Reliability report
Ford Escort reliability and common faults
Based on 11,889 roadworthiness tests, led by the UK MOT. Each country is compared only with its own average for cars of the same age.
🇬🇧 United Kingdom · MOT
17.3%
fail rate · average 31.4%
much better than average
9,400 MOT tests (DVSA)
🇱🇹 Lithuania · inspection
29.8%
first-time pass · average 35.2%
much worse than average
2,489 inspections
Testing regimes differ from country to country – don’t compare the figures between countries; compare each one only with its own average. MOT data: contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
Weak spots
What goes wrong on the Ford Escort
How often each area fails compared with the average car of the same age (vertical line = average, 100%). Red – more often than average.
Driving controls
Seat belts and airbags
Exhaust and emissions
Body and structure
Brakes
Visibility
Suspension
Lights and electrics
Plates and identification
Wheels
Tyres
Steering
Results by vehicle age
| Age | 🇬🇧 MOT fail rate | 🇳🇱 APK defects |
|---|---|---|
| 21+ years | 17.3% avg 31.4% | — |
🇱🇹 First-time pass rate in Lithuania – by year of manufacture
| Year | Escort | Average for year | Inspections |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | 43.8% | 39.6% | 32 |
| 1999 | 26.9% | 38.6% | 104 |
| 1998 | 26.4% | 37.8% | 273 |
| 1997 | 25.2% | 36.9% | 337 |
| 1996 | 32.6% | 35.8% | 310 |
| 1995 | 26.5% | 34.8% | 362 |
| 1994 | 33.2% | 33.7% | 226 |
| 1993 | 26.9% | 33.4% | 156 |
| 1992 | 24.1% | 33.3% | 133 |
| 1991 | 31.9% | 33.5% | 144 |
| 1990 | 39.4% | 32.4% | 94 |
| 1989 | 34.2% | 32.5% | 76 |
| 1988 | 24.6% | 32.9% | 69 |
| 1987 | 43.6% | 31.8% | 55 |
| 1986 | 34.2% | 34.2% | 38 |
Ford Escort – FAQs
How reliable is the Ford Escort?+
In the UK the Ford Escort fails 17.3% of MOT tests, against an average of 31.4% for cars of the same age – much better than average. In Lithuania 29.8% pass their roadworthiness test first time (average for those years there 35.2%) – much worse than average.
More Ford models
Sources: anonymised MOT test results (DVSA) – contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0; APK inspection defects (RDW, open data); Lithuanian roadworthiness test results (data.gov.lt). Initial tests only; retests are not counted. Photo: Brian Snelson from Hockley, Essex, England, CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons (licence).