Pass rate
92.4%
Above average — 1.2 pts ahead of the 91.2% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 44,231 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £32–£77
2021 Ford Kuga MOT pass rate
- 2021
- 15 trims combined
- typical 28,690 mi
Most common fault
Tyres
34.9% of faults · 19.8% nationally
mostly tread below the limit, cuts and sidewall bulges.
Part only £55–£85 for Tread depth below 1.6 mm. What fitting it takes →
5.4 pts down across model years — 8.4% in 2008, 3.0% in 2023.
Which year to buy
- Best 2023 96.0% pass
- Avoid 2009 74.9% pass
Across the 16 years on record, a spread of 21.1 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 91.9%
- Typical mileage
- 29k mi
The 2021 Ford Kuga MOT pass rate is 92.4% of its MOT tests — 1.2 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. Tyres is the biggest single reason it fails, at 34.9% of what testers record.
Check your postcode
MOT pass rates are national — type your postcode to see how Ford Kuga does in your corner of the country.
Expert verdict
Tyres: 1.8× the national share
Tyres make up 34.9% of everything recorded on the 2021 Ford Kuga, against 19.8% nationally — 15.1 points above. Check all four tyres yourself, including the inner shoulders, and look at the date stamp — a tyre can pass on tread and still be six years old.
- When it fails, it costs. Only 31% 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 Kuga? Get an email when these numbers change .
Every Ford Kuga first registered in 2021 is combined here — 15 trim and body variants in total — so the sample is as large as the DVSA data allows.
How does the 2021 Ford Kuga compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 91.2%, 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 91.9%. The median 2021 Ford Kuga in this dataset had covered 28,690 mi.
The most common fuel recorded here is Diesel — 52% of tests, with a 91.7% pass rate. Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 92.7% of the time, April–September 92.2%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Has a cut in excess of the requirements deep enough to reach the ply or cords", noted on 1.47% of tests.
- 44,231 recorded tests behind this page.
- 92.4% overall pass rate, 91.9% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the Ford Kuga, the average is 86.0% — best year 2023 (96.0%), worst 2009 (74.9%).
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
- 44,231
- Typical mileage (median)
- 28,690 mi
- Make and model
- Ford Kuga
- 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 Kuga MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 75% so small gaps stay visible.
Fuel type and reliability
Pass rate by fuel type. Diesel is the most common here (52% of tests).
Regional pass rates for the Kuga
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| South East | 7,037 | 92.5% |
| North West | 6,026 | 91.9% |
| East of England | 5,941 | 93.2% |
| Scotland | 4,766 | 90.6% |
| West Midlands | 4,427 | 93.0% |
| Yorkshire | 4,352 | 92.8% |
| East Midlands | 3,590 | 92.6% |
| South West | 2,897 | 92.6% |
| Wales | 2,103 | 91.1% |
| North East | 1,686 | 93.4% |
| London | 1,406 | 94.7% |
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 2021 Kuga
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 2021 Kuga
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 tyre tread 1.1% of tests
“tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm”
Check all four tyres cold, including the inner shoulder where wear hides — 1.6mm across the central three-quarters is the legal limit, and most testers fail at 1.6mm without argument.
-
Check the windscreen 1.1% of tests
“windscreen damaged”
Check the driver’s side of the screen within the swept area for chips and cracks; anything larger than 10mm in the driver’s central view is a fail. Most chips can be resin-repaired for far less than a new screen.
-
Check the brakes 0.8% of tests
“brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick”
Look through the spokes of each wheel at the pad — less than 3mm of friction material, or a lip on the disc edge, is the usual failure. Check the handbrake holds on a slope with a few clicks, not at the top of its travel.
