Pass rate
76.2%
Around average — 11.7 pts behind the 87.9% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 336 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £44–£120
2018 Ford Journey MOT pass rate
- 2018
- typical 135,989 mi
Most common fault
Brakes
21.8% of faults · 20.9% nationally
mostly worn pads and discs, corroded pipes and a handbrake that will not hold.
Part only £25–£55 for Rigid brake pipes excessively corroded. What fitting it takes →
Which year to buy
- Best 2020 78.9% pass
- Avoid 2016 71.7% pass
Across the 5 years on record, a spread of 7.2 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 70.0%
- Typical mileage
- 136k mi
The 2018 Ford Journey MOT pass rate is 76.2% of its MOT tests — 11.7 points behind what its age and mileage predict. Brakes is the biggest single reason it fails, at 21.8% of what testers record.
Check your postcode
MOT pass rates are national — type your postcode to see how Ford Journey does in your corner of the country.
Expert verdict
Seat belts: 9.3× the national share
Seat belts make up 7.6% of everything recorded on the 2018 Ford Journey, against 0.8% nationally — 6.8 points above. Brakes are still the single largest share at 21.8%, but at 20.9% nationally that one is ordinary. Pull every belt out fully and let it retract: a frayed belt or a lazy retractor fails.
- Falls short of its own age and mileage. Like-for-like, cars this age and mileage expect about 87.9%; this one manages 76.2% — 11.7 points below. Age is a fair excuse; this is not age.
- When it fails, it costs. Only 8% 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 Ford Journey? Get an email when these numbers change .
How does the 2018 Ford Journey compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 87.9%, so this figure is 11.7 points behind what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 70.0%. The median 2018 Ford Journey in this dataset had covered 135,989 mi.
Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 74.8% of the time, April–September 79.1%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Tyre pressure monitoring system malfunctioning or obviously inoperative", noted on 4.46% of tests.
- 336 recorded tests behind this page.
- 76.2% overall pass rate, 70.0% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the Ford Journey, the average is 75.8% — best year 2020 (78.9%), worst 2016 (71.7%).
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
- 336
- Typical mileage (median)
- 135,989 mi
- Make and model
- Ford Journey
- Updated
- 2026-11-05
Source: DVSA anonymised MOT test data (2023–2025), OGL v3.0.
Top part to budget for
Tyres
Usually a DIY or independent-garage job.
Does mileage affect the Journey MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 65% so small gaps stay visible.
Regional pass rates for the Journey
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| South West | 113 | 73.5% |
| Scotland | 97 | 71.1% |
| West Midlands | 28 | 78.6% |
| North West | 26 | 88.5% |
| Yorkshire | 24 | 79.2% |
| South East | 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 2018 Journey
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 2018 Journey
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 tyre pressures and valves 4.5% of tests
“tyre pressure monitoring system malfunctioning or obviously inoperative”
Set the pressures to the figures on the door pillar, not the tyre wall, and check the valves do not hiss. A leaking valve is a two-minute fix that fails a test.
-
Check the suspension joints 4.2% of tests
“ball joint 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.
-
Check the exhaust and emissions 3.9% of tests
“on or after 01/01/2014 emissions exceed manufacturer's specified limit”
Listen for a blow at idle and have someone rev it gently. Then look at the tailpipe smoke: blue is oil, white when warm is coolant, black is over-fuelling. Any of those and the emissions test is the least of it.
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 2018 Journey through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £44–£120 — and 8% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £44–£120
- Cheapest common item: wipers does not clear the windscreen…
- £8–£22
- Dearest common item: on or after 01/01/2014 emissions exceed…
- £60–£250
- Common items a careful owner can do at home
- 50%
- Repairs that still cost under £30
- 8%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 336 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 Journey, side by side
5 model years on record, from 2016 to 2020. Across them the pass rate runs from 71.7% to 78.9% — a spread of 7.2 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2016 71.7% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2017 75.9% on or after 01/01/2014 emissions…
- 2018 76.2%tyre pressure monitoring system…
- 2019 76.1% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2020 78.9% windscreen damaged but not…
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 2018 Ford Journey 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 2018 cars with a similar record
- Renault Zoe 77.5%
- Mercedes-Benz Citan 79.1%
- Vauxhall Combo 79.4%
- Fiat 500L 80.7%
- Nissan Navara 80.9%
- Renault Grand Scenic 81.2%
Closest pass rates among 2018 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 2018 Ford Journey 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 602 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brakes | 132 | 21.80% | 20.89% | +0.91 |
| Tyres | 112 | 18.50% | 19.76% | −1.26 |
| Suspension | 63 | 10.40% | 20.98% | −10.58 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 62 | 10.20% | 5.52% | +4.68 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 59 | 9.70% | 12.21% | −2.51 |
| Non-component advisories | 50 | 8.30% | 4.18% | +4.12 |
| Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems | 46 | 7.60% | 0.82% | +6.78 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 32 | 5.30% | 5.57% | −0.27 |
| Visibility | 29 | 4.80% | 4.97% | −0.17 |
| Steering | 17 | 2.80% | 2.57% | +0.23 |
The exact failure items, in the tester's words
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tyre pressure monitoring system malfunctioning or obviously inoperative Tyres | Major | 4.5% | £45–95 |
| Ball joint excessively worn Suspension | Major | 4.2% | £18–45 |
| On or after 01/01/2014 emissions exceed manufacturer's specified limit Noise, emissions and leaks | Major | 3.9% | £60–250 |
| Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view Visibility | Minor | 3.0% | £80–200 |
| Headlamp aim too high Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Rectified | 2.4% | £30–80 |
| Rigid brake pipes excessively corroded Brakes | Major | 2.4% | £80–180 |
| Wipers does not clear the windscreen effectively Visibility | Major | 2.1% | £8–22 |
| Has a cut in excess of the requirements deep enough to reach the ply or cords Tyres | Major | 1.8% | £45–95 |
| Brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick Brakes | Major | 1.5% | £18–45 |
| Exhaust system system insecure Body, chassis, structure | Major | 1.5% | £45–120 |
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 | 17.3% | £45–95 |
| Non-component advisories Play in steering rack inner joint(s) Non-component advisories | Advisory | 11.3% | £120–300 |
| Brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick Brakes | Advisory | 10.1% | £18–45 |
| Engine oil leaks leaking excessively from engine Noise, emissions and leaks | Advisory | 9.5% | £200–700 |
| Rigid brake pipes excessively corroded Brakes | Advisory | 8.0% | £80–180 |
| Webbing significantly weakened Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems | Advisory | 6.5% | £40–120 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 3 | 100.0% | 23,987 mi |
| 30-60k | 14 | 85.7% | 49,569 mi |
| 60-90k | 44 | 79.5% | 75,708 mi |
| 90-120k | 70 | 80.0% | 106,696 mi |
| 120k+ | 203 | 73.4% | 178,970 mi |
Source: 336 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.
2018 Journey MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2018 Ford Journey?
76.2% of the 336 2018 Ford Journey tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 87.9% for cars first used in 2018. First-attempt pass rate: 70.0%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2018 Ford Journey?
The three most recorded items are tyre pressure monitoring system malfunctioning or obviously inoperative (4.46%), ball joint excessively worn (4.17%), on or after 01/01/2014 emissions exceed manufacturer's specified limit (3.87%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2018 Ford Journey MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 100.0% of the time, falling to 73.4% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2018 Ford Journey in this dataset had covered 135,989 mi.
Does the season affect the 2018 Ford Journey MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 74.8% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 79.1%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.