Pass rate
87.7%
Above average — 15.1 pts ahead of the 72.6% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 114 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £30–£78
2003 Dodge Usa Ram MOT pass rate
- 2003
- 7 trims combined
- typical 97,436 mi
Check your postcode
Most common fault
Suspension
25.2% of faults · 21.0% nationally
mostly worn arm bushes, split ball-joint boots and broken coil springs.
Which year to buy
- Best 2005 90.2% pass
- Avoid 2002 84.2% pass
Across the 6 years on record, a spread of 6 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 86.7%
- Typical mileage
- 97k mi
The 2003 Dodge Usa Ram MOT pass rate is 87.7% of its MOT tests — 15.1 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. Suspension is the biggest single reason it fails, at 25.2% of what testers record.
Expert verdict
Lamps & electrics: 1.6× the national share
Lamps & electrics make up 19.3% of everything recorded on the 2003 Dodge Usa Ram, against 12.2% nationally — 7.1 points above. Suspension is still the single largest share at 25.2%, but at 21.0% nationally that one is ordinary. Walk round the car with the lights on before the test: bulbs, indicators and number-plate lamps are the cheapest failures to prevent and among the most common.
- Beats its own age and mileage. Once you allow for how old and how far these cars have been driven, the expected pass rate is 72.6% and this one manages 87.7% — 15.1 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict.
- When it fails, it costs. Only 28% of this model’s typical repairs come in under £30 in parts — the failures here tend to be the kind that need a garage rather than a bulb.
Written from this page's own figures: fault shares against the national composition, the like-for-like pass rate, and the priced repair list. How these are worked out
Watching a Dodge Usa Ram? Get an email when these numbers change .
Every Dodge Usa Ram first registered in 2003 is combined here — 7 trim and body variants in total — so the sample is as large as the DVSA data allows.
How does the 2003 Dodge Usa Ram compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 72.6%, so this figure is 15.1 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 86.7%. The median 2003 Dodge Usa Ram in this dataset had covered 97,436 mi.
The most common fuel recorded here is Petrol — 86% of tests, with a 87.8% pass rate. Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 89.6% of the time, April–September 86.4%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated", noted on 7.89% of tests.
- 114 recorded tests behind this page.
- 87.7% overall pass rate, 86.7% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the Dodge Usa Ram, the average is 87.4% — best year 2005 (90.2%), worst 2002 (84.2%).
Figures count every completed test on this vehicle-year in the dataset, including retests. See methodology for the exact definition.
This page's data
- Tests analysed
- 114
- Typical mileage (median)
- 97,436 mi
- Make and model
- Dodge Usa Ram
- Updated
- 2026-11-07
Source: DVSA anonymised MOT test data (2023–2025), OGL v3.0.
Top part to budget for
Ball Joint
Usually a DIY or independent-garage job.
Does mileage affect the Ram MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 72% so small gaps stay visible.
Fuel type and reliability
Pass rate by fuel type. Petrol is the most common here (86% of tests).
Regional pass rates for the Ram
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| South East | 37 | 89.2% |
| East of England | 20 | 85.0% |
Regions come from the postcode area recorded at the test station. Areas on region borders are assigned to the region with the majority of their population.
What fails a 2003 Ram
Everything a tester recorded on this vehicle, grouped into the inspection sections that produced it. The notch on each bar is the national share, so you can see at a glance whether this car is unusual or just ordinary.
A test can record several items, so these percentages do not add up to 100%. The exact strings, with prices, are in the full DVSA record at the bottom of this page.
Before your test
Three checks worth doing on a 2003 Ram
These are not generic tips — they are the faults recorded most often on this exact model, rewritten as things you can check yourself. All three take about ten minutes and cost nothing.
-
Check the suspension joints 7.9% of tests
“ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated”
With the car parked on level ground, rock the top of each front wheel in and out while someone watches the suspension arm. Clunks, or rubber boots split and greasy, are what testers record here.
-
Check the battery 7.0% of tests
“battery(ies) insecure”
Check the battery is secure and its terminals are clean and tight — a loose battery is a fail on its own, and a weak one shows up as slow cranking on a cold morning.
-
Check the lights 5.3% of tests
“position lamp not working”
Switch everything on and walk round the car: both headlamps on dip and main, every indicator, both brake lights, reverse, fog and the two number-plate lamps. A bulb is a few pounds and a five-minute job.
Shares are the proportion of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item, so they overlap: one test can record several.
What it costs to get a 2003 Ram through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £30–£78 — and 28% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £30–£78
- Cheapest common item: individual direction indicators not working
- £3–£12
- Dearest common item: joints constant velocity boot severely…
- £80–£250
- Common items a careful owner can do at home
- 70%
- Repairs that still cost under £30
- 28%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 114 MOT tests on this vehicle. They exclude diagnostics, retest fees and garage labour where the part is a DIY fit, and they are not figures from the DVSA dataset. Older and higher-mileage examples cost more than the average. How these estimates are built → · All MOT repair costs → · Cheapest cars to put through a test →
Every year of the Ram, side by side
6 model years on record, from 2002 to 2017. Across them the pass rate runs from 84.2% to 90.2% — a spread of 6 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2002 84.2% ball joint dust cover severely…
- 2003 87.7%ball joint dust cover severely…
- 2004 85.4% ball joint dust cover severely…
- 2005 90.2% battery(ies) insecure but not…
- 2015 88.6% parking brake performance…
- 2017 89.3% emissions not tested unable to be…
Colour is the pass rate on a fixed scale, so a block means the same thing on any model. Each year links to its own page with the full fault breakdown.
