17248,44475,68993
1126,92851,26076,71290
1441,08758,52081,37485
1531,17453,01081,20581
1625,15444,36973,630195
1735,04255,79686,326244
1839,23966,03394,758236
1941,36160,83786,599285
20+40,29166,39391,209579

A typical 8-year-old Mustang has ~33,324 miles on the clock. Much more — ask why; much less — check for gaps in the MOT history.

Where in Britain the Ford Mustang fails its MOT most

Paisley area is highest at 29.5%; Sutton area is lowest at 4.6% — the gap is 24.9 percentage points.

higher = larger sharecompare shares in percentage points

Where in Britain the Ford Mustang fails its MOT most — 2024 UK MOT data
Toughest areas% failingvs model overall
Paisley (PA)29.48%+13.8 pp
Perth (PH)26.14%+10.4 pp
Dundee (DD)24.26%+8.6 pp
Lancaster (LA)23.85%+8.2 pp
Milton Keynes (MK)22.88%+7.2 pp
Easiest areas% failingvs model overall
Sutton (SM)4.62%-11.1 pp
Colchester (CO)7.29%-8.4 pp
Dartford (DA)8.55%-7.1 pp
London E (E)9.27%-6.4 pp
Inverness (IV)10.23%-5.5 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 income deprivation this model fails 1.4 pp less often than in the lowest fifth (r=-0.27, n=24 areas with ≥800 tests).

In areas with the highest urban share this model fails 4.7 pp less often than in the lowest fifth (r=-0.26, n=24 areas with ≥800 tests).

In the most inland fifth of areas this model fails 1.3 pp more often than in the most coastal fifth (r=0.15, n=24).

Ford Mustang Why do areas differ? — 2024 UK MOT data
Values shown in the quintile chart
FactorLow QHigh QGapCorrelation
Income deprivation14.0%12.5%-1.5 ppr=-0.27
Urban share17.3%12.6%-4.7 ppr=-0.26
Distance to coast15.7%17.0%+1.3 ppr=0.15

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
Income deprivation (score)-0.2672414.012.5-1.40.10.1
Urban share (0–1)-0.2622417.312.6-4.70.50.9
Distance to coast (km)0.1522415.717.0+1.35.694.5
MOT centre density (per 10k vehicles)0.1372414.015.3+1.35.37.3
Frost days (days/year)-0.0812414.814.0-0.81021.8
Road-salt proxy (g/m²-yr)-0.0242415.513.7-1.9203.5397.5
Terrain gradient (% grade)0.0081415.916.5+0.60.72.5

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: 11%–21% failing.

Ford Mustang survival: which cars are still on the road

By age 19 is well below the reference at 6.6%, against 100.0% at the ages 4–6 reference level.

higher = larger sharecompare shares in percentage points

Ford Mustang 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 %
310,298100%11.56%
49,253100%12.89%
58,453100%15.07%
67,22787%16.8%
75,11661.6%17.18%
83,25839.2%17.89%
97559.1%17.88%
105656.8%18.58%
116497.8%17.57%
1286210.4%18.56%
131,09813.2%19.22%
141,32816%18.6%
151,20114.5%18.07%
161,16514%18.88%
171,02112.3%18.32%
187869.5%19.21%
195486.6%19.71%

By age 19, only about 7% as many cars of this family present for MOT as at ages 4–6 (reference n≈8,311); survivors still fail at 19.7% vs 12.9% at age 4. Older cars that still appear are a selected subset — weaker ones have already left.

How many miles does a Ford Mustang last?

100,000+ miles stands out at 4.3%.

higher = larger sharecompare shares in percentage points

OdometerTests ≥ thresholdShare of sample
100,000+ miles2,5264.31%

Of 58,648 tests of this family with a usable odometer in 2024, 4.3% 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 Mustang likely to last?

Bought at age 10 is highest at 15.8 years; Bought at age 15 is lowest at 3.4 years — the gap is 12.4 years.

bigger number = longer remaining lifeyears on the observed survival curve

Age nowTypical mileage (p50)Expected years left
5—3.6
8—3.6
10—15.8
12—8.8
15—at least 3.4

estimateEstimate only — not a warranty: a typical 10-year-old example of this family has about 15.8 expected years of further MOT-present life on the 2024 survival curve. Derived from how many cars of each age still appear for test, not from a longitudinal panel.

