Does the Ford S-MAX fail the MOT on brakes more than it should?

The Ford S-MAX records 11.04 brakes failure items per 100 initial MOT tests (2019–2024), against 11.77 expected for a car of the same age mix: less than expected for its class and age (−0.73, 95% interval −0.83 to −0.63). It ranks 376 of 712 models on brakes (1 = most failures above expected).

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

What exactly fails on brakes?

The most frequent DVSA defect wording in this group on the Ford S-MAX is “a brake lining or pad worn below 1.5mm”, recorded 21,465 times in 2019–2024.

Ford S-MAX: most frequent brakes defect wordings, 2019–2024 (30+ items each)
DVSA defect wording	Items	Per 100 tests
a brake lining or pad worn below 1.5mm	21,465	4.50
Parking brake efficiency below minimum requirement	4,105	0.86
Brake disc or drum significantly and obviously worn	4,040	0.85
Parking brake inoperative on one side	2,669	0.56
Significant brake effort recorded with no brake applied indicating a binding brake	2,429	0.51

Source: DVSA MOT bulk data (OGL v3.0) · Window: 2019–2024 · n = 476,737 (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 S-MAX gets a brakes advisory, how often does it fail next time?

11.5% of Ford S-MAX MOTs with a brakes advisory were followed by a fail in the same group at the next MOT, typically 12 months and 7,577 miles later (92,894 advisories followed).

Source: DVSA MOT bulk data (OGL v3.0) · Window: 2019–2024 · n = 92,894 (advisories followed) · Method: the same vehicles followed to their next ordinary MOT · Updated: 30 Sep 2026 · Release: dvsa-2024-v2 · CSV

Does the Ford S-MAX fail the MOT on brakes more than it should?

What exactly fails on brakes?

If a Ford S-MAX gets a brakes advisory, how often does it fail next time?

Related pages

Other pages for this model