Pass rate
70.0%
Below average — 2.6 pts behind the 72.6% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 8,909 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £40–£108
2003 Ford Mondeo MOT pass rate
- 2003
- typical 112,095 mi
Most common fault
Brakes
25.5% 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 →
13.2 pts down across model years — 14.0% in 2000, 0.8% in 2014.
Which year to buy
- Best 2022 90.8% pass
- Avoid 2003 70.0% pass · this year
Across the 23 years on record, a spread of 20.8 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 60.7%
- Typical mileage
- 112k mi
The 2003 Ford Mondeo MOT pass rate is 70.0% of its MOT tests — 2.6 points behind what its age and mileage predict. Brakes is the biggest single reason it fails, at 25.5% of what testers record.
Check your postcode
MOT pass rates are national — type your postcode to see how Ford Mondeo does in your corner of the country.
Expert verdict
Fewer problems with tyres
Tyres are 10.0% of this car’s recorded faults, against 19.8% nationally — the mirror image of the usual story on a car of this age.
- When it fails, it costs. Only 27% 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 Mondeo? Get an email when these numbers change .
How does the 2003 Ford Mondeo compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 72.6%, so this figure is 2.6 points behind what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 60.7%. The median 2003 Ford Mondeo in this dataset had covered 112,095 mi.
The most common fuel recorded here is Petrol — 71% of tests, with a 71.0% pass rate. Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 70.0% of the time, April–September 69.9%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated", noted on 6.72% of tests.
- 8,909 recorded tests behind this page.
- 70.0% overall pass rate, 60.7% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the Ford Mondeo, the average is 78.1% — best year 2022 (90.8%), worst 2003 (70.0%).
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
- 8,909
- Typical mileage (median)
- 112,095 mi
- Make and model
- Ford Mondeo
- Updated
- 2026-11-05
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 Mondeo MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 58% so small gaps stay visible.
Fuel type and reliability
Pass rate by fuel type. Petrol is the most common here (71% of tests).
Regional pass rates for the Mondeo
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| South East | 2,095 | 72.4% |
| East of England | 1,468 | 70.6% |
| South West | 1,165 | 63.5% |
| West Midlands | 922 | 71.3% |
| North West | 861 | 69.3% |
| East Midlands | 666 | 69.4% |
| Yorkshire | 624 | 70.7% |
| London | 408 | 81.4% |
| Wales | 318 | 66.4% |
| Scotland | 243 | 61.3% |
| North East | 139 | 66.2% |
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 Mondeo
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 Mondeo
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 6.7% 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 lights 4.7% 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.
-
Check the windscreen 4.0% 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.
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 Mondeo through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £40–£108 — and 27% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £40–£108
- Cheapest common item: registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the…
- £5–£20
- 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
- 27%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 8,909 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 Mondeo, side by side
23 model years on record, from 2000 to 2022. Across them the pass rate runs from 70.0% to 90.8% — a spread of 20.8 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2000 70.1% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2001 71.1% rbt (sp) efficiency below…
- 2002 70.5% ball joint dust cover severely…
- 2003 70.0%ball joint dust cover severely…
- 2004 70.1% ball joint dust cover severely…
- 2005 70.6% ball joint dust cover severely…
- 2006 71.5% ball joint dust cover severely…
- 2007 71.2% ball joint dust cover severely…
- 2008 72.5% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2009 74.0% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2010 74.9% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2011 76.6% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2012 77.2% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2013 78.0% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2014 79.7% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2015 84.9% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2016 86.8% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2017 88.0% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2018 88.7% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2019 88.7% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2020 88.8% wipers does not clear the…
- 2021 88.4% wipers does not clear the…
- 2022 90.8% wipers does not clear 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 2003 Ford Mondeo 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
- Land Rover Freelander 70.0%
- SEAT Ibiza 70.0%
- Peugeot 406 70.0%
- Peugeot 206 69.9%
- Skoda Fabia 70.1%
- Vauxhall Zafira 70.1%
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 Ford Mondeo 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 31,975 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 | 8,344 | 25.50% | 20.89% | +4.61 |
| Suspension | 7,756 | 23.70% | 20.98% | +2.72 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 3,394 | 10.40% | 5.52% | +4.88 |
| Tyres | 3,261 | 10.00% | 19.76% | −9.76 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 3,243 | 9.90% | 12.21% | −2.31 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 2,478 | 7.60% | 5.57% | +2.03 |
| Visibility | 1,103 | 3.40% | 4.97% | −1.57 |
| Identification of the vehicle | 1,015 | 3.10% | 1.76% | +1.34 |
| Non-component advisories | 824 | 2.50% | 4.18% | −1.68 |
| Steering | 557 | 1.70% | 2.57% | −0.87 |
The exact failure items, in the tester's words
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated Suspension | Minor | 6.7% | £18–45 |
| Joints constant velocity boot severely deteriorated Body, chassis, structure | Minor | 5.6% | £80–250 |
| Rbt (sp) efficiency below requirements Brakes | Major | 5.6% | £45–110 |
| Headlamp lens slightly defective Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 4.7% | £5–25 |
| Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view Visibility | Minor | 4.0% | £80–200 |
| Registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 3.9% | £5–20 |
| Coil spring fractured or broken Suspension | Major | 3.4% | £25–65 |
| Parking brake performance inoperative on one side Brakes | Major | 3.3% | £60–150 |
| Position lamp with a multiple light source up to 1/2 not functioning Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 3.1% | £5–25 |
| Rigid brake pipes excessively corroded Brakes | Major | 3.1% | £80–180 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rigid brake pipes excessively corroded Brakes | Advisory | 28.2% | £80–180 |
| Engine oil leaks leaking excessively from engine Noise, emissions and leaks | Advisory | 25.1% | £200–700 |
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Advisory | 16.8% | £45–95 |
| Brake discs in such a condition that it is seriously weakened Brakes | Advisory | 15.3% | £45–110 |
| Sub-frame corroded and seriously weakened Suspension | Advisory | 11.6% | £180–450 |
| Pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn Suspension | Advisory | 11.5% | £40–150 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 72 | 88.9% | 21,215 mi |
| 30-60k | 674 | 78.8% | 48,932 mi |
| 60-90k | 1,887 | 73.4% | 76,878 mi |
| 90-120k | 2,456 | 69.9% | 105,120 mi |
| 120k+ | 3,785 | 66.4% | 156,905 mi |
Source: 8,909 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 Mondeo MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2003 Ford Mondeo?
70.0% of the 8,909 2003 Ford Mondeo tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 72.6% for cars first used in 2003. First-attempt pass rate: 60.7%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2003 Ford Mondeo?
The three most recorded items are ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated (6.72%), joints constant velocity boot severely deteriorated (5.59%), rbt (sp) efficiency below requirements (5.57%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2003 Ford Mondeo MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 88.9% of the time, falling to 66.4% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2003 Ford Mondeo in this dataset had covered 112,095 mi.
Which fuel type is most reliable for a 2003 Ford Mondeo?
Petrol: 71.0% pass rate across 6,338 tests. Diesel: 67.5% pass rate across 2,564 tests. Shares are of the tests on this vehicle that recorded each fuel type.
Does the season affect the 2003 Ford Mondeo MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 70.0% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 69.9%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.