Ford Mustang faults that come together

Body & structure + Emissions & leaks stand out at 27.32×, 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 leaks8827.32× (rough estimate)
Body, chassis, structureSeat belts and supplementary restraint systems2527.28× (rough estimate)
Body, chassis, structureLamps, reflectors and electrical equipment14813.64× (rough estimate)
Body, chassis, structureSteering4813.44× (rough estimate)
Noise, emissions and leaksSeat belts and supplementary restraint systems3313.13× (rough estimate)
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipmentSeat belts and supplementary restraint systems9010.63× (rough estimate)
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipmentRoad Wheels2810.17× (rough estimate)
Body, chassis, structureSuspension769.46× (rough estimate)
Body, chassis, structureBrakes1078.74× (rough estimate)
Seat belts and supplementary restraint systemsSteering248.61× (rough estimate)
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipmentNoise, emissions and leaks2468.27× (rough estimate)
BrakesSeat belts and supplementary restraint systems747.74× (rough estimate)
BrakesRoad Wheels247.72× (rough estimate)
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipmentSteering2497.54× (rough estimate)
SteeringSuspension1847.53× (rough estimate)
Body, chassis, structureVisibility706.59× (rough estimate)
Noise, emissions and leaksSteering616.23× (rough estimate)
Seat belts and supplementary restraint systemsSuspension396.22× (rough estimate)
Identification of the vehicleNoise, emissions and leaks336.05× (rough estimate)
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipmentSuspension4486.04× (rough estimate)
BrakesLamps, reflectors and electrical equipment6816.02×
BrakesNoise, emissions and leaks1965.84× (rough estimate)
Seat belts and supplementary restraint systemsVisibility455.43× (rough estimate)
Identification of the vehicleLamps, reflectors and electrical equipment995.39× (rough estimate)
BrakesSuspension4395.24× (rough estimate)
BrakesSteering1834.91× (rough estimate)
Noise, emissions and leaksSuspension1044.72× (rough estimate)
Seat belts and supplementary restraint systemsTyres384.55× (rough estimate)
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipmentVisibility4244.32× (rough estimate)
BrakesVisibility4504.06× (rough estimate)
Noise, emissions and leaksVisibility1153.95× (rough estimate)
Identification of the vehicleVisibility713.95× (rough estimate)
BrakesIdentification of the vehicle813.91× (rough estimate)
Identification of the vehicleTyres693.81× (rough estimate)
SteeringVisibility1213.75× (rough estimate)
SuspensionVisibility2723.74× (rough estimate)
BrakesTyres3723.34× (rough estimate)
TyresVisibility3103.21× (rough estimate)
Identification of the vehicleSuspension413.01× (rough estimate)
Body, chassis, structureTyres312.9× (rough estimate)
Noise, emissions and leaksTyres782.66× (rough estimate)
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipmentTyres2532.56× (rough estimate)
SuspensionTyres1772.42× (rough estimate)
SteeringTyres581.78× (rough estimate)
Road WheelsVisibility19too few (rough estimate)
Road WheelsSuspension18too few (rough estimate)
Body, chassis, structureIdentification of the vehicle16too few (rough estimate)
Identification of the vehicleSteering16too few (rough estimate)
Road WheelsTyres13too few (rough estimate)
Identification of the vehicleSeat belts and supplementary restraint systems12too few (rough estimate)
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipmentSpeedometer and speed limiter9too few (rough estimate)
Noise, emissions and leaksRoad Wheels9too few (rough estimate)
Road WheelsSteering8too few (rough estimate)
BrakesSpeedometer and speed limiter6too few (rough estimate)
Identification of the vehicleRoad Wheels6too few (rough estimate)
Speedometer and speed limiterVisibility5too few (rough estimate)

Defects in «Brakes» and «Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment» appear together 6.02× more often than chance (681 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 Mustang?