Compare the 2003 Dodge Usa Ram with another year
The raw pass rate mostly measures age. The year comparison adds the like-for-like figure, the mileage bands and the repair bill.
Other 2003 cars with a similar record
- BMW M3 87.7%
- Porsche 911 85.5%
- Mercedes-Benz Sl 85.2%
- Honda S2000 83.5%
- Mercedes-Benz S-Class 81.7%
- Porsche Boxster 80.4%
Closest pass rates among 2003 cars with at least 2,000 tests, so a small sample cannot flatter itself into the list. See the full rankings: best and worst MOT pass rates.
The full DVSA record for the 2003 Dodge Usa Ram 10 failure items · 6 advisories · 10 inspection categories · mileage brackets · all of it in the page, none of it above the fold
Every inspection category
Shares of the 202 individual items recorded on this vehicle, and the same share across all cars nationally. A single test can record several items, so a row is not a percentage of tests.
| Category | Items | This car | Nationally | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Suspension | 51 | 25.20% | 20.98% | +4.22 |
| Brakes | 48 | 23.80% | 20.89% | +2.91 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 39 | 19.30% | 12.21% | +7.09 |
| Tyres | 22 | 10.90% | 19.76% | −8.86 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 16 | 7.90% | 5.52% | +2.38 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 12 | 5.90% | 5.57% | +0.33 |
| Steering | 11 | 5.40% | 2.57% | +2.83 |
| Visibility | 1 | 0.50% | 4.97% | −4.47 |
| Non-component advisories | 1 | 0.50% | 4.18% | −3.68 |
| Identification of the vehicle | 1 | 0.50% | 1.76% | −1.26 |
The exact failure items, in the tester's words
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated Suspension | Minor | 7.9% | £18–45 |
| Battery(ies) insecure but not likely to fall from carrier Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 7.0% | £60–140 |
| Position lamp not working Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 5.3% | £5–25 |
| Rear fog lamp not working Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 2.6% | £3–15 |
| Service brake performance excessively binding Brakes | Major | 2.6% | £60–150 |
| Ball joint dust cover no longer prevents the ingress of dirt Suspension | Major | 1.8% | £18–45 |
| Ball joint excessively worn Suspension | Major | 1.8% | £18–45 |
| Headlamp aim too high Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 1.8% | £30–80 |
| Individual direction indicators not working Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 1.8% | £3–12 |
| Joints constant velocity boot severely deteriorated Body, chassis, structure | Minor | 1.8% | £80–250 |
Severity is as recorded: Major and Dangerous fail the test outright; Minor and Advisory do not. Costs are estimates from typical UK parts prices — see how they are built.
What testers noted without failing the car
Advisories are the early warnings — the same parts a year or two before they fail. Reading them is how you tell a car that has been maintained from one that has been patched.
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Advisory | 9.7% | £45–95 |
| Brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick Brakes | Advisory | 8.8% | £18–45 |
| Engine oil leaks leaking excessively from engine Noise, emissions and leaks | Advisory | 7.9% | £200–700 |
| Has a tear, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres | Advisory | 7.9% | £45–95 |
| Coil spring corroded so that its cross sectional area is reduced and seriously weakened Suspension | Advisory | 7.0% | £25–65 |
| Brake discs in such a condition that it is seriously weakened Brakes | Advisory | 6.1% | £45–110 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 30-60k | 10 | 100.0% | 51,447 mi |
| 60-90k | 29 | 93.1% | 78,243 mi |
| 90-120k | 35 | 88.6% | 98,747 mi |
| 120k+ | 40 | 80.0% | 162,444 mi |
Source: 114 recorded tests on this vehicle-year. Every row above is recomputed from the same DVSA extract as the rest of the page — see the methodology.
2003 Ram MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2003 Dodge Usa Ram?
87.7% of the 114 2003 Dodge Usa Ram tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 72.6% for cars first used in 2003. First-attempt pass rate: 86.7%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2003 Dodge Usa Ram?
The three most recorded items are ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated (7.89%), battery(ies) insecure but not likely to fall from carrier (7.02%), position lamp not working (5.26%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2003 Dodge Usa Ram MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 100.0% of the time, falling to 80.0% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2003 Dodge Usa Ram in this dataset had covered 97,436 mi.
Which fuel type is most reliable for a 2003 Dodge Usa Ram?
Petrol: 87.8% pass rate across 98 tests. LPG: 80.0% pass rate across 10 tests. Shares are of the tests on this vehicle that recorded each fuel type.
Does the season affect the 2003 Dodge Usa Ram MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 89.6% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 86.4%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.