Pass rate
94.2%
Above average — 3.0 pts ahead of the 91.2% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 173 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £29–£70
2021 Smart Eq Fortwo Pulse MOT pass rate
- 2021
- typical 9,457 mi
Most common fault
Tyres
42.0% of faults · 19.8% nationally
mostly tread below the limit, cuts and sidewall bulges.
Which year to buy
- Best 2022 95.5% pass
- Avoid 2020 93.8% pass
Across the 3 years on record, a spread of 1.7 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 93.9%
- Typical mileage
- 9k mi
The 2021 Smart Eq Fortwo Pulse MOT pass rate is 94.2% of its MOT tests — 3.0 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. Tyres is the biggest single reason it fails, at 42.0% of what testers record.
Check your postcode
MOT pass rates are national — type your postcode to see how Smart Eq Fortwo Pulse does in your corner of the country.
Expert verdict
Tyres: 2.1× the national share
Tyres make up 42.0% of everything recorded on the 2021 Smart Eq Fortwo Pulse, against 19.8% nationally — 22.2 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.
- 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 91.2% and this one manages 94.2% — 3.0 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict.
- Based on a small sample. 173 tests back this page. That is enough to publish and to index, not enough to treat the decimal places as precise — read the pattern, not the second digit.
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 Smart Eq Fortwo Pulse? Get an email when these numbers change .
How does the 2021 Smart Eq Fortwo Pulse compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 91.2%, so this figure is 3.0 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 93.9%. The median 2021 Smart Eq Fortwo Pulse in this dataset had covered 9,457 mi.
Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 95.7% of the time, April–September 92.4%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Has a bulge, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure", noted on 1.16% of tests.
- 173 recorded tests behind this page.
- 94.2% overall pass rate, 93.9% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the Smart Eq Fortwo Pulse, the average is 94.2% — best year 2022 (95.5%), worst 2020 (93.8%).
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
- 173
- Typical mileage (median)
- 9,457 mi
- Make and model
- Smart Eq Fortwo Pulse
- 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 Eq Fortwo Pulse MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 86% so small gaps stay visible.
Regional pass rates for the Eq Fortwo Pulse
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| South East | 46 | 93.5% |
| South West | 28 | 96.4% |
| London | 21 | 95.2% |
| East of England | 20 | 90.0% |
| East Midlands | 19 | 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 Eq Fortwo Pulse
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 Eq Fortwo Pulse
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 wipers and washers 1.2% 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 coil springs 0.6% of tests
“coil spring fractured or broken”
Look up inside each wheel arch with a torch, all the way round the spring. A snapped spring usually breaks at the very bottom coil, where a quick glance will not reach.
-
Check the lights 0.6% of tests
“headlamp aim too far to the right”
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.
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 Eq Fortwo Pulse through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £29–£70 — and 36% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £29–£70
- Cheapest common item: wipers blade defective
- £8–£22
- Dearest common item: service brake performance excessively binding
- £60–£150
- Common items a careful owner can do at home
- 70%
- Repairs that still cost under £30
- 36%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 173 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 Eq Fortwo Pulse, side by side
3 model years on record, from 2020 to 2022. Across them the pass rate runs from 93.8% to 95.5% — a spread of 1.7 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2020 93.8% wipers does not clear the…
- 2021 94.2%has a bulge, caused by separation…
- 2022 95.5% 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 Smart Eq Fortwo Pulse 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
- Toyota C-Hr 94.2%
- Toyota Gr YARIS Circuit 94.2%
- Volkswagen E-Up 94.2%
- Volvo XC40 Inscript Pro 94.3%
- Land Rover Defender Hard Top 94.1%
- Toyota Aygo 94.0%
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 Smart Eq Fortwo Pulse 10 failure items · 6 advisories · 8 inspection categories · mileage brackets · all of it in the page, none of it above the fold
Every inspection category
Shares of the 69 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 | 29 | 42.00% | 19.76% | +22.24 |
| Brakes | 18 | 26.10% | 20.89% | +5.21 |
| Non-component advisories | 11 | 15.90% | 4.18% | +11.72 |
| Visibility | 4 | 5.80% | 4.97% | +0.83 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 3 | 4.30% | 12.21% | −7.91 |
| Identification of the vehicle | 2 | 2.90% | 1.76% | +1.14 |
| Suspension | 1 | 1.40% | 20.98% | −19.58 |
| Steering | 1 | 1.40% | 2.57% | −1.17 |
The exact failure items, in the tester's words
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Has a bulge, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres | Major | 1.2% | £45–95 |
| Has a cut in excess of the requirements deep enough to reach the ply or cords Tyres | Major | 1.2% | £45–95 |
| Wipers blade defective Visibility | Minor | 1.2% | £8–22 |
| Wipers does not clear the windscreen effectively Visibility | Major | 1.2% | £8–22 |
| Coil spring fractured or broken Suspension | Major | 0.58% | £25–65 |
| Headlamp aim too far to the right Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Rectified | 0.58% | £30–80 |
| Headlamp aim too low Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 0.58% | £30–80 |
| Registration plate lamp(s) does not illuminate simultaneously with the position lamps Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 0.58% | £5–25 |
| Service brake imbalance across an axle Brakes | Major | 0.58% | £45–110 |
| Service brake performance excessively binding Brakes | Major | 0.58% | £60–150 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Has a tear, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres | Advisory | 9.3% | £45–95 |
| Brake discs in such a condition that it is seriously weakened Brakes | Advisory | 6.9% | £45–110 |
| Non-component advisories Nail in tyre Non-component advisories | Advisory | 4.0% | £45–95 |
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Advisory | 3.5% | £45–95 |
| Brake discs significantly and obviously worn Brakes | Advisory | 1.7% | £45–110 |
| Has a cut in excess of the requirements deep enough to reach the ply or cords Tyres | Advisory | 1.7% | £45–95 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 169 | 94.1% | 10,356 mi |
| 30-60k | 4 | 100.0% | 39,833 mi |
Source: 173 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 Eq Fortwo Pulse MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2021 Smart Eq Fortwo Pulse?
94.2% of the 173 2021 Smart Eq Fortwo Pulse tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 91.2% for cars first used in 2021. First-attempt pass rate: 93.9%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2021 Smart Eq Fortwo Pulse?
The three most recorded items are has a bulge, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure (1.16%), has a cut in excess of the requirements deep enough to reach the ply or cords (1.16%), wipers blade defective (1.16%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2021 Smart Eq Fortwo Pulse MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 94.1% of the time, falling to 100.0% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2021 Smart Eq Fortwo Pulse in this dataset had covered 9,457 mi.
Does the season affect the 2021 Smart Eq Fortwo Pulse MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 95.7% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 92.4%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.