Cars driven under 5,000 miles a year is well below the reference at 12.0%, against 26.7% for cars driven 8,000–12,000 miles a year.

higher = larger sharecompare shares in percentage points

BandFail %Tests
<5k miles/year11.95%12,162
8–12k miles/year26.69%2,278
Gap (low − normal)-14.75 pp—
By fuel and age

Petrol

AgeLow-use fail %nNormal fail %nGap pp
510.724,89724.47944-13.75 pp
612.74,21328.09801-15.39 pp
712.983,05228.52533-15.54 pp
813.21,97825.39323-12.19 pp
912.343930.43115-18.13 pp
1014.627428.7487-14.14 pp
1115.8336022.9987-7.16 pp
1213.4251422.7879-9.36 pp
1318.2464718.45103-0.21 pp
1415.0985522.41116-7.33 pp

At matched ages 5–14, cars averaging under 5k miles/year fail at 11.9% vs 26.7% for 8–12k miles/year — 14.8 pp lower (n_low=12,162, n_normal=2,278). 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.

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

Build year 2019 is highest at 117.8; Build year 2013 is lowest at 75.2 — the gap is 42.6 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 Mustang build year vs the same model at the same age · 100 = as expected — 2024 UK MOT data
Ford Mustang 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
2020116.9103.5–130.313.92%2,091worse
2019117.8108–127.615.16%3,654worse
2018105.299.4–11114.46%8,746no different
201792.487.5–97.313.25%10,282better
2016100.796.7–104.715.41%15,714no different
201585.174.4–95.913.89%1,742better
20149471–11716.24%394no different
201375.248.3–102.113.57%221no different

The best build year here is 2017 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 — 1 of 8 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 Mustang MOT repair costs

The MOT-failure repair budget per test runs from £36.70 to £69.73, against £54.85 for the test itself.

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

MOT repairs, budget
£37–70
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
Brakes8.2 (nat. 11.25)Front brake pads (parts + labour, typical hatchback)£150£12.30
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment8.3 (nat. 18.09)Battery replacement (standard 12V lead-acid)£140£11.62
Suspension4.1 (nat. 15.36)Suspension coil spring (single corner)£180£7.38
Tyres6.0 (nat. 8.7)Tyre (single mid-range 16" fitted)£90£5.40

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 £37 to £70, 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 Mustang running costs for a fleet

Vehicles failing at age 19 are well below the reference at 15.0%, against 17.0% at age 5, tested in the same year.

higher = larger sharecompare shares in percentage points

Fails per 100 at age 5
17
vehicles needing work (rough estimate: 1,219 tests)
At age 19
15
other cars of this model tested at age 19 in 2024 (rough estimate: 285 tests)
Repairs per 100
£3,670
plus £5,485 in test fees
Off the road
1d
median; 30.42% cleared same day
Failure rate and typical odometer by age
AgeFailsMedian odometerTestsGap vs age 5
312.59%12,932556-4.6 pp
414.17%16,5831,066-3.1 pp
517.23%20,4931,219+0.0 pp
617.41%27,4142,097+0.2 pp
716.08%29,6821,897-1.2 pp
818.43%33,3242,566+1.2 pp
916.16%32,699328-1.1 pp
1616.92%44,369195-0.3 pp
1713.52%55,796244-3.7 pp
1816.95%66,033236-0.3 pp
1914.74%60,837285-2.5 pp

No single year stands out as the point where this model starts costing more: the year-to-year steps in its failure rate are too small or rest on too few tests to name one (D1 rule: a step is named only with at least 2,000 tests on both sides and a jump above 3 percentage points).

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 Mustang rust problems: where they corrode

Age-standardised corrosion susceptibility is well below the reference at 0.13×, against 1.00× for the national age-standardised rate.

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

How it rusts
0.13×
0.1% of tests record a corrosion defect vs 0.77% typical — age-standardised
Salt Belt exposure
39th
percentile among the models published here, from its tests across 24 postcode areas

This Ford Mustang virtually never fails on corrosion once age is held constant, and its owners live in areas that are about typical for the models we publish.

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 Mustang advisory become a failure?

