Hyundai I30 MOT pass rate & common failures

At a glance

Pass rate, adjusted for age and mileage

The I30 is 3.6 percentage points below the national pass rate once age and mileage are accounted for, which is below average. The unadjusted figure is 64.6%; the difference is what the age and mileage of this model’s fleet was hiding.

DVSA recorded wording

Most common failure items

Share of failed Hyundai I30 tests in which each item was recorded. One failed test often lists several items, so these do not sum to 100%.

1. 1.Parking brake efficiency below minimum requirement16.3%

   4,748 occurrencesParking brake efficiency too low explained

2. 2.A steering ball joint with excessive wear or free play16.2%

   4,706 occurrencesBall joint worn explained

3. 3.Tyre tread depth not in accordance with the requirements13.5%

   3,923 occurrencesTyre worn close to the legal limit explained

4. 4.Stop lamp missing, inoperative or in the case of a multiple light source more than 1/2 not functioning13.3%

   3,873 occurrencesStop lamp not working explained

5. 5.A lamp missing, inoperative or in the case of a multiple light source more than 1/2 not functioning9.9%

   2,884 occurrencesLamp not working explained

6. 6.A brake lining or pad worn below 1.5mm9.8%

   2,869 occurrencesBrake drum or shoe worn or contaminated explained

7. 7.Parking brake inoperative on one side9.1%

   2,642 occurrencesParking brake efficiency too low explained

8. 8.A headlamp or light source missing, inoperative or more than ½ not functioning in the case of LED8.2%

   2,385 occurrencesHeadlamp not working explained

9. 9.A suspension pin, bush or joint excessively worn7.9%

   2,307 occurrencesSuspension arm bush worn explained

10. 10.A suspension pin, bush or joint excessively worn7.1%

    2,071 occurrencesSuspension arm bush worn explained

Warnings without a failure

Most common advisories

Share of all Hyundai I30 tests carrying each advisory. The denominator differs from the failure list above because an advisory can be issued on a car that passed.

1. 1.Tyre tread depth not in accordance with the requirements27.6%

   28,137 testsTyre worn close to the legal limit explained

2. 2.Brake disc or drum excessively weakened, insecure or fractured16.3%

   16,597 testsBrake disc worn, pitted or scored explained

3. 3.A tyre seriously damaged13.4%

   13,630 testsTyre damaged or deteriorated explained

4. 4.A suspension pin, bush or joint excessively worn12.5%

   12,766 testsSuspension arm bush worn explained

5. 5.A brake lining or pad worn below 1.5mm10.9%

   11,156 testsBrake drum or shoe worn or contaminated explained

6. 6.A spring or spring component fractured or seriously weakened7.5%

   7,654 testsRoad spring broken or fractured explained

7. 7.A suspension component excessively damaged or corroded6.9%

   7,018 testsSuspension mounting corroded or insecure explained

8. 8.A suspension component excessively damaged or corroded6.3%

   6,468 testsSuspension mounting corroded or insecure explained

How wear changes the picture

Pass rate by vehicle age

Bands holding too few tests to be meaningful are omitted rather than shown as a rate.

What gets tested

The I30 fleet

Average mileage recorded at test

81,588

Across examples of every age, so this is a description of the fleet rather than an annual figure.

Fuel mix of tested cars

Petrol53.2%

Diesel45.0%

Hybrid1.7%

Compare within the range

Other Hyundai models

• Hyundai I10 — 67.7% adjusted
• Hyundai Tucson — 74.8% adjusted
• Hyundai I20 — 70.0% adjusted
• Hyundai Kona — 86.3% unadjusted
• Hyundai IX35 — 63.8% unadjusted
• Hyundai Ioniq — 86.2% unadjusted
• All Hyundai models →

Similar test volumes

Compare against other makes

• Mini Countryman — 79.9% adjusted, ranked 56
• Vauxhall Combo — 63.5% adjusted, ranked 236
• Kia Niro — 85.8% adjusted, ranked 15
• Kia Rio — 69.0% adjusted, ranked 181

Common questions

Is the Hyundai I30 reliable?

On MOT evidence the Hyundai I30 is below average. It passes 68.7% of tests once age and mileage are accounted for, against a national average of 72.3%, which ranks it 185 of 262 models with enough data for a fair comparison. This measures how often the car meets the MOT standard, not how often it breaks down or what a repair costs.

What is the most common MOT failure on a Hyundai I30?

The item recorded most often is "Parking brake efficiency below minimum requirement", which appears in 16.3% of failed Hyundai I30 tests. Because one failed test can list several items, these shares do not add up to 100%.

What do testers most often warn about on a Hyundai I30?

The most common advisory is "Tyre tread depth not in accordance with the requirements", noted on 27.6% of all Hyundai I30 tests. An advisory is not a failure: it flags something that will likely need attention before the next test.

What mileage does a Hyundai I30 usually have at its MOT?

The average odometer reading recorded at test is 81,588 miles. This is the mileage across all tested examples of every age, not an annual figure, so treat it as a description of the fleet rather than a target for one car.

Does a Hyundai I30 get harder to pass as it ages?

Yes. At 3 to 5 years old, 87.6% of Hyundai I30 tests pass. By fifteen years or more, that falls to 52.3%. Nearly every model follows this pattern, which is why comparing raw pass rates between models is misleading unless age is accounted for.

Are most Hyundai I30 models petrol or diesel?

Of the Hyundai I30 cars tested, 53% are petrol, 45% are diesel, 2% are hybrid. Fuel type affects which items tend to fail, particularly emissions and exhaust components.

How this was worked out

Method and limits

Figures come from the DVSA anonymised MOT testing dataset, published under the Open Government Licence. Only class 4 initial tests are counted: retests are excluded so a car appears once, and abandoned tests are excluded entirely. The adjusted rate is directly standardised across twenty-five age and mileage bands and reweighted onto the national distribution, so this model is compared against cars that have lived a similar life rather than against a younger or lighter-used fleet.

An MOT measures whether a car met a legal standard on the day. It is not a breakdown record, a service history or a running-cost estimate, and a pass rate is a property of a fleet rather than a prediction about one car.

Further reading

Make sense of the numbers

• How to judge reliability from evidence rather than reputation
• What counts as high or low mileage for a car’s age
• The most common MOT failures and how to avoid them
• What to check before buying a used Hyundai