Pass rate
91.5%
Above average — 0.3 pts ahead of the 91.2% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 189 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £41–£101
2021 Subaru Outback Field Sym MOT pass rate
- 2021
- typical 30,840 mi
Check your postcode
Most common fault
Tyres
38.2% of faults · 19.8% nationally
mostly tread below the limit, cuts and sidewall bulges.
Which year to buy
- Best 2022 96.0% pass
- Avoid 2021 91.5% pass · this year
Across the 2 years on record, a spread of 4.5 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 90.8%
- Typical mileage
- 31k mi
The 2021 Subaru Outback Field Sym MOT pass rate is 91.5% of its MOT tests — about what its age and mileage predict. Tyres is the biggest single reason it fails, at 38.2% of what testers record.
Expert verdict
Tyres: 1.9× the national share
Tyres make up 38.2% of everything recorded on the 2021 Subaru Outback Field Sym, against 19.8% nationally — 18.4 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.
- When it fails, it costs. Only 12% 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.
- Based on a small sample. 189 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 Subaru Outback Field Sym? Get an email when these numbers change .
How does the 2021 Subaru Outback Field Sym compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 91.2%, so this figure is 0.3 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 90.8%. The median 2021 Subaru Outback Field Sym in this dataset had covered 30,840 mi.
Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 97.0% of the time, April–September 90.4%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick", noted on 3.17% of tests.
- 189 recorded tests behind this page.
- 91.5% overall pass rate, 90.8% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the Subaru Outback Field Sym, the average is 93.3% — best year 2022 (96.0%), worst 2021 (91.5%).
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
- 189
- Typical mileage (median)
- 30,840 mi
- Make and model
- Subaru Outback Field Sym
- Updated
- 2026-11-07
Source: DVSA anonymised MOT test data (2023–2025), OGL v3.0.
Top part to budget for
Brake Pads Set
Usually a DIY or independent-garage job.
Does mileage affect the Outback Field Sym MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 72% so small gaps stay visible.
Regional pass rates for the Outback Field Sym
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| Scotland | 64 | 90.6% |
| South West | 25 | 92.0% |
| South East | 20 | 95.0% |
| Yorkshire | 18 | 94.4% |
| West Midlands | 16 | 93.8% |
| East of England | 16 | 81.3% |
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 Outback Field Sym
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 Outback Field Sym
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 brakes 3.2% 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.
-
Check the windscreen 2.6% 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.
-
Check the brake pipes 1.1% of tests
“flexible brake hoses excessively twisted”
Brake pipes run under the car, usually in front of the rear wheels. Flaking or crusty metal is what fails; a light dusting of surface rust does not. Worth asking a garage to look while it is on a ramp.
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 Outback Field Sym through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £41–£101 — and 12% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £41–£101
- Cheapest common item: front fog lamps not working
- £3–£15
- Dearest common item: other body component component damaged
- £80–£250
- Common items a careful owner can do at home
- 60%
- Repairs that still cost under £30
- 12%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 189 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 Outback Field Sym, side by side
2 model years on record, from 2021 to 2022. Across them the pass rate runs from 91.5% to 96.0% — a spread of 4.5 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2021 91.5%brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick
- 2022 96.0% brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick
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 Subaru Outback Field Sym 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
- Hyundai Tucson 91.5%
- Hyundai Kona 91.5%
- Vauxhall Crossland 91.5%
- Cupra Formentor V2 91.5%
- Volkswagen Golf R 91.5%
- BMW X4 XDRIVE20D 91.5%
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 Subaru Outback Field Sym 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 110 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 | 42 | 38.20% | 19.76% | +18.44 |
| Brakes | 34 | 30.90% | 20.89% | +10.01 |
| Suspension | 11 | 10.00% | 20.98% | −10.98 |
| Non-component advisories | 10 | 9.10% | 4.18% | +4.92 |
| Visibility | 8 | 7.30% | 4.97% | +2.33 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 2 | 1.80% | 12.21% | −10.41 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 2 | 1.80% | 5.52% | −3.72 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 1 | 0.90% | 5.57% | −4.67 |
The exact failure items, in the tester's words
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick Brakes | Major | 3.2% | £18–45 |
| Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view Visibility | Minor | 2.6% | £80–200 |
| Has ply or cords exposed Tyres | Major | 2.1% | £45–95 |
| Has a cut in excess of the requirements deep enough to reach the ply or cords Tyres | Major | 1.6% | £45–95 |
| Flexible brake hoses excessively twisted Brakes | Major | 1.1% | £25–70 |
| Wipers does not clear the windscreen effectively Visibility | Rectified | 1.1% | £8–22 |
| Front fog lamps not working Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 0.53% | £3–15 |
| Headlamp aim too high Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Rectified | 0.53% | £30–80 |
| Other body component component damaged and likely to cause injury Body, chassis, structure | Rectified | 0.53% | £80–250 |
| Service brake performance efficiency below requirements Brakes | Major | 0.53% | £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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Advisory | 11.1% | £45–95 |
| Brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick Brakes | Advisory | 9.0% | £18–45 |
| Pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn Suspension | Advisory | 4.8% | £40–150 |
| Has a tear, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres | Advisory | 3.7% | £45–95 |
| Non-component advisories Child Seat fitted not allowing full inspection of adult belt Non-component advisories | Advisory | 3.2% | £20–80 |
| Brake discs in such a condition that it is seriously weakened Brakes | Advisory | 2.6% | £45–110 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 91 | 95.6% | 21,073 mi |
| 30-60k | 83 | 89.2% | 39,247 mi |
| 60-90k | 15 | 80.0% | 68,817 mi |
Source: 189 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 Outback Field Sym MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2021 Subaru Outback Field Sym?
91.5% of the 189 2021 Subaru Outback Field Sym tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 91.2% for cars first used in 2021. First-attempt pass rate: 90.8%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2021 Subaru Outback Field Sym?
The three most recorded items are brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick (3.17%), windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view (2.65%), has ply or cords exposed (2.12%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2021 Subaru Outback Field Sym MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 95.6% of the time, falling to 80.0% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2021 Subaru Outback Field Sym in this dataset had covered 30,840 mi.
Does the season affect the 2021 Subaru Outback Field Sym MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 97.0% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 90.4%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.