Brakes are highest at 13.0%; Non-component advisories are lowest at 0.0% — the gap is 13.0 percentage points.

higher = more likelypercentage is the observed transition probability

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

Ford Mustang chance the same component fails at the next MOT, given an advisory now — 2024 UK MOT data
Ford Mustang, advisory → failure conversion by component group, chained tests 2019–2024. Chart labels and rates: Brakes 13% · Suspension 9.5% · Tyres 7.2% · Noise, emissions, leaks 2.6% · Body & chassis 2.2% · Non-component 0%.
Advisory today → failure at the next test, with how long you have
ComponentFails next timeTypical lead timeMiles of warningAdvisories tracked
Brakes13.0%12 months2,9433,250
Suspension9.5%12 months2,6372,408
Tyres7.2%12.1 months3,9986,910
Noise, emissions and leaks2.6%12.4 months2,423762
Body, chassis, structure2.2%12.3 months2,089540
Non-component advisories0.0%——1,335

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 13 in 100 cars, and the median gap is 12 months and roughly 2,943 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 Mustang?

Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment after a failure at age 20+ are highest at 17.9%; Brakes after a passed at age <3 are lowest at 1.7% — the gap is 16.2 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 4.8% · Visibility 3.2% · Brakes 1.7%5,168
<3advisoryTyres 6.0% · Visibility 4.9% · Brakes 2.9%1,010
<3failureTyres 5.7% · Visibility 4.6% · Brakes 2.8%811
3-5passedTyres 4.1% · Visibility 3.7% · Brakes 3.5%14,303
3-5advisoryTyres 7.1% · Visibility 6.2% · Brakes 5.9%3,819
3-5failureBrakes 8.1% · Visibility 6.6% · Tyres 6.1%2,882
6-8passedBrakes 4.6% · Visibility 3.7% · Tyres 3.0%3,878
6-8advisoryBrakes 9.7% · Visibility 6.6% · Tyres 6.3%1,325
6-8failureBrakes 9.9% · Visibility 7.4% · Tyres 5.4%1,258
9-11passedLamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 5.1% · Visibility 2.9% · Suspension 2.7%894
9-11advisoryLamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 15.8% · Steering 8.9% · Brakes 6.7%316 (rough estimate)
9-11failureLamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 17.6% · Visibility 6.9% · Brakes 6.6%289 (rough estimate)
12-14passedLamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 5.6% · Steering 4.3% · Suspension 4.2%1,795
12-14advisoryLamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 15.5% · Steering 7.0% · Suspension 6.7%670
12-14failureLamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 14.3% · Brakes 7.8% · Steering 7.3%551
15-19passedLamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 7.2% · Brakes 6.0% · Suspension 4.3%1,722
15-19advisoryLamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 16.5% · Suspension 9.0% · Brakes 8.9%641
15-19failureLamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 16.7% · Suspension 10.5% · Brakes 9.7%630
20+passedLamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 6.5% · Brakes 5.6% · Suspension 4.8%1,742
20+advisoryLamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 14.5% · Brakes 12.6% · Suspension 9.5%629
20+failureLamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 17.9% · Brakes 14.1% · Suspension 9.2%643

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 Mustang ownership: what six years of MOTs show

The ten-day re-test pass rate is highest at 63.7%; The later re-test pass rate is lowest at 5.9% — the gap is 57.8 percentage points.

higher = larger sharecompare shares in percentage points

Fixed same day
30.42%
of failures re-tested
Fails /10k miles
0.433
miles actually driven
Clean streaks
62.01%
3+ tests, nothing noted
Odometer anomaly
3.38%
reading went backwards

Failing is usually a same-week event, not a disaster. Of 6,400 failures followed through to their re-test, 30.42% were repaired and passed the same day and 63.67% within ten days; the median gap is 1 day. 13,198 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 0.433 failures per 10,000 miles, on a median of 2,529 miles a year across 12,537 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. 62.01% of these cars strung together three or more tests with nothing recorded at all, while 10.95% 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: 3.38% of 12,633 chains show a reading lower than the previous test, with a median drop of 29,573 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 Mustang safety recalls and how to check yours

DVSA recall campaigns stand out at 43.

