Pass rate
85.7%
Above average — 13.3 pts ahead of the 72.4% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 1,084 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £30–£88
2005 Ford Mustang MOT pass rate
- 2005
- typical 64,759 mi
Most common fault
Suspension
23.9% of faults · 21.0% nationally
mostly worn arm bushes, split ball-joint boots and broken coil springs.
Which year to buy
- Best 2022 92.9% pass
- Avoid 2000 79.4% pass
Across the 23 years on record, a spread of 13.5 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 84.4%
- Typical mileage
- 65k mi
The 2005 Ford Mustang MOT pass rate is 85.7% of its MOT tests — 13.3 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. Suspension is the biggest single reason it fails, at 23.9% of what testers record.
Check your postcode
MOT pass rates are national — type your postcode to see how Ford Mustang does in your corner of the country.
Expert verdict
Emissions & leaks: 2.0× the national share
Emissions & leaks make up 10.8% of everything recorded on the 2005 Ford Mustang, against 5.5% nationally — 5.3 points above. Suspension is still the single largest share at 23.9%, but at 21.0% nationally that one is ordinary. A smoky diesel or a leaking joint fails on emissions more often than on wear, so ask for a recent emissions printout.
- Beats its own age and mileage. Once you allow for how old and how far these cars have been driven, the expected pass rate is 72.4% and this one manages 85.7% — 13.3 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict.
- When it fails, it costs. Only 34% 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 Mustang? Get an email when these numbers change .
How does the 2005 Ford Mustang compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 72.4%, so this figure is 13.3 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 84.4%. The median 2005 Ford Mustang in this dataset had covered 64,759 mi.
Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 85.7% of the time, April–September 85.7%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Track rod end ball joint dust cover damaged or deteriorated, but preventing the ingress of dirt", noted on 3.78% of tests.
- 1,084 recorded tests behind this page.
- 85.7% overall pass rate, 84.4% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the Ford Mustang, the average is 87.0% — best year 2022 (92.9%), worst 2000 (79.4%).
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
- 1,084
- Typical mileage (median)
- 64,759 mi
- Make and model
- Ford Mustang
- 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 Mustang MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 72% so small gaps stay visible.
Regional pass rates for the Mustang
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| South East | 299 | 87.0% |
| East of England | 173 | 89.6% |
| South West | 145 | 81.4% |
| Yorkshire | 96 | 85.4% |
| West Midlands | 92 | 84.8% |
| North West | 85 | 85.9% |
| East Midlands | 70 | 87.1% |
| Scotland | 43 | 76.7% |
| London | 33 | 84.8% |
| North East | 31 | 83.9% |
| Wales | 17 | 88.2% |
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 2005 Mustang
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 2005 Mustang
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 3.8% of tests
“track rod end ball joint dust cover damaged or 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 2.3% of tests
“malfunction indicator lamp inoperative or indicates a malfunction”
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 exhaust and emissions 1.9% of tests
“catalyst emissions Lambda reading after 2nd fast idle outside specified limits”
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 2005 Mustang through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £30–£88 — and 34% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £30–£88
- Cheapest common item: malfunction indicator lamp inoperative or…
- £3–£12
- Dearest common item: catalyst emissions lambda reading after 2nd…
- £60–£250
- Common items a careful owner can do at home
- 70%
- Repairs that still cost under £30
- 34%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 1,084 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 Mustang, side by side
23 model years on record, from 2000 to 2022. Across them the pass rate runs from 79.4% to 92.9% — a spread of 13.5 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2000 79.4% rbt (sp) efficiency below…
- 2001 83.2% ball joint dust cover no longer…
- 2002 85.4% ball joint dust cover severely…
- 2003 86.8% rbt (sp) efficiency below…
- 2004 82.0% rbt (sp) efficiency below…
- 2005 85.7%track rod end ball joint dust…
- 2006 85.7% track rod end ball joint dust…
- 2007 86.9% track rod end ball joint dust…
