Ford Transit Connect 2018: reliability & common MOT faults

In 2025, 75 in every 100 first MOTs on a 2018 Ford Transit Connect were passes. Most common reason for a fail: Tyre condition (front).

Summary

A 2018 Ford Transit Connect passed first time about 1 in every 100 more often than the average of the 2017 and 2019 model years.

At a glance

How 15,680 first tests went in 2025.

Passed first time
75 in every 100
Did not pass first time
25 in every 1003,987 failed first-attempt tests
The typical car
7 yearsabout 86,758 miles
First tests counted
15,680

What failed most often

  1. Tyre condition (front)11 in every 100 failed tests
  2. Tyre tread depth (front)9 in every 100 failed tests
  3. Brake pads (rear)9 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 2018 Ford Transit Connect vehicles in 2025, not a prediction that any one car will have them. Faults are grouped by part of the car. They come from MOT defect codes, not manufacturer bulletins, recalls or a diagnosis of any one car.

Noise, emissions and leaks

One fault: diesel emissions test (compression-ignition rules for vehicles from 01/01/2014), 4.0 times as often as on similar cars.

Figures below are measured across the 3,987 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.

Diesel emissions test (compression-ignition rules for vehicles from 01/01/2014)

Failed on 167 first tests4.0 times as often as similar carsLikely evidence

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
75in every 100
Passed on the first test.
Fixed at the station
7in every 100
Failed, then fixed at the test station the same day.
Failed
18in every 100
Did not pass, and were not fixed at the test station.

First-attempt pass 74.6% of 15,680 first tests (2025): only cars that passed first time count. Official-style pass 81.6%: cars fixed at the test station also count as a pass. The 7 fixed and the 18 not fixed make the 25 in every 100 that did not pass first time.

Same model, other years

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

4060801002005201020152018Older carsNewer cars
40608010020102018Older cars

Newer cars are younger, so look for a jump rather than the climb. A year earlier (2024), when these cars were a year younger, 74 in every 100 passed first time.

YearPassed first timeFirst tests
200348 in every 1001,656
200448 in every 1002,349
200548 in every 1003,332
200646 in every 1004,900
200747 in every 1005,865
200848 in every 1005,473
200948 in every 1003,846
201049 in every 1004,020
201153 in every 1004,794
201253 in every 1004,871
201358 in every 1003,796
201465 in every 1009,833
201568 in every 10012,339
201670 in every 10013,126
201774 in every 10017,395
2018 This car75 in every 10015,680
201973 in every 10014,001
202073 in every 10010,444
202179 in every 10010,665
202279 in every 1007,683

If you are buying one

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

Mileage matters most on a 2018 Transit Connect.

Of 2018 Transit Connect vehicles with under 57,000 miles, 81 in every 100 passed their 2025 MOT first time. With 120,000 miles or more, 69 in every 100 did.

Under 57,0003,080 tests
81
57,000–77,0003,110 tests
77
77,000–97,000 Typical car3,272 tests
74
97,000–120,0003,025 tests
73
120,000 and over3,188 tests
69

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 57,00077,000–97,000120,000 and over
Tyre condition (front)2.82.93.1
Tyre tread depth (front)1.72.82.8
Brake pads (rear)1.72.72.6
Headlight aim1.22.42.3
Windscreen washers1.32.02.5

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


When a car fails

42in every 100

of failed cars had one item to fix.

29in every 100

of failed cars had three or more items to fix.

8in every 100

of all first tests had a defect the tester marked dangerous (unsafe to drive away).


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.

A 2018 Ford Transit Connect passed first time about 1 in every 100 more often than the average of the 2017 and 2019 model years. In 2025, 74.6% of 15,680 first MOTs on the 2018 Ford Transit Connect passed first time (PRS: items fixed at the station the same day, counted as a fail). The official-style rate including PRS is 81.6%. Among 3,987 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.
Ranked by how often they were actually recorded, the items that most often failed a 2018 Ford Transit Connect at the first attempt were Tyre condition (front) (11.3%), Tyre tread depth (front) (9.3%) and Brake pads (rear) (9.1%), 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.
This page highlights MOT failure patterns for the 2018 Ford Transit Connect (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.
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.

Check any vehicle’s MOT history

Full MOT history, mileage records, and reliability insights for any UK vehicle.

Run a free check