Pass rate
87.1%
Above average — 3.6 pts behind the 90.7% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 3,881 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £22–£56
2020 Ford S-Max MOT pass rate
- 2020
- typical 33,343 mi
Most common fault
Tyres
36.4% 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 →
3.3 pts down across model years — 10.0% in 2006, 6.7% in 2021.
Which year to buy
- Best 2023 92.2% pass
- Avoid 2006 68.1% pass
Across the 18 years on record, a spread of 24.1 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 85.4%
- Typical mileage
- 33k mi
The 2020 Ford S-Max MOT pass rate is 87.1% of its MOT tests — 3.6 points behind what its age and mileage predict. Tyres is the biggest single reason it fails, at 36.4% of what testers record.
Check your postcode
MOT pass rates are national — type your postcode to see how Ford S-Max does in your corner of the country.
Expert verdict
Tyres: 1.8× the national share
Tyres make up 36.4% of everything recorded on the 2020 Ford S-Max, against 19.8% nationally — 16.6 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.
- Falls short of its own age and mileage. Like-for-like, cars this age and mileage expect about 90.7%; this one manages 87.1% — 3.6 points below. Age is a fair excuse; this is not age.
- Failures here tend to be cheap ones. 57% of the repairs this model fails on cost under £30 in parts. The pass rate matters less than what a bad afternoon at the test centre actually costs you.
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 S-Max? Get an email when these numbers change .
How does the 2020 Ford S-Max compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 90.7%, so this figure is 3.6 points behind what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 85.4%. The median 2020 Ford S-Max in this dataset had covered 33,343 mi.
99% of the tests on this vehicle ran on Diesel, which passed 87.1% of the time. Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 87.2% of the time, April–September 87.1%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Headlamp not working on dipped beam", noted on 2.22% of tests.
- 3,881 recorded tests behind this page.
- 87.1% overall pass rate, 85.4% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the Ford S-Max, the average is 76.8% — best year 2023 (92.2%), worst 2006 (68.1%).
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
- 3,881
- Typical mileage (median)
- 33,343 mi
- Make and model
- Ford S-Max
- Updated
- 2026-11-05
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 S-Max MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 74% so small gaps stay visible.
Fuel type and reliability
Pass rate by fuel type. Diesel is the most common here (99% of tests).
Regional pass rates for the S-Max
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| South East | 1,094 | 87.1% |
| East of England | 590 | 86.9% |
| North West | 388 | 86.9% |
| West Midlands | 295 | 87.5% |
| Scotland | 282 | 83.3% |
| South West | 280 | 87.1% |
| East Midlands | 262 | 88.9% |
| Yorkshire | 238 | 89.9% |
| London | 209 | 87.6% |
| North East | 125 | 86.4% |
| Wales | 118 | 88.1% |
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 2020 S-Max
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 2020 S-Max
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 lights 2.2% of tests
“headlamp not working on dipped beam”
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 wipers and washers 2.0% of tests
“wipers blade defective”
Run the wipers with the screen wet: they should clear it in one sweep without smearing or juddering. Top the washer bottle up and check both jets hit the screen.
-
Check the brakes 1.6% 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 2020 S-Max through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £22–£56 — and 57% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £22–£56
- 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
- 90%
- Repairs that still cost under £30
- 57%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 3,881 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 S-Max, side by side
18 model years on record, from 2006 to 2023. Across them the pass rate runs from 68.1% to 92.2% — a spread of 24.1 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2006 68.1% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2007 69.8% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2008 71.7% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2009 72.4% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2010 74.1% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2011 75.4% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2012 74.9% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2013 75.2% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2014 76.4% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2015 80.9% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2016 84.6% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2017 85.5% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2018 86.4% brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick
- 2019 84.4% headlamp not working on dipped…
- 2020 87.1%headlamp not working on dipped…
- 2021 86.4% brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick
- 2022 87.7% headlamp not working on dipped…
- 2023 92.2% tread depth below requirements of…
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 2020 Ford S-Max 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 2020 cars with a similar record
- Peugeot 5008 87.1%
- Mercedes-Benz V 87.1%
- Kia Sportage GT-Ln Crdi 87.0%
- DS DS3 87.2%
- Volvo V90 Momentum + 87.2%
- Tesla Model 3 86.8%
Closest pass rates among 2020 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 2020 Ford S-Max 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 3,383 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 | 1,238 | 36.40% | 19.76% | +16.64 |
| Brakes | 896 | 26.40% | 20.89% | +5.51 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 337 | 9.90% | 12.21% | −2.31 |
| Non-component advisories | 313 | 9.20% | 4.18% | +5.02 |
| Visibility | 217 | 6.40% | 4.97% | +1.43 |
| Identification of the vehicle | 147 | 4.30% | 1.76% | +2.54 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 104 | 3.10% | 5.52% | −2.42 |
| Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems | 70 | 2.10% | 0.82% | +1.28 |
| Suspension | 36 | 1.10% | 20.98% | −19.88 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 25 | 0.70% | 5.57% | −4.87 |
The exact failure items, in the tester's words
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Headlamp not working on dipped beam Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 2.2% | £5–25 |
| Wipers blade defective Visibility | Minor | 2.0% | £8–22 |
| Has a cut in excess of the requirements deep enough to reach the ply or cords Tyres | Major | 1.6% | £45–95 |
| Brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick Brakes | Major | 1.6% | £18–45 |
| Headlamp not working on dipped beam Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Rectified | 1.4% | £5–25 |
| Malfunction indicator lamp inoperative or indicates a malfunction Noise, emissions and leaks | Major | 1.4% | £3–12 |
| Wipers does not clear the windscreen effectively Visibility | Major | 1.4% | £8–22 |
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Major | 1.3% | £45–95 |
| Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view Visibility | Minor | 1.1% | £80–200 |
| Has ply or cords exposed Tyres | Major | 0.75% | £45–95 |
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 | 19.6% | £45–95 |
| Brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick Brakes | Advisory | 14.0% | £18–45 |
| Non-component advisories Child Seat fitted not allowing full inspection of adult belt Non-component advisories | Advisory | 5.0% | £20–80 |
| Brake discs in such a condition that it is seriously weakened Brakes | Advisory | 4.5% | £45–110 |
| Registration plates inscription illegible Identification of the vehicle | Advisory | 3.3% | £20–80 |
| Has a tear, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres | Advisory | 3.1% | £45–95 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 1,616 | 91.5% | 20,068 mi |
| 30-60k | 1,852 | 84.2% | 42,242 mi |
| 60-90k | 360 | 82.8% | 69,686 mi |
| 90-120k | 46 | 82.6% | 101,517 mi |
| 120k+ | 6 | 100.0% | 138,391 mi |
Source: 3,881 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.
2020 S-Max MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2020 Ford S-Max?
87.1% of the 3,881 2020 Ford S-Max tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 90.7% for cars first used in 2020. First-attempt pass rate: 85.4%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2020 Ford S-Max?
The three most recorded items are headlamp not working on dipped beam (2.22%), wipers blade defective (1.96%), has a cut in excess of the requirements deep enough to reach the ply or cords (1.65%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2020 Ford S-Max MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 91.5% of the time, falling to 100.0% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2020 Ford S-Max in this dataset had covered 33,343 mi.
Which fuel type is most reliable for a 2020 Ford S-Max?
Diesel: 87.1% pass rate across 3,859 tests. Petrol: 82.4% pass rate across 17 tests. Shares are of the tests on this vehicle that recorded each fuel type.
Does the season affect the 2020 Ford S-Max MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 87.2% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 87.1%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.