Ford S-MAX years to avoid

Based on 78,130 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

Avoid 2006, 2012 to 2014, and 2018 to 2020. The worst is the 2019, which fails its MOT 59% more often than other cars of the same age.

Found a Ford S-MAX 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 S-MAX 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 S-MAX
Registered	MOT tests	Fail rate	vs same-age cars
2006	2,051	43.6%	21% worse
2007	5,881	40.2%	about average
2008	5,451	36.3%	about average
2009	6,695	36.0%	about average
2010	9,500	32.5%	about average
2011	6,768	30.5%	about average
2012	7,257	32.0%	15% worse
2013	6,385	30.2%	18% worse
2014	6,697	29.4%	30% worse
2015	3,292	21.2%	about average
2016	6,875	16.5%	about average
2017	5,318	15.9%	about average
2018	2,429	14.9%	24% worse
2019 Worst	2,333	16.3%	59% worse
2020	1,198	14.4%	57% worse

How this is worked out

Every MOT test recorded by DVSA in 2023 on a Ford S-MAX, 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.