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

recall campaigns launched per year

Ford Mustang recall campaigns launched per year — 2024 UK MOT data
Campaigns launched per year for the Ford Mustang. Source: DVSA vehicle safety recalls. Chart values: 2012: 0 · 2013: 0 · 2014: 0 · 2015: 0 · 2016: 1 · 2017: 1 · 2018: 1 · 2019: 0 · 2020: 1 · 2021: 0 · 2022: 2 · 2023: 1 · 2024: 0 · 2025: 26 · 2026: 9.
Most recent safety recall campaigns for the Ford Mustang
ReferenceLaunchedVehiclesConcern
R/2026/21328/05/20262,850MVL: REAR-VIEW CAMERA DISTORTED AND/OR LOSS OF IMAGE
R/2026/21328/05/20261,756MVL: REAR-VIEW CAMERA DISTORTED AND/OR LOSS OF IMAGE
R/2026/21328/05/20262,777MVL: REAR-VIEW CAMERA DISTORTED AND/OR LOSS OF IMAGE
R/2026/21328/05/2026585MVL: REAR-VIEW CAMERA DISTORTED AND/OR LOSS OF IMAGE
R/2026/21328/05/2026557MVL: REAR-VIEW CAMERA DISTORTED AND/OR LOSS OF IMAGE
All 43 campaigns
ReferenceLaunchedBuild datesVehiclesConcern
R/2026/21328/05/202620/07/2015 – 01/06/20162,850MVL: REAR-VIEW CAMERA DISTORTED AND/OR LOSS OF IMAGE
R/2026/21328/05/202602/06/2016 – 06/01/20171,756MVL: REAR-VIEW CAMERA DISTORTED AND/OR LOSS OF IMAGE
R/2026/21328/05/202603/01/2017 – 02/10/20172,777MVL: REAR-VIEW CAMERA DISTORTED AND/OR LOSS OF IMAGE
R/2026/21328/05/202614/11/2017 – 13/06/2018585MVL: REAR-VIEW CAMERA DISTORTED AND/OR LOSS OF IMAGE
R/2026/21328/05/202614/05/2018 – 20/12/2018557MVL: REAR-VIEW CAMERA DISTORTED AND/OR LOSS OF IMAGE
R/2026/17323/04/202605/01/2021 – 11/02/2021526C16 Mustang - Lane Keeping System Software Update
R/2026/17323/04/202601/02/2021 – 30/03/2021426C16 Mustang - Lane Keeping System Software Update
R/2026/14913/04/202630/05/2024 – 01/10/2024625SA7 - Mustang - Powertrain Control Module Software Update
R/2026/03805/02/202626/08/2019 – 12/09/2019225C83 Mustang - Powertrain Control Module Software Update
R/2025/53009/12/202520/10/2014 – 02/06/20151525S92 Mustang - Potential Seat Belt Anchor Pretensioner Issue
R/2025/53009/12/202526/11/2019 – 16/03/20213525S92 Mustang - Potential Seat Belt Anchor Pretensioner Issue
R/2025/53009/12/202505/06/2020 – 22/12/20202,80925S92 Mustang - Potential Seat Belt Anchor Pretensioner Issue
R/2025/53009/12/202501/12/2020 – 20/04/20211,76925S92 Mustang - Potential Seat Belt Anchor Pretensioner Issue
R/2025/53009/12/202516/03/2021 – 17/06/20212,78625S92 Mustang - Potential Seat Belt Anchor Pretensioner Issue
R/2025/49308/12/202518/10/2018 – 18/10/20181Mustang Brake Fluid Level Indicator Update
R/2025/49308/12/202501/06/2021 – 11/02/20213Mustang Brake Fluid Level Indicator Update
R/2025/49308/12/202503/02/2021 – 11/03/202114Mustang Brake Fluid Level Indicator Update
