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2007 Ford Focus MOT pass rate

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Pass rate

74.2%

Below average — 1.2 pts ahead of the 73.0% that cars this age and mileage manage.

Across 152,206 recorded tests.

Typical repair bill £33–£98

Most common fault

Suspension

32.8% of faults · 21.0% nationally

mostly worn arm bushes, split ball-joint boots and broken coil springs.

Part only £35–£75 for Suspension pin or bush excessively worn. What fitting it takes →

2.2 pts down across model years — 3.4% in 2000, 1.2% in 2017.

Every failure, with what it costs →

Which year to buy

  • Best 2023 94.0% pass
  • Avoid 2000 69.3% pass

Across the 24 years on record, a spread of 24.7 points. See every year →

First-attempt pass
66.8%
Typical mileage
105k mi

The 2007 Ford Focus MOT pass rate is 74.2% of its MOT tests — 1.2 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. Suspension is the biggest single reason it fails, at 32.8% of what testers record.

MOT PASS RATES

The 2007 Ford Focus on the real record

74.2% of 2007 Ford Focus MOTs passed — 152,206 tests, 2023–2025

Pass rate

The answer from the DVSA's class-4 MOT records.

Expert verdict

Suspension: 1.6× the national share

Suspension accounts for 32.8% of everything recorded on the 2007 Ford Focus, against 21.0% nationally — 11.8 points above. Ask for the front and rear suspension to be checked on a ramp before you buy — worn bushes and broken springs are cheap to look at and expensive to discover at test time.

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 Ford Focus? Get an email when these numbers change .

Every Ford Focus first registered in 2007 is combined here — 2 trim and body variants in total — so the sample is as large as the DVSA data allows.

How does the 2007 Ford Focus compare?

Cars of this age and mileage average 73.0%, so this figure is 1.2 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 66.8%. The median 2007 Ford Focus in this dataset had covered 105,214 mi.

The most common fuel recorded here is Petrol — 84% of tests, with a 74.8% pass rate. Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 74.1% of the time, April–September 74.2%.

The single most recorded failure item is "Registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources", noted on 7.99% of tests.

  • 152,206 recorded tests behind this page.
  • 74.2% overall pass rate, 66.8% on a first attempt.
  • Across every year of the Ford Focus, the average is 79.7% — best year 2023 (94.0%), worst 2000 (69.3%).

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
152,206
Typical mileage (median)
105,214 mi
Make and model
Ford Focus
Updated
2026-11-07

Source: DVSA anonymised MOT test data (2023–2025), OGL v3.0.

Top part to budget for

Number Plate Lamp

Usually a DIY or independent-garage job.

Does mileage affect the Focus MOT pass rate?

0-30k 88.1%
30-60k 82.9%
60-90k 77.5%
90-120k 73.7%
120k+ 70.3%

Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 62% so small gaps stay visible.

Fuel type and reliability

Petrol 74.8%
Diesel 71.1%
LPG 74.2%

Pass rate by fuel type. Petrol is the most common here (84% of tests).

Where the Ford Focus is most common

Across all Focus model years on record (2000–2023): 1,385,958 Ford Focus cars tested in a recordable postcode area, across 3,369,974 tests. Birmingham (B) has the most, with 49,616 cars tested there. Cars are counted by the postcode area of the MOT station, so this is where they were tested, not necessarily where their owners live.

# Postcode area Cars Share of all Tests Pass rate
1 Birmingham (B) 49,616 3.6% 115,110 82.8%
2 Sheffield (S) 33,246 2.4% 81,460 81.5%
3 Nottingham (NG) 27,825 2% 70,599 78.0%
4 Leicester (LE) 27,108 2% 68,720 81.2%
5 Peterborough (PE) 26,005 1.9% 64,084 80.3%
6 Liverpool (L) 26,004 1.9% 63,625 81.8%
7 Bristol (BS) 23,509 1.7% 63,234 74.9%
8 Coventry (CV) 23,251 1.7% 54,742 81.6%
9 Chelmsford (CM) 21,900 1.6% 51,525 82.5%
10 Newcastle upon Tyne (NE) 21,605 1.6% 55,018 80.5%
11 Manchester (M) 21,555 1.6% 48,255 80.1%
12 Cardiff (CF) 21,408 1.5% 57,412 77.0%
13 Romford (RM) 21,221 1.5% 43,142 86.5%
14 Derby (DE) 20,832 1.5% 48,914 81.2%
15 Reading (RG) 20,708 1.5% 50,919 81.5%
16 Basildon (SS) 20,189 1.5% 48,776 83.1%
17 Northampton (NN) 19,517 1.4% 48,284 78.1%
18 Norwich (NR) 19,012 1.4% 53,020 78.4%
19 Doncaster (DN) 18,993 1.4% 45,598 79.8%
20 Glasgow (G) 18,868 1.4% 45,309 79.6%

