Pass rate
83.0%
Around average — 1.0 pts behind the 84.0% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 4,209 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £33–£95
2016 Subaru Forester MOT pass rate
- 2016
- typical 64,125 mi
Check your postcode
Most common fault
Suspension
33.8% of faults · 21.0% nationally
mostly worn arm bushes, split ball-joint boots and broken coil springs.
Part only £35–£75 for Suspension pin or bush excessively worn. What fitting it takes →
0.9 pts down across model years — 6.2% in 2003, 5.3% in 2019.
Which year to buy
- Best 2019 91.6% pass
- Avoid 2000 72.0% pass
Across the 22 years on record, a spread of 19.6 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 79.7%
- Typical mileage
- 64k mi
The 2016 Subaru Forester MOT pass rate is 83.0% of its MOT tests — 1.0 points behind what its age and mileage predict. Suspension is the biggest single reason it fails, at 33.8% of what testers record.
Expert verdict
Suspension: 1.6× the national share
Suspension accounts for 33.8% of everything recorded on the 2016 Subaru Forester, against 21.0% nationally — 12.8 points above. Ask for the front and rear suspension to be checked on a ramp before you buy — worn bushes and broken springs are cheap to look at and expensive to discover at test time.
- When it fails, it costs. Only 16% 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 Subaru Forester? Get an email when these numbers change .
How does the 2016 Subaru Forester compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 84.0%, so this figure is 1.0 points behind what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 79.7%. The median 2016 Subaru Forester in this dataset had covered 64,125 mi.
50% of the tests on this vehicle ran on Petrol, which passed 85.0% of the time. Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 83.2% of the time, April–September 82.7%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn", noted on 4.78% of tests.
- 4,209 recorded tests behind this page.
- 83.0% overall pass rate, 79.7% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the Subaru Forester, the average is 78.9% — best year 2019 (91.6%), worst 2000 (72.0%).
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
- 4,209
- Typical mileage (median)
- 64,125 mi
- Make and model
- Subaru Forester
- Updated
- 2026-11-07
Source: DVSA anonymised MOT test data (2023–2025), OGL v3.0.
Top part to budget for
Suspension Component
Typically a garage job — get quotes before committing.
Does mileage affect the Forester MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 68% so small gaps stay visible.
Fuel type and reliability
Pass rate by fuel type. Petrol is the most common here (50% of tests).
Where the Subaru Forester is most common
Across all Forester model years on record (2000–2021): 20,436 Subaru Forester cars tested in a recordable postcode area, across 50,488 tests. Guildford (GU) has the most, with 568 cars tested there. Cars are counted by the postcode area of the MOT station, so this is where they were tested, not necessarily where their owners live.
| # | Postcode area | Cars | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Guildford (GU) | 568 | 79.6% |
| 2 | Ashford (TN) | 550 | 81.9% |
| 3 | Sheffield (S) | 451 | 81.1% |
| 4 | Gloucester (GL) | 421 | 75.3% |
| 5 | Newcastle upon Tyne (NE) | 417 | 82.3% |
| 6 | Newton Abbot (TQ) | 411 | 78.7% |
| 7 | Exeter (EX) | 403 | 70.7% |
| 8 | Reading (RG) | 387 | 80.3% |
| 9 | Taunton (TA) | 369 | 78.2% |
| 10 | Birmingham (B) | 354 | 84.1% |
| 11 | Edinburgh (EH) | 353 | 77.4% |
| 12 | Oxford (OX) | 326 | 79.2% |
| 13 | Swindon (SN) | 316 | 78.7% |
| 14 | Coventry (CV) | 314 | 81.1% |
| 15 | High Wycombe (HP) | 311 | 84.3% |
| 16 | Ipswich (IP) | 308 | 76.7% |
| 17 | Leeds (LS) | 301 | 82.4% |
| 18 | Inverness (IV) | 300 | 78.9% |
| 19 | Crawley (RH) | 298 | 79.7% |
| 20 | Newport (NP) | 286 | 82.0% |
The twenty areas with the most Subaru Forester cars in the record, sorted by car count — sort the columns for a different question. Cars tested at a station whose postcode area could not be resolved are counted in the model's total but in no area, so the shares add up to slightly under 100% even across every area, and an area's cars are a subset of the model's. Pass rate is blank below 30 tests in an area, where a percentage is noise rather than a finding. How this model's pass rate varies by postcode →
Regional pass rates for the Forester
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| Scotland | 801 | 78.0% |
| South East | 738 | 84.6% |
| South West | 620 | 83.9% |
| East of England | 474 | 82.7% |
| Yorkshire | 316 | 82.6% |
| North West | 307 | 82.1% |
| West Midlands | 300 | 86.0% |
| North East | 239 | 85.4% |
| Wales | 185 | 85.9% |
| East Midlands | 166 | 88.6% |
| London | 63 | 79.4% |
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 2016 Forester
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 2016 Forester
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 4.8% of tests
“pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn”
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 coil springs 4.6% 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 windscreen 2.5% 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 2016 Forester through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £33–£95 — and 16% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £33–£95
- 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