R/2025/49308/12/202510/02/2022 – 20/02/20221Mustang Brake Fluid Level Indicator Update
R/2025/49308/12/202519/04/2022 – 01/09/202210Mustang Brake Fluid Level Indicator Update
R/2025/41006/10/202527/11/2024 – 16/05/2025659Mustang: Incorrect Homologation details on VIN label
R/2025/42301/10/202530/11/2023 – 04/01/20244025C43 Mustang - Inspection For Water Intrusion Into The Body Control Module And Connectors
R/2025/42301/10/202505/02/2024 – 04/11/202466325C43 Mustang - Inspection For Water Intrusion Into The Body Control Module And Connectors
R/2025/42301/10/202527/11/2024 – 07/07/202582025C43 Mustang - Inspection For Water Intrusion Into The Body Control Module And Connectors
R/2025/36124/09/202501/12/2023 – 04/01/202433Frozen Rearview Camera Screen
R/2025/35908/09/202522/08/2018 – 22/08/20182CrossCar: Sync3 Rear-View Camera Software Update
R/2025/35908/09/202511/10/2018 – 25/03/201927CrossCar: Sync3 Rear-View Camera Software Update
R/2025/35908/09/202501/04/2019 – 12/04/20195CrossCar: Sync3 Rear-View Camera Software Update
R/2025/35908/09/202527/08/2019 – 21/01/202018CrossCar: Sync3 Rear-View Camera Software Update
R/2025/35908/09/202530/10/2019 – 30/10/20192CrossCar: Sync3 Rear-View Camera Software Update
R/2025/35908/09/202529/01/2020 – 10/08/20207CrossCar: Sync3 Rear-View Camera Software Update
R/2025/35908/09/202505/01/2021 – 06/03/20216CrossCar: Sync3 Rear-View Camera Software Update
R/2025/35908/09/202526/01/2021 – 05/08/20217CrossCar: Sync3 Rear-View Camera Software Update
R/2025/35908/09/202531/01/2022 – 09/02/20223CrossCar: Sync3 Rear-View Camera Software Update
R/2025/35908/09/202513/06/2022 – 06/09/20223CrossCar: Sync3 Rear-View Camera Software Update
R/2025/03810/02/202506/08/2024 – 19/08/20245224C35 Mustang - Potential black instrument panel cluster
R/2023/34207/12/202326/08/2019 – 12/09/20222,456Some Mustang vehicles have a brake system warning lamp in the vehicle s instrument cluster
R/2022/20921/07/202214/02/2022 – 16/02/20222THE IMAGE PROCESSING MODULE -A (IPMA) IS NOT CALIBRATED CORRECTLY
R/2022/18330/06/202217/05/2018 – 14/09/20201,270FAULTED SIGNAL SENT BY THE POWERTRAIN CONTROL MODULE
R/2019/15621/08/202014/08/2005 – 21/06/20142,966TAKATA AIR BAG INFLATOR MAY RUPTURE ON DEPLOYMENT
R/2018/30014/11/201823/05/2017 – 20/06/2018399BATTERY WIRING HARNESS IN ENGINE COMPARTMENT MAY HAVE BEEN INCORRECTLY INSTALLED
R/2017/14912/05/201706/04/2004 – 21/06/201416,666FRONT DRIVER SIDE AIR BAG INFLATOR HOUSING MAY RUPTURE
R/2016/02203/03/201623/02/2015 – 01/12/20151,255FIRE MAY OCCUR
R/1999/02106/04/199901/05/1996 – 31/03/19995,363THROTTLE MAY NOT RETURN TO IDLE WHEN CRUISE CONTROL IS DISENGAGED