The twenty areas with the most Ford Focus cars in the record, sorted by car count — sort the columns for a different question. Cars tested at a station whose postcode area could not be resolved are counted in the model's total but in no area, so the shares add up to slightly under 100% even across every area, and an area's cars are a subset of the model's. Pass rate is blank below 30 tests in an area, where a percentage is noise rather than a finding. How this model's pass rate varies by postcode →

Regional pass rates for the Focus

Region Tests Pass rate
South East 35,104 76.6%
South West 19,968 70.1%
East of England 19,848 76.0%
North West 16,566 73.4%
West Midlands 14,651 75.9%
East Midlands 11,280 73.0%
Yorkshire 10,989 71.7%
London 8,533 82.4%
Wales 6,638 69.6%
Scotland 4,662 66.2%
North East 3,965 70.0%

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 2007 Focus

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.

Suspension 32.8%
+11.8 pts vs national national 21.0% Price suspension parts
Tyres 14.1%
−5.7 pts vs national national 19.8% Compare tyre prices
Lamps & electrics 13.3%
+1.1 pts vs national national 12.2% Order bulbs & wipers
Brakes 12.5%
−8.4 pts vs national national 20.9% Price brakes parts
Show the other 6 fault categories
  • Body & chassis 8.5%
  • Emissions & leaks 6.5%
  • Visibility 3.7%
  • Identification 2.9%
  • Advisories 2.6%
  • Steering 1.5%

Shares are of every item recorded on 2007 Ford Focus tests — a composition, so they add to 100% across all sections, not per test.

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 2007 Focus

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.

  1. Check the lights 8.0% of tests

    “registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources”

    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.

  2. Check the coil springs 3.8% of tests

    “coil spring fractured or broken”

    Look up inside each wheel arch with a torch, all the way round the spring. A snapped spring usually breaks at the very bottom coil, where a quick glance will not reach.

  3. Check the suspension joints 3.2% of tests

    “pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn”

    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.

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 2007 Focus through its MOT

Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £33–£98 — and 40% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.

Average repair across the 10 common items
£33–£98
Cheapest common item: stop lamp not working
£3–£12
Dearest common item: joints constant velocity boot severely…
£80–£250
Common items a careful owner can do at home
60%
Repairs that still cost under £30
40%

Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 152,206 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 Focus, side by side

24 model years on record, from 2000 to 2023. Across them the pass rate runs from 69.3% to 94.0% — a spread of 24.7 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.

  1. 2000 69.3% registration plate lamp(s)…
  2. 2001 70.7% registration plate lamp(s)…
  3. 2002 70.4% component mounting prescribed…
  4. 2003 70.6% component mounting prescribed…
  5. 2004 70.6% track rod end ball joint has…
  6. 2005 72.0% registration plate lamp(s)…
  7. 2006 74.0% registration plate lamp(s)…
  8. 2007 74.2%
    registration plate lamp(s)…
  9. 2008 73.2% registration plate lamp(s)…
  10. 2009 74.1% registration plate lamp(s)…
  11. 2010 74.9% registration plate lamp(s)…
  12. 2011 75.2% coil spring fractured or broken
  13. 2012 77.0% coil spring fractured or broken
  14. 2013 77.4% coil spring fractured or broken
  15. 2014 79.2% coil spring fractured or broken
  16. 2015 84.2% tyre pressure monitoring system…
  17. 2016 86.6% windscreen damaged but not…
  18. 2017 88.1% windscreen damaged but not…
  19. 2018 88.4% windscreen damaged but not…
  20. 2019 88.0% brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick
  21. 2020 90.5% has a cut in excess of the…
  22. 2021 91.6% tread depth below requirements of…
  23. 2022 92.8% has a cut in excess of the…
  24. 2023 94.0% has a cut in excess of the…

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 2007 Ford Focus 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.

