All generations and engines together · 25,286 MOT tests in the 2025 data
Computed from DVSA MOT results, all of Great Britain, 2025. Nothing here is opinion.
Share of tests where each item was recorded. The dark tick is the class average across all tracked models; bars are scaled within each group.
The rows that judge the model rather than its keeper. 1,537 tests in this band.
Tyres, pads and stone chips say more about how the car was driven and maintained than about how it was built.
Owner folklore from forums and the motoring press. Most of it never shows up in an MOT, which is why this section exists at all.
The 7-speed DSG auto can feel hesitant pulling away and jerky when parking or crawling in traffic, with slow kickdown when accelerating out of a junction. It's most noticeable in stop-start town driving and doesn't reliably improve with age. A DSG oil and filter change (VW calls for one every 40,000 miles or so, sooner if the service history is patchy) often settles rough changes; if it doesn't, a clutch pack or mechatronic repair runs into four figures. Manual cars don't get this complaint.
A rattle or squeak from the passenger side near the windscreen, usually traced to the air vent surround or dash mouldings, comes up repeatedly in owner reviews. RAC's used-buying guide separately flags general creaking and rattling from interior trim as a T-Cross weak point. It's a nuisance rather than a safety issue, and dealers often need two or three attempts to actually cure it under warranty.
A safety recall covers curtain airbag units where the gas generator's weld to the outlet pipe was not reliable, meaning the airbag might not deploy properly in a side impact. This is a genuine manufacturer recall, not forum speculation, so check the car's recall status by registration before buying and get confirmation the work has been done. The fix is free at a dealer where it applies.
A software fault in the instrument cluster control unit has been the subject of a manufacturer recall, causing warning lights or readouts to misbehave. Separately, some owners report random dashboard error codes appearing specifically in wet weather, in at least one documented case traced to water reaching wiring behind the door sill trim. Usually a free software update or a trim/wiring repair at a dealer, but worth testing on a wet-weather drive before you buy.
The now-discontinued 1.6 TDI can suffer the usual DPF clogging if it only ever does short runs, bringing on warning lights and rough running until it gets a proper motorway run or a forced regeneration. This is the standard small-diesel problem rather than anything T-Cross specific, and it mostly hits early, low-mileage, town-bound cars. A car with a genuinely mixed-driving history rarely suffers, and there's no equivalent issue on the petrol range.
RAC's used-buying notes flag clockspring failures on the T-Cross, the electrical connector that spins with the steering wheel, taking out the horn, airbag warning light and steering wheel controls together when it fails. That's a different fault to what usually fails an MOT under "steering": testers are mostly picking up worn track rod ends, play in the rack or power steering faults, not a dead clockspring. Steering is the measured weak point for this class, but the electrical fault owners describe and the mechanical wear MOT testers catch are not the same thing, so a clean steering MOT history doesn't rule this one out.
Built from the two sections above.
Same segment (Small SUVs), best MOT record first. Compare before you shortlist.