DVSA lists 43 safety recall campaigns for the Ford Mustang, covering roughly 48,709 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 Mustang technical service bulletins: what dealers are told

US market, Ford MUSTANG and its variants, model years 2015–2022 only. A count of bulletins, not a UK failure rate.

NHTSA manufacturer communications are 468.

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
20141
  • Electrical system (157)
  • Equipment (132)
  • Powertrain (105)
  • Other / uncategorised (49)
  • Engine and cooling (46)
  • Engine (22)
  • Structure (19)
  • Back Over Prevention (16)
201521
201639
201725
201868
201956
202045
202153
202237
202341
202437
202527
202618

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 Mustang owner complaints: what goes wrong

US market, Ford MUSTANG and its variants, model years 2015–2022 only. A count of owner complaints, not a UK failure rate; NHTSA has no UK denominator.

Engine (not MOT-tested) is highest at 338; Restraints are lowest at 106 — the gap is 232.

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)33820.6%not in top 6—complained about, rarely an MOT failure
Lamps & electrical32219.6%8.3#1complained about and fails often
Transmission (not MOT-tested)20412.4%not in top 6—complained about, rarely an MOT failure
Body & structure1489.0%not in top 6—complained about, rarely an MOT failure
Brakes1116.8%8.2#2complained about and fails often
Restraints1066.5%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
When putting the vehicle into reverse the backup camera displayed an unusable red fuzzy screen. Backup camera was unable to assist in safely reversing and mirrors and parking sensors had to be used
NHTSA complaint, filed 11/30/2025 · ELECTRICAL SYSTEM
The contact owns a 2015 Ford Mustang. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 25V614000 (SEAT BELTS); however, the part to do the recall repair was unavailable. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The manufacturer was made aware of the issue. The contact had not experienced a failure.
NHTSA complaint, filed 10/27/2025 · SEAT BELTS

US owners have filed 1,643 complaints about the equivalent Ford Mustang to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, including 84 that mention a crash, 29 a fire and 59 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 Mustang inspection results in other countries

Finland Katsastus is well below the reference at 12.2%, against 26.3% nationally.

higher = larger sharecompare shares in percentage points

Same model, different national inspection regimes
CountryTestThis model failsNational averagePositionSample
United KingdomMOT (class 4)16.84%26.01%-9.2 pp12,248
NetherlandsAPK46.7%50.8%-4.1 pp2,544
FinlandKatsastus12.2%26.3%-14.1 pp1,358
NorwayPKK41.7%33.7%+8 pp809

The countries disagree about this car, and that is worth saying out loud rather than averaging away. A model can sit above its national average in one country and below it in another because the fleets are not the same cars: different model years, different engines, different roads and salt, and inspection rules that weight components differently. Treat each row as evidence from one regime, not as a verdict.

What Finland fails it for — share of recorded faults
Fault areaShare
Axles, wheels and suspension27.3%
Brake systems22%
Environmental hazards17.4%
Road test and visibility13.6%
Steering equipment6.8%

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 value420failure
205Tyre with insufficient tread167failure
516Dipped headlight incorrectly aimed166failure
RA2Excessive leak of other fluids137advisory
RA4Waarschuwingsinrichting controlesysteem bandenspanning geeft130advisory
AC1Tyre down to 1.6–2.5 mm of tread121advisory
AC4Steering or suspension ball joint worn up to 1.0 mm114advisory
RA1Airbag or seat-belt warning light showing a fault82advisory

Worth dwelling on how mundane the top of that list is: tyre pressure, tread depth, headlight aim. The Dutch APK records 1.125 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 Mustang 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.

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 Mustang MOT: quick answers

Ford Mustang MOT Risk Index is well below the reference at 73.1, 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 Mustang first-time MOT pass rate?
83.16% of first attempts passed in 2024 (12,248 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 16.84% figure is the first-time initial failure rate, using 12,248 primary tests as the denominator (first-time, excluding retests). The age-adjusted MOT initial-failure ratio 73.1 is shown separately because raw rates compare fleet age as well as cars.

Compare the Ford Mustang with other cars

Audi TT is highest at 73.4; Ford Mustang is lowest at 73.1 — the gap is 0.3 points.

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

Same brand

All Ford MOT statisticsFord Puma MOT statsFord Kuga MOT stats

Similar risk

Seat Ateca (index 73.1)Toyota Estima (index 73.2)Audi TT (index 73.4)

Same size class

how BMW M4 compareshow BMW Z3 compareshow Nissan Elgrand compares

By build year

Ford Mustang 2013Ford Mustang 2014Ford Mustang 2015Ford Mustang 2016Ford Mustang 2017Ford Mustang 2018Ford Mustang 2019Ford Mustang 2020

By area

Ford Mustang MOT failure rate by postcode area

By failure group

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

Inspections abroad

Ford Mustang in NorwayFord Mustang in FinlandFord Mustang 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-mustang:dvsa-2024-v2. Full method: methodology.

Cite: MOT Risk Index (2026). Ford Mustang 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-mustang/ · Published 2026-07-30.