Compare 2007 with another year →

Compare two different cars instead →

Other 2007 cars with a similar record

Closest pass rates among 2007 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 2007 Ford Focus 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 435,954 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 145,167 32.80% 20.98% +11.82
Tyres 62,590 14.10% 19.76% −5.66
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 58,752 13.30% 12.21% +1.09
Brakes 55,189 12.50% 20.89% −8.39
Body, chassis, structure 37,799 8.50% 5.57% +2.93
Noise, emissions and leaks 28,985 6.50% 5.52% +0.98
Visibility 16,483 3.70% 4.97% −1.27
Identification of the vehicle 13,001 2.90% 1.76% +1.14
Non-component advisories 11,314 2.60% 4.18% −1.58
Steering 6,674 1.50% 2.57% −1.07

The exact failure items, in the tester's words

Share of the 152,206 tests on this vehicle that recorded each item
Recorded item Severity Tests Est. cost Part
Registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment Minor 8.0% £5–20 Number Plate Lamp →
Coil spring fractured or broken Suspension Major 3.8% £25–65 Coil Spring →
Joints constant velocity boot severely deteriorated Body, chassis, structure Minor 3.2% £80–250 Body Panel Repair →
Pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn Suspension Major 3.2% £40–150 Suspension Component →
Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view Visibility Minor 3.1% £80–200 Windscreen →
Position lamp not working Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment Major 2.9% £5–25 Headlight Bulb →
Ball joint excessively worn Suspension Major 2.6% £18–45 Ball Joint →
Stop lamp not working Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment Major 2.4% £3–12 Stop Light Bulb →
Joints constant velocity boot split or insecure, no longer prevents the ingress of dirt Body, chassis, structure Major 2.1% £80–250 Body Panel Repair →
Rbt (sp) efficiency below requirements Brakes Major 1.7% £45–110 Brake Discs and Pads Set →

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.

Items recorded as advisory on this vehicle
Recorded item Severity Tests Est. cost
Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres Advisory 21.5% £45–95
Pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn Suspension Advisory 14.6% £40–150
Coil spring corroded so that its cross sectional area is reduced and seriously weakened Suspension Advisory 13.7% £25–65
Brake discs in such a condition that it is seriously weakened Brakes Advisory 12.3% £45–110
Sub-frame corroded and seriously weakened Suspension Advisory 10.7% £180–450
Engine oil leaks leaking excessively from engine Noise, emissions and leaks Advisory 9.9% £200–700

Pass rate by mileage

Mileage Tests Pass rate Median odometer
0-30k 962 88.1% 22,150 mi
30-60k 10,756 82.9% 49,106 mi
60-90k 35,725 77.5% 77,105 mi
90-120k 51,656 73.7% 104,763 mi
120k+ 49,512 70.3% 146,028 mi

Source: 152,206 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.

2007 Focus MOT questions

What is the MOT pass rate for a 2007 Ford Focus?

74.2% of the 152,206 2007 Ford Focus tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 73.0% for cars first used in 2007. First-attempt pass rate: 66.8%.

What are the most common MOT failures on a 2007 Ford Focus?

The three most recorded items are registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources (7.99%), coil spring fractured or broken (3.83%), joints constant velocity boot severely deteriorated (3.23%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.

Does mileage affect the 2007 Ford Focus MOT pass rate?

Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 88.1% of the time, falling to 70.3% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2007 Ford Focus in this dataset had covered 105,214 mi.

Which fuel type is most reliable for a 2007 Ford Focus?

Petrol: 74.8% pass rate across 127,349 tests. Diesel: 71.1% pass rate across 24,826 tests. LPG: 74.2% pass rate across 31 tests. Shares are of the tests on this vehicle that recorded each fuel type.

Does the season affect the 2007 Ford Focus MOT pass rate?

Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 74.1% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 74.2%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.