- 16%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 4,209 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 Forester, side by side
22 model years on record, from 2000 to 2021. Across them the pass rate runs from 72.0% to 91.6% — a spread of 19.6 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2000 72.0% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2001 72.6% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2002 74.1% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2003 73.7% headlamp lens slightly defective
- 2004 75.2% headlamp lens slightly defective
- 2005 74.3% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2006 73.6% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2007 75.0% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2008 76.4% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2009 73.5% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2010 73.8% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2011 77.9% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2012 78.1% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2013 78.3% pins and bushes pin or bush…
- 2014 79.9% pins and bushes pin or bush…
- 2015 81.4% coil spring fractured or broken
- 2016 83.0%pins and bushes pin or bush…
- 2017 87.1% pins and bushes pin or bush…
- 2018 89.1% pins and bushes pin or bush…
- 2019 91.6% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2020 88.8% headlamp lens slightly defective
- 2021 83.0% 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 2016 Subaru Forester 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 2016 cars with a similar record
- Abarth 595 83.0%
- Volkswagen Polo 82.9%
- Audi A1 82.9%
- Ford Ecosport 83.1%
- Kia Sorento 83.2%
- Peugeot 208 82.6%
Closest pass rates among 2016 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 2016 Subaru Forester 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 4,839 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 | 1,642 | 33.80% | 20.98% | +12.82 |
| Tyres | 1,015 | 20.90% | 19.76% | +1.14 |
| Brakes | 997 | 20.50% | 20.89% | −0.39 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 315 | 6.50% | 12.21% | −5.71 |
| Visibility | 241 | 5.00% | 4.97% | +0.03 |
| Non-component advisories | 198 | 4.10% | 4.18% | −0.08 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 143 | 2.90% | 5.52% | −2.62 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 121 | 2.50% | 5.57% | −3.07 |
| Identification of the vehicle | 106 | 2.20% | 1.76% | +0.44 |
| Steering | 61 | 1.30% | 2.57% | −1.27 |
The exact failure items, in the tester's words
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn Suspension | Major | 4.8% | £40–150 |
| Coil spring fractured or broken Suspension | Major | 4.6% | £25–65 |
| Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view Visibility | Minor | 2.5% | £80–200 |
| Ball joint excessively worn Suspension | Major | 1.5% | £18–45 |
| Registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 1.5% | £5–20 |
| Has a cut in excess of the requirements deep enough to reach the ply or cords Tyres | Major | 1.4% | £45–95 |
| Brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick Brakes | Major | 0.93% | £18–45 |
| Wheel bearings rough when rotated Suspension | Major | 0.83% | £20–55 |
| Malfunction indicator lamp inoperative or indicates a malfunction Noise, emissions and leaks | Major | 0.78% | £3–12 |
| Wipers blade defective Visibility | Minor | 0.78% | £8–22 |
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 | 17.6% | £40–150 |
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Advisory | 10.4% | £45–95 |
| Brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick Brakes | Advisory | 7.8% | £18–45 |
| Has a tear, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres | Advisory | 7.2% | £45–95 |
| Brake discs in such a condition that it is seriously weakened Brakes | Advisory | 6.9% | £45–110 |
| Ball joint excessively worn Suspension | Advisory | 2.4% | £18–45 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 292 | 89.0% | 23,277 mi |
| 30-60k | 1,579 | 87.0% | 46,685 mi |
| 60-90k | 1,485 | 81.0% | 73,476 mi |
| 90-120k | 596 | 77.0% | 102,901 mi |
| 120k+ | 257 | 76.7% | 139,994 mi |
Source: 4,209 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.
2016 Forester MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2016 Subaru Forester?
83.0% of the 4,209 2016 Subaru Forester tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 84.0% for cars first used in 2016. First-attempt pass rate: 79.7%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2016 Subaru Forester?
The three most recorded items are pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn (4.78%), coil spring fractured or broken (4.63%), windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view (2.49%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2016 Subaru Forester MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 89.0% of the time, falling to 76.7% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2016 Subaru Forester in this dataset had covered 64,125 mi.
Which fuel type is most reliable for a 2016 Subaru Forester?
Petrol: 85.0% pass rate across 2,124 tests. Diesel: 81.0% pass rate across 2,079 tests. Shares are of the tests on this vehicle that recorded each fuel type.
Does the season affect the 2016 Subaru Forester MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 83.2% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 82.7%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.