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2016 Ford Freda MOT pass rate

Only 98 tests of this exact model and year are in the DVSA data, below the 100 we ask for before a page goes in the index. The figures are still shown, because they are the only ones there are.

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Pass rate by postcode →

Pass rate

68.4%

Below average — 15.6 pts behind the 84.0% that cars this age and mileage manage.

Across 98 recorded tests.

Typical repair bill £34–£89

Which year to buy

  • Best 2001 75.6% pass
  • Avoid 2012 63.0% pass

Across the 16 years on record, a spread of 12.6 points. See every year →

First-attempt pass
56.9%
Typical mileage
117k mi

The 2016 Ford Freda MOT pass rate is 68.4% of its MOT tests — 15.6 points behind what its age and mileage predict. Lamps & electrics is the biggest single reason it fails, at 24.3% of what testers record.

MOT PASS RATES

The 2016 Ford Freda on the real record

68.4% of 2016 Ford Freda MOTs passed — 98 tests, 2023–2025

Pass rate

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

Expert verdict

Lamps & electrics: 2.0× the national share

Lamps & electrics make up 24.3% of everything recorded on the 2016 Ford Freda, against 12.2% nationally — 12.1 points above. 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.

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 Freda? Get an email when these numbers change .

How does the 2016 Ford Freda compare?

Cars of this age and mileage average 84.0%, so this figure is 15.6 points behind what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 56.9%. The median 2016 Ford Freda in this dataset had covered 117,184 mi.

The most common fuel recorded here is Petrol — 77% of tests, with a 69.3% pass rate.

The single most recorded failure item is "Headlamp lens slightly defective", noted on 16.33% of tests.

  • 98 recorded tests behind this page.
  • 68.4% overall pass rate, 56.9% on a first attempt.
  • Across every year of the Ford Freda, the average is 68.1% — best year 2001 (75.6%), worst 2012 (63.0%).

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
98
Typical mileage (median)
117,184 mi
Make and model
Ford Freda
Updated
2026-11-07

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

Top part to budget for

Headlight Bulb

Usually a DIY or independent-garage job.

Does mileage affect the Freda MOT pass rate?

30-60k 50.0%
60-90k 73.7%
90-120k 66.7%
120k+ 68.2%

Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 42% so small gaps stay visible.

Fuel type and reliability

Petrol 69.3%
Diesel 66.7%

Pass rate by fuel type. Petrol is the most common here (77% of tests).

Where the Ford Freda is most common

Across all Freda model years on record (2000–2017): 992 Ford Freda cars tested in a recordable postcode area, across 2,538 tests. Bristol (BS) has the most, with 53 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 Bristol (BS) 53 5.3% 167 61.1%
2 Brighton (BN) 27 2.7% 84 63.1%
3 Exeter (EX) 26 2.6% 58 74.1%
4 Poole (BH) 25 2.5% 83 60.2%
5 Portsmouth (PO) 25 2.5% 78 66.7%
6 Plymouth (PL) 25 2.5% 68 60.3%
7 Reading (RG) 24 2.4% 54 87.0%
8 Southampton (SO) 23 2.3% 68 69.1%
9 Birmingham (B) 22 2.2% 51 74.5%
10 Sheffield (S) 22 2.2% 48 75.0%
11 Nottingham (NG) 20 2% 51 66.7%
12 Stoke On Trent (ST) 20 2% 51 64.7%
13 Norwich (NR) 19 1.9% 63 73.0%
14 Leicester (LE) 19 1.9% 46 78.3%
15 Chester (CH) 19 1.9% 37 70.3%
16 Cardiff (CF) 17 1.7% 49 65.3%
17 Crawley (RH) 16 1.6% 48 66.7%
18 Yeovil (BA) 16 1.6% 46 63.0%
19 Newton Abbot (TQ) 15 1.5% 51 58.8%
20 Gloucester (GL) 15 1.5% 47 68.1%

The twenty areas with the most Ford Freda 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 Freda

Region Tests Pass rate
South East 31 71.0%
East of England 15 80.0%

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 2016 Freda

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.

Lamps & electrics 24.3%
+12.1 pts vs national national 12.2% Order bulbs & wipers
Suspension 22.8%
+1.8 pts vs national national 21.0% Price suspension parts
Brakes 12.0%
−8.9 pts vs national national 20.9% Price brakes parts
Body & chassis 12.0%
+6.4 pts vs national national 5.6% Find body panels
Show the other 6 fault categories
  • Emissions & leaks 8.2%
  • Visibility 5.6%
  • Steering 5.6%
  • Tyres 4.5%
  • Advisories 4.5%
  • Seat belts 0.4%

Shares are of every item recorded on 2016 Ford Freda 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 2016 Freda

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 16.3% of tests

    “headlamp lens slightly defective”

    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 suspension joints 7.1% 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.

  3. Check corrosion 6.1% of tests

    “component mounting prescribed areas prescribed area excessively corroded significantly reducing structural strength”

    Look under the sills, around the jacking points and where the suspension mounts meet the body. Flaking, holed or crumbly metal fails; a brown stain on sound metal does not.