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 2021 Kuga through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £32–£77 — and 31% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £32–£77
- Cheapest common item: malfunction indicator lamp inoperative or…
- £3–£12
- Dearest common item: windscreen damaged
- £80–£200
- Common items a careful owner can do at home
- 80%
- Repairs that still cost under £30
- 31%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 44,231 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 Kuga, side by side
16 model years on record, from 2008 to 2023. Across them the pass rate runs from 74.9% to 96.0% — a spread of 21.1 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2008 75.4% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2009 74.9% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2010 75.0% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2011 75.7% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2012 76.9% coil spring fractured or broken
- 2013 81.5% position lamp not working
- 2014 82.4% position lamp not working
- 2015 84.3% position lamp not working
- 2016 86.7% position lamp not working
- 2017 88.7% brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick
- 2018 89.4% wipers does not clear the…
- 2019 90.0% brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick
- 2020 91.9% has a cut in excess of the…
- 2021 92.4%has a cut in excess of the…
- 2022 94.0% has a cut in excess of the…
- 2023 96.0% 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 2021 Ford Kuga 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 2021 cars with a similar record
- SEAT Ateca Fr 92.4%
- Volkswagen Touareg V6 92.4%
- Renault Arkana 92.4%
- Volkswagen Polo 92.5%
- Audi A6 92.5%
- Mercedes-Benz Glb 92.5%
Closest pass rates among 2021 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 2021 Ford Kuga 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 30,036 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tyres | 10,513 | 34.90% | 19.76% | +15.14 |
| Brakes | 8,923 | 29.60% | 20.89% | +8.71 |
| Suspension | 3,410 | 11.30% | 20.98% | −9.68 |
| Non-component advisories | 2,777 | 9.20% | 4.18% | +5.02 |
| Visibility | 1,900 | 6.30% | 4.97% | +1.33 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 976 | 3.20% | 12.21% | −9.01 |
| Identification of the vehicle | 723 | 2.40% | 1.76% | +0.64 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 588 | 2.00% | 5.52% | −3.52 |
| Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems | 122 | 0.40% | 0.82% | −0.42 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 104 | 0.30% | 5.57% | −5.27 |
The exact failure items, in the tester's words
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Has a cut in excess of the requirements deep enough to reach the ply or cords Tyres | Major | 1.5% | £45–95 |
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Major | 1.1% | £45–95 |
| Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view Visibility | Minor | 1.1% | £80–200 |
| Brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick Brakes | Major | 0.82% | £18–45 |
| Headlamp aim too high Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Rectified | 0.75% | £30–80 |
| Wipers blade defective Visibility | Minor | 0.71% | £8–22 |
| Malfunction indicator lamp inoperative or indicates a malfunction Noise, emissions and leaks | Major | 0.67% | £3–12 |
| Wipers does not clear the windscreen effectively Visibility | Major | 0.64% | £8–22 |
| Washers provides insufficient washer liquid Visibility | Major | 0.57% | £5–15 |
| Shock absorbers has a serious fluid leak Suspension | Major | 0.49% | £30–75 |
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 | 14.6% | £45–95 |
| Brake discs in such a condition that it is seriously weakened Brakes | Advisory | 8.5% | £45–110 |
| Brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick Brakes | Advisory | 8.5% | £18–45 |
| Shock absorbers has a serious fluid leak Suspension | Advisory | 5.0% | £30–75 |
| Non-component advisories Child Seat fitted not allowing full inspection of adult belt Non-component advisories | Advisory | 3.0% | £20–80 |
| Has a tear, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres | Advisory | 2.1% | £45–95 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 23,762 | 94.2% | 20,248 mi |
| 30-60k | 18,043 | 90.8% | 40,162 mi |
| 60-90k | 2,006 | 88.5% | 70,022 mi |
| 90-120k | 357 | 83.5% | 101,337 mi |
| 120k+ | 57 | 87.7% | 150,526 mi |
Source: 44,231 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.
2021 Kuga MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2021 Ford Kuga?
92.4% of the 44,231 2021 Ford Kuga tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 91.2% for cars first used in 2021. First-attempt pass rate: 91.9%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2021 Ford Kuga?
The three most recorded items are has a cut in excess of the requirements deep enough to reach the ply or cords (1.47%), tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm (1.06%), windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view (1.05%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2021 Ford Kuga MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 94.2% of the time, falling to 87.7% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2021 Ford Kuga in this dataset had covered 28,690 mi.
Which fuel type is most reliable for a 2021 Ford Kuga?
Diesel: 91.7% pass rate across 22,904 tests. Hybrid: 92.9% pass rate across 14,978 tests. Petrol: 94.1% pass rate across 6,332 tests. Other: 81.3% pass rate across 16 tests. Shares are of the tests on this vehicle that recorded each fuel type.
Does the season affect the 2021 Ford Kuga MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 92.7% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 92.2%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.