Ford Mondeo 2020: reliability & common MOT faults

At a glance

How 2,109 first tests went in 2025.

Passed first time: 85 in every 100
Did not pass first time: 15 in every 100306 failed first-attempt tests
The typical car: 5 yearsabout 52,198 miles
First tests counted: 2,109

What failed most often

Tyre condition (front)20 in every 100 failed tests

How we count this. Data: UK MOT open data, 2025. Only Class 4 cars on their first MOT of the year are counted. A car that fails and is fixed at the test station still counts as a fail in the first-attempt rate. These are raw results, not adjusted for age, mileage, or peer mix. The MOT does not test engine or gearbox internals.

Note:

These are patterns across 2020 Ford Mondeo vehicles in 2025, not a prediction that any one car will have them. Faults are grouped by part of the car. A wear pattern follows age and use more than the way the car was built. They come from MOT defect codes, not manufacturer bulletins, recalls or a diagnosis of any one car.

Tyres

One wear pattern: tyre tread depth (rear), 2.3 times as often as on similar cars.

Figures below are measured across the 306 failed first attempts in 2025 that had a mileage recorded, which allows a like-for-like comparison.

We only list faults with at least 20 failures and a rate of about 2.0 times that of similar cars, which keeps one-off results out of the list.

Tyre tread depth (rear)

Failed on 29 first tests2.3 times as often as similar carsWear pattern

What it means

Only primary grooves count when tread depth is assessed: those holding the wear indicators, or cut as deep as those when new. Shallower secondary grooves are ignored. Tread depth below the minimum for the vehicle is Dangerous, and so is a pattern not visible over the whole tread, but that second row applies only to vehicles that need the lower minimum.

Data: UK MOT open data, 2025. Compared with cars of the same age and mileage.

MOT pass rates

How first tests ended, and how the pass rates are counted.

Passed first time: 85in every 100; Passed on the first test.
Fixed at the station: 3in every 100; Failed, then fixed at the test station the same day.
Failed: 12in every 100; Did not pass, and were not fixed at the test station.

First-attempt pass 85.5% of 2,109 first tests (2025): only cars that passed first time count. Official-style pass 88.3%: cars fixed at the test station also count as a pass. The 3 fixed and the 12 not fixed make the 15 in every 100 that did not pass first time.

By fuel type

First testsTypical mileagePassed first time, as testedPassed first time, same mileage

Diesel1,33455,074 miles8484

Hybrid76848,220 miles8887

Figures are in every 100 first tests. Cars with more miles usually fail more often, so the same-mileage figure gives every fuel the mileage mix of all the cars in this year.

Same model, other years

Passed first time in every 100, all tested in 2025.

Newer cars are younger, so look for a jump rather than the climb. A year earlier (2024), when these cars were a year younger, 83 in every 100 passed first time.

Year	Passed first time	First tests
1999	59 in every 100	306
2000	57 in every 100	510
2001	57 in every 100	1,078
2002	55 in every 100	1,230
2003	55 in every 100	1,585
2004	55 in every 100	2,718
2005	55 in every 100	4,306
2006	56 in every 100	5,209
2007	54 in every 100	8,021
2008	55 in every 100	10,601
2009	57 in every 100	11,969
2010	58 in every 100	12,696
2011	62 in every 100	11,464
2012	64 in every 100	14,056
2013	65 in every 100	11,442
2014	67 in every 100	10,556
2015	76 in every 100	16,373
2016	80 in every 100	15,241
2017	82 in every 100	10,343
2018	83 in every 100	6,594
2019	84 in every 100	4,107
2020 This car	85 in every 100	2,109
2021	84 in every 100	1,063
2022	86 in every 100	456

If you are buying one

What this year's MOT record means for the decision in front of you.

Mileage matters most on a 2020 Mondeo.

Of 2020 Mondeo vehicles with under 31,000 miles, 90 in every 100 passed their 2025 MOT first time. With 84,000 miles or more, 81 in every 100 did.

Under 31,000421 tests

90

31,000–45,000417 tests

87

45,000–61,000 Typical car425 tests

87

61,000–84,000429 tests

83

84,000 and over416 tests

81

Which fuel?

	Typical mileage	Passed first time, as tested	Passed first time, same mileage
Diesel	55,074 miles	84	84
Hybrid	48,220 miles	88	87

Figures are in every 100 first tests. Hybrid cars look better on the raw figures only because diesel cars have done more miles (typically 55,074 against 48,220). At the same mileage there is no clear difference between the two.

What to check at your mileage

How often each fault turned up on a failed first test, by the car's mileage. Read it as: what is likely to need looking at on a car like the one in front of you.

	Under 31,000	45,000–61,000	84,000 and over
Tyre condition (front)	1.9	2.8	2.2

Faults per 100 first tests, by the car's mileage at the test.

Every figure here is a first-attempt MOT rate from DVSA open data for this model line, for cars of this model year tested in 2025. Each mileage band holds a fifth of the tests. MOTs do not test engine or gearbox internals, so this is a pre-purchase checklist, not a full reliability score.

FAQs

Short answers about how to read this model-year guide.

Is the 2020 Ford Mondeo reliable?

The 2020 Ford Mondeo follows the pattern of the model years either side. Its main cause of failure was Tyre condition (front), about 20 in every 100 failed tests. In 2025, 85.5% of 2,109 first MOTs on the 2020 Ford Mondeo passed first time (PRS: items fixed at the station the same day, counted as a fail). The official-style rate including PRS is 88.3%. Among 306 failed first-attempt MOT tests (test year 2025), we highlight MOT failure patterns that show up more often than on cars of a similar age and mileage when the sample is large enough to trust. There is no single reliability score here; this is a pre-purchase checklist built from DVSA open data, not a guarantee for any individual car.

What is most likely to fail on a 2020 Ford Mondeo?

Ranked by how often they were actually recorded, the items that most often failed a 2020 Ford Mondeo at the first attempt were Tyre condition (front) (19.6%), each as a share of the year's failed first attempts. That is what goes wrong most often on the car. The common faults table shows a different measure: faults that are unusual compared with similar cars.

What does this Ford Mondeo 2020 MOT report cover?

This page highlights MOT failure patterns for the 2020 Ford Mondeo (registration year) using UK DVSA open data for the selected test year. Patterns are compared with cars of a similar age and mileage. It is a buyer checklist from MOT defect statistics, not a full service history or manufacturer service-bulletin list.

Does this include engine and gearbox problems?

No. MOT tests do not cover engine internals, gearboxes, or many electronic modules. Patterns here come from MOT defect statistics only and should not be read as engine or gearbox reliability scores.

About this data

How this page is built and what it can (and can't) say.

These figures come from UK MOT open data for this model year. We surface common failure patterns against similar cars, not a full reliability score, and not a pass/fail verdict on any individual vehicle.

2024 2025

What we include

UK Class 4 cars only. Normal MOT tests (not retests); first test per vehicle per calendar year; results pass, PRS, or fail.

Same-day repairs

PRS means the car failed items that were fixed at the test station and then passed the same day. We count PRS as a first-attempt fail in headline rates so same-day repairs do not hide problems.

How we compare

We compare this model year with other Class 4 cars of similar age and mileage in the same test year. This model family is left out of the peer group so the car is not measured against itself.

What this does not cover

MOTs do not cover engine internals, gearboxes, or many electronics; this is not a full reliability score.
Common faults come from MOT defect stats, not manufacturer TSBs or recalls.
Age and mileage matching reduces, but does not remove, differences in how cars were used and maintained.
If the data for a car is too thin to say anything useful, we say so rather than guess.

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