- 2008 88.2% track rod end ball joint dust…
- 2009 87.7% track rod end ball joint dust…
- 2010 88.8% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2011 82.3% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2012 86.2% track rod end ball joint dust…
- 2013 89.3% headlamp aim too high
- 2014 88.3% individual direction indicators…
- 2015 88.4% rbt (sp) efficiency below…
- 2016 85.7% rbt (sp) efficiency below…
- 2017 86.2% rbt (sp) efficiency below…
- 2018 87.0% rbt (sp) efficiency below…
- 2019 87.6% rbt (sp) efficiency below…
- 2020 89.7% wipers does not clear the…
- 2021 91.2% has ply or cords exposed
- 2022 92.9% has ply or cords exposed
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 2005 Ford Mustang 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 2005 cars with a similar record
- Mercedes-Benz Sl 86.1%
- Porsche Boxster 84.6%
- Honda S2000 87.1%
- BMW M3 88.1%
- Porsche 911 88.6%
- Jaguar XK8 82.0%
Closest pass rates among 2005 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 2005 Ford Mustang 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 1,486 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 | 358 | 23.90% | 20.98% | +2.92 |
| Brakes | 291 | 19.40% | 20.89% | −1.49 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 234 | 15.60% | 12.21% | +3.39 |
| Tyres | 175 | 11.70% | 19.76% | −8.06 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 161 | 10.80% | 5.52% | +5.28 |
| Steering | 113 | 7.50% | 2.57% | +4.93 |
| Visibility | 56 | 3.70% | 4.97% | −1.27 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 47 | 3.10% | 5.57% | −2.47 |
| Non-component advisories | 42 | 2.80% | 4.18% | −1.38 |
| Road Wheels | 9 | 0.60% | 0.75% | −0.15 |
The exact failure items, in the tester's words
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Track rod end ball joint dust cover damaged or deteriorated, but preventing the ingress of dirt Steering | Minor | 3.8% | £18–45 |
| Malfunction indicator lamp inoperative or indicates a malfunction Noise, emissions and leaks | Major | 2.3% | £3–12 |
| Rbt (sp) efficiency below requirements Brakes | Major | 2.3% | £45–110 |
| Catalyst emissions Lambda reading after 2nd fast idle outside specified limits Noise, emissions and leaks | Major | 1.9% | £60–250 |
| Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view Visibility | Minor | 1.8% | £80–200 |
| Parking brake performance inoperative on one side Brakes | Major | 1.7% | £60–150 |
| Rear fog lamp not working Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 1.6% | £3–15 |
| Position lamp not working Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 1.3% | £5–25 |
| Wipers does not clear the windscreen effectively Visibility | Major | 1.3% | £8–22 |
| Ball joint excessively worn Suspension | Major | 1.2% | £18–45 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn Suspension | Advisory | 8.2% | £40–150 |
| Ball joint excessively worn Suspension | Advisory | 7.2% | £18–45 |
| Has a tear, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres | Advisory | 6.9% | £45–95 |
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Advisory | 6.7% | £45–95 |
| Brake discs in such a condition that it is seriously weakened Brakes | Advisory | 5.0% | £45–110 |
| Engine oil leaks leaking excessively from engine Noise, emissions and leaks | Advisory | 4.0% | £200–700 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 130 | 89.2% | 21,364 mi |
| 30-60k | 354 | 88.4% | 45,691 mi |
| 60-90k | 309 | 83.8% | 73,360 mi |
| 90-120k | 157 | 85.4% | 101,616 mi |
| 120k+ | 132 | 80.3% | 143,673 mi |
Source: 1,084 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.
2005 Mustang MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2005 Ford Mustang?
85.7% of the 1,084 2005 Ford Mustang tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 72.4% for cars first used in 2005. First-attempt pass rate: 84.4%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2005 Ford Mustang?
The three most recorded items are track rod end ball joint dust cover damaged or deteriorated, but preventing the ingress of dirt (3.78%), malfunction indicator lamp inoperative or indicates a malfunction (2.31%), rbt (sp) efficiency below requirements (2.31%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2005 Ford Mustang MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 89.2% of the time, falling to 80.3% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2005 Ford Mustang in this dataset had covered 64,759 mi.
Does the season affect the 2005 Ford Mustang MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 85.7% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 85.7%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.