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 2016 Freda through its MOT

Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £34–£89 — and 48% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.

Average repair across the 10 common items
£34–£89
Cheapest common item: rear fog lamp not working
£3–£15
Dearest common item: component mounting prescribed areas…
£180–£450
Common items a careful owner can do at home
70%
Repairs that still cost under £30
48%

Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 98 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 Freda, side by side

16 model years on record, from 2000 to 2017. Across them the pass rate runs from 63.0% to 75.6% — a spread of 12.6 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.

  1. 2000 74.7% component mounting prescribed…
  2. 2001 75.6% headlamp lens slightly defective
  3. 2004 65.8% component mounting prescribed…
  4. 2005 63.6% component mounting prescribed…
  5. 2006 69.2% component mounting prescribed…
  6. 2007 68.8% component mounting prescribed…
  7. 2008 65.2% component mounting prescribed…
  8. 2009 69.2% component mounting prescribed…
  9. 2010 66.3% windscreen damaged but not…
  10. 2011 68.9% ball joint dust cover severely…
  11. 2012 63.0% headlamp lens slightly defective
  12. 2013 65.0% headlamp lens slightly defective
  13. 2014 71.7% registration plate lamp(s)…
  14. 2015 73.1% ball joint dust cover severely…
  15. 2016 68.4%
    headlamp lens slightly defective
  16. 2017 69.6% headlamp lens slightly defective

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 2016 Ford Freda 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 2016 with another year →

Compare two different cars instead →

Other 2016 cars with a similar record

Closest pass rates among 2016 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 2016 Ford Freda 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 267 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
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 65 24.30% 12.21% +12.09
Suspension 61 22.80% 20.98% +1.82
Brakes 32 12.00% 20.89% −8.89
Body, chassis, structure 32 12.00% 5.57% +6.43
Noise, emissions and leaks 22 8.20% 5.52% +2.68
Visibility 15 5.60% 4.97% +0.63
Steering 15 5.60% 2.57% +3.03
Tyres 12 4.50% 19.76% −15.26
Non-component advisories 12 4.50% 4.18% +0.32
Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems 1 0.40% 0.82% −0.42

The exact failure items, in the tester's words

Share of the 98 tests on this vehicle that recorded each item
Recorded item Severity Tests Est. cost Part
Headlamp lens slightly defective Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment Minor 16.3% £5–25 Headlight Bulb →
Ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated Suspension Minor 7.1% £18–45 Ball Joint →
Track rod end ball joint dust cover damaged or deteriorated, but preventing the ingress of dirt Steering Minor 7.1% £18–45 Ball Joint →
Component mounting prescribed areas prescribed area excessively corroded significantly reducing structural strength Suspension Major 6.1% £180–450 Corrosion Welding Repair →
Registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment Minor 6.1% £5–20 Number Plate Lamp →
Exhaust system has a major leak of exhaust gases Body, chassis, structure Major 5.1% £45–120 Exhaust →
Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view Visibility Minor 5.1% £80–200 Windscreen →
Wipers does not clear the windscreen effectively Visibility Major 5.1% £8–22 Wiper Blade →
Ball joint dust cover no longer prevents the ingress of dirt Suspension Major 4.1% £18–45 Ball Joint →
Rear fog lamp not working Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment Major 4.1% £3–15 Bulb →

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
Engine oil leaks leaking excessively from engine Noise, emissions and leaks Advisory 16.3% £200–700
Headlamp has a product on the lens so that the light output is severely reduced Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment Advisory 10.2% £5–25
Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres Advisory 10.2% £45–95
Brake discs in such a condition that it is seriously weakened Brakes Advisory 9.2% £45–110
Pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn Suspension Advisory 9.2% £40–150
Chassis condition corroded to the extent that the rigidity of the assembly is significantly reduced Body, chassis, structure Advisory 8.2% £180–450

Pass rate by mileage

Mileage Tests Pass rate Median odometer
30-60k 2 50.0% 50,190 mi
60-90k 19 73.7% 77,172 mi
90-120k 33 66.7% 107,555 mi
120k+ 44 68.2% 160,213 mi

Source: 98 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.

2016 Freda MOT questions

What is the MOT pass rate for a 2016 Ford Freda?

68.4% of the 98 2016 Ford Freda tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 84.0% for cars first used in 2016. First-attempt pass rate: 56.9%.

What are the most common MOT failures on a 2016 Ford Freda?

The three most recorded items are headlamp lens slightly defective (16.33%), ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated (7.14%), track rod end ball joint dust cover damaged or deteriorated, but preventing the ingress of dirt (7.14%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.

Does mileage affect the 2016 Ford Freda MOT pass rate?

Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 50.0% of the time, falling to 68.2% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2016 Ford Freda in this dataset had covered 117,184 mi.

Which fuel type is most reliable for a 2016 Ford Freda?

Petrol: 69.3% pass rate across 75 tests. Diesel: 66.7% pass rate across 21 tests. Shares are of the tests on this vehicle that recorded each fuel type.