Pass rate
88.9%
Above average — 2.3 pts behind the 91.2% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 54 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £27–£62
2021 Volvo XC90 MOT pass rate
- 2021
- typical 40,106 mi
Only 54 tests of this exact model and year are in the DVSA data, below the 100 we ask for before a page goes in the index. The figures are still shown, because they are the only ones there are.
Most common fault
Tyres
38.3% 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 →
6.5 pts down across model years — 10.8% in 2003, 4.3% in 2020.
Which year to buy
- Best 2020 89.3% pass
- Avoid 2003 70.7% pass
Across the 19 years on record, a spread of 18.6 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 87.8%
- Typical mileage
- 40k mi
The 2021 Volvo XC90 MOT pass rate is 88.9% of its MOT tests — 2.3 points behind what its age and mileage predict. Tyres is the biggest single reason it fails, at 38.3% of what testers record.
Check your postcode
MOT pass rates are national — type your postcode to see how Volvo XC90 does in your corner of the country.
Expert verdict
Tyres: 1.9× the national share
Tyres make up 38.3% of everything recorded on the 2021 Volvo Xc90, against 19.8% nationally — 18.5 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.
- Based on a small sample. 54 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 Volvo XC90? Get an email when these numbers change .
How does the 2021 Volvo XC90 compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 91.2%, so this figure is 2.3 points behind what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 87.8%. The median 2021 Volvo XC90 in this dataset had covered 40,106 mi.
48% of the tests on this vehicle ran on Petrol, which passed 88.5% of the time.
The single most recorded failure item is "Has ply or cords exposed", noted on 3.70% of tests.
- 54 recorded tests behind this page.
- 88.9% overall pass rate, 87.8% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the Volvo XC90, the average is 80.2% — best year 2020 (89.3%), worst 2003 (70.7%).
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
- 54
- Typical mileage (median)
- 40,106 mi
- Make and model
- Volvo XC90
- 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 XC90 MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 72% so small gaps stay visible.
Fuel type and reliability
Pass rate by fuel type. Petrol is the most common here (48% of tests).
Regional pass rates for the XC90
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| East of England | 22 | 90.9% |
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 XC90
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 XC90
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 3.7% 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 1.9% 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 lights 1.9% of tests
“headlamp aim projected beam image is obviously incorrect”
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 XC90 through its MOT
Across the 9 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £27–£62 — and 36% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 9 common items
- £27–£62
- Cheapest common item: malfunction indicator lamp inoperative or…
- £3–£12
- Dearest common item: rbt (sp) efficiency below requirements
- £45–£110
- Common items a careful owner can do at home
- 89%
- Repairs that still cost under £30
- 36%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 54 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 XC90, side by side
19 model years on record, from 2003 to 2021. Across them the pass rate runs from 70.7% to 89.3% — a spread of 18.6 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2003 70.7% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2004 70.9% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2005 71.2% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2006 72.3% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2007 72.6% headlamp lens slightly defective
- 2008 74.1% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2009 75.9% position lamp not working
- 2010 76.7% position lamp not working
- 2011 77.8% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2012 79.9% position lamp not working
- 2013 80.3% position lamp not working
- 2014 80.7% position lamp not working
- 2015 83.6% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2016 84.2% track rod end ball joint has…
- 2017 86.8% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2018 88.2% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2019 88.8% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2020 89.3% has a cut in excess of the…
- 2021 88.9%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 2021 Volvo XC90 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 I10 N 88.9%
- Skoda Enyaq Iv 89.0%
- Kia Ceed 88.8%
- Toyota Hilux Invincible D-4D 88.8%
- Volkswagen Sharan 88.8%
- Skoda Superb 89.1%
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 Volvo XC90 9 failure items · 6 advisories · 9 inspection categories · mileage brackets · all of it in the page, none of it above the fold
Every inspection category
Shares of the 47 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 | 18 | 38.30% | 19.76% | +18.54 |
| Brakes | 10 | 21.30% | 20.89% | +0.41 |
| Non-component advisories | 7 | 14.90% | 4.18% | +10.72 |
| Visibility | 4 | 8.50% | 4.97% | +3.53 |
| Suspension | 2 | 4.30% | 20.98% | −16.68 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 2 | 4.30% | 12.21% | −7.91 |
| Steering | 2 | 4.30% | 2.57% | +1.73 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 1 | 2.10% | 5.52% | −3.42 |
| Identification of the vehicle | 1 | 2.10% | 1.76% | +0.34 |
The exact failure items, in the tester's words
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Has ply or cords exposed Tyres | Major | 3.7% | £45–95 |
| Wipers blade defective Visibility | Minor | 3.7% | £8–22 |
| Brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick Brakes | Major | 1.9% | £18–45 |
| Has a cut in excess of the requirements deep enough to reach the ply or cords Tyres | Major | 1.9% | £45–95 |
| Headlamp aim projected beam image is obviously incorrect Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Rectified | 1.9% | £30–80 |
| Malfunction indicator lamp inoperative or indicates a malfunction Noise, emissions and leaks | Rectified | 1.9% | £3–12 |
| Rbt (sp) efficiency below requirements Brakes | Major | 1.9% | £45–110 |
| Rear fog lamp obviously incorrectly positioned Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 1.9% | £3–15 |
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Major | 1.9% | £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 | 14.8% | £45–95 |
| Brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick Brakes | Advisory | 11.1% | £18–45 |
| Brake discs significantly and obviously worn Brakes | Advisory | 3.7% | £45–110 |
| Driver's view of an obligatory external mirror significantly affected by an obstruction Visibility | Advisory | 3.7% | £20–80 |
| Has a bulge, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres | Advisory | 3.7% | £45–95 |
| Has a tear, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres | Advisory | 3.7% | £45–95 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 14 | 100.0% | 19,517 mi |
| 30-60k | 22 | 81.8% | 40,914 mi |
| 60-90k | 13 | 92.3% | 71,259 mi |
| 90-120k | 5 | 80.0% | 104,307 mi |
Source: 54 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 XC90 MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2021 Volvo XC90?
88.9% of the 54 2021 Volvo XC90 tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 91.2% for cars first used in 2021. First-attempt pass rate: 87.8%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2021 Volvo XC90?
The three most recorded items are has ply or cords exposed (3.70%), wipers blade defective (3.70%), brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick (1.85%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2021 Volvo XC90 MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 100.0% of the time, falling to 80.0% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2021 Volvo XC90 in this dataset had covered 40,106 mi.
Which fuel type is most reliable for a 2021 Volvo XC90?
Petrol: 88.5% pass rate across 26 tests. Diesel: 81.8% pass rate across 11 tests. Hybrid: 90.9% pass rate across 11 tests. Shares are of the tests on this vehicle that recorded each fuel type.