Ford Kuga: which years to avoid

Based on 257,615 real MOT tests from DVSA records. Each year is compared against every other car first registered the same year — otherwise the numbers would only tell you that older cars fail more, which you knew.

The short answer

No model year stands out as one to avoid. Every year sits within 15% of the failure rate for cars of the same age. The 2016 is the strongest, failing 21% less often than average.

Found a Ford Kuga you like?

Averages tell you what to expect. Its registration tells you what actually happened — every MOT, every advisory, and whether the mileage adds up.

Every Kuga model year

Shaded rows are the years that differ most from other cars of the same age — worse, better.

MOT failure rate by registration year for the Ford Kuga
Registered	MOT tests	Fail rate	vs same-age cars
2008	2,894	30.3%	about average
2009	8,076	32.4%	about average
2010	9,774	32.5%	about average
2011	9,203	30.9%	about average
2012	9,579	28.8%	about average
2013	12,934	20.9%	18% better
2014	22,840	18.8%	17% better
2015	30,824	16.2%	17% better
2016	33,418	13.4%	21% better
2017	36,993	11.8%	18% better
2018	38,863	11.1%	about average
2019	41,002	9.7%	about average
2020	1,215	7.3%	21% better

How this is worked out

Every MOT test recorded by DVSA in 2023 on a Ford Kuga, grouped by the year the car was first registered. Retests are excluded, so a car that failed and was fixed still counts as a failure. Each year's rate is then divided by the rate for all cars first registered that year — so 120 means 20% more failures than its contemporaries, not 20% more than a brand new car.

Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.