Hyundai Santa FE MOT pass rate & common failures

At a glance

Pass rate, adjusted for age and mileage

The Santa FE is 0.1 percentage points below the national pass rate once age and mileage are accounted for, which is about average. The unadjusted figure is 68.8%; 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 Santa FE tests in which each item was recorded. One failed test often lists several items, so these do not sum to 100%.

1. 1.A suspension pin, bush or joint excessively worn15.3%

   1,333 occurrencesSuspension arm bush worn explained

2. 2.A lamp missing, inoperative or in the case of a multiple light source more than 1/2 not functioning14.2%

   1,239 occurrencesLamp not working explained

3. 3.A transmission shaft constant velocity joint boot missing or no longer prevents the ingress of dirt etc12.5%

   1,092 occurrencesDriveshaft CV joint gaiter split or missing explained

4. 4.Tyre tread depth not in accordance with the requirements12.5%

   1,090 occurrencesTyre worn close to the legal limit explained

5. 5.A brake lining or pad worn below 1.5mm11.8%

   1,032 occurrencesBrake drum or shoe worn or contaminated explained

6. 6.A steering ball joint with excessive wear or free play11.8%

   1,031 occurrencesBall joint worn explained

7. 7.A tyre cords visible or damaged8.4%

   735 occurrencesTyre ply or cord exposed, or the casing separating explained

8. 8.Stop lamp missing, inoperative or in the case of a multiple light source more than 1/2 not functioning8.0%

   695 occurrencesStop lamp not working explained

9. 9.A suspension pin, bush or joint excessively worn7.4%

   648 occurrencesSuspension arm bush worn explained

10. 10.A suspension pin, bush or joint excessively worn7.3%

    635 occurrencesSuspension arm bush worn explained

Warnings without a failure

Most common advisories

Share of all Hyundai Santa FE 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 requirements30.0%

   10,018 testsTyre worn close to the legal limit explained

2. 2.A brake lining or pad worn below 1.5mm13.6%

   4,535 testsBrake drum or shoe worn or contaminated explained

3. 3.Brake disc or drum excessively weakened, insecure or fractured12.5%

   4,175 testsBrake disc worn, pitted or scored explained

4. 4.Brake pipe damaged or excessively corroded10.2%

   3,410 testsBrake pipe corroded explained

5. 5.A suspension pin, bush or joint excessively worn9.8%

   3,287 testsSuspension arm bush worn explained

6. 6.A spring or spring component fractured or seriously weakened9.0%

   3,001 testsRoad spring broken or fractured explained

7. 7.A tyre seriously damaged7.7%

   2,574 testsTyre damaged or deteriorated explained

8. 8.A suspension component excessively damaged or corroded7.4%

   2,486 testsSuspension mounting corroded or insecure explained

The rest of the record

Everything else recorded on the Hyundai Santa FE

The 15 other defects testers recorded on this model, beyond the most common listed above. Each links to what it means and what it takes to put right.

• Direction indicator not working6.9%
• Wiper or washer not working properly6.1%
• Shock absorber defective5.1%
• Headlamp not working4.4%
• Parking brake efficiency too low4.2%
• Suspension joint dust cover missing or split4.1%
• Registration plate missing, insecure or illegible4.0%
• Headlamp aim incorrect3.6%
• Brake hose deteriorated, damaged or chafing2.4%
• Engine management light on, or not working2.1%
• Brake binding or imbalanced across an axle1.9%
• Steering rack gaiter split, damaged or missing1.7%
• Lamp of the wrong colour, position or intensity1.6%
• Exhaust leaking or insecure0.8%
• Corrosion in a structural area0.4%

How wear changes the picture

Santa FE pass rate by age and registration year

How often the Hyundai Santa FE passes at each age, with the years those cars were first registered. Tests are from 2025, so a car aged 3 to 5 was first used in 2020–2022.

Read this as an age curve rather than a verdict on particular model years. Nearly every car passes less often as it gets older, so a newer Santa FE outscoring an older one says more about wear than about how that year’s cars were built. Bands holding too few tests to be meaningful are omitted rather than shown as a rate.

What gets tested

The Santa FE fleet

Average mileage recorded at test

87,578

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

Fuel mix of tested cars

Diesel88.4%

Hybrid9.2%

Petrol2.4%

Compare within the range

Other Hyundai models

• Hyundai I10 — 67.7% adjusted
• Hyundai Tucson — 74.8% adjusted
• Hyundai I20 — 70.0% adjusted
• Hyundai I30 — 68.7% adjusted
• Hyundai Kona — 86.3% unadjusted
• Hyundai IX35 — 63.8% unadjusted
• All Hyundai models →

Similar test volumes

Compare against other makes

• DS DS3 — 68.0% adjusted, ranked 197
• Mercedes-Benz GLE — 87.6% adjusted, ranked 11
• Renault Scenic — 61.8% adjusted, ranked 248
• Porsche Boxster — 85.7% adjusted, ranked 16

Common questions

Is the Hyundai Santa FE reliable?

On MOT evidence the Hyundai Santa FE is about average. It passes 72.2% of tests once age and mileage are accounted for, against a national average of 72.3%, which ranks it 145 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 Santa FE?

The item recorded most often is "A suspension pin, bush or joint excessively worn", which appears in 15.3% of failed Hyundai Santa FE 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 Santa FE?

The most common advisory is "Tyre tread depth not in accordance with the requirements", noted on 30.0% of all Hyundai Santa FE tests. An advisory is not a failure: it flags something that will likely need attention before the next test.

What mileage does a Hyundai Santa FE usually have at its MOT?

The average odometer reading recorded at test is 87,578 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.

Which Hyundai Santa FE years are the most reliable?

Going by MOT pass rate, Hyundai Santa FE cars first registered 2020–2022 do best at 89.1%, and those registered 2010 and earlier do worst at 53.6%. But that ordering is mostly age, not build year: almost every model passes less often as it wears, so the newest cars top this list whatever they are. A specific year looking strong here means little on its own; the failure items above, and the individual car's own MOT history, tell you far more.

Does a Hyundai Santa FE get harder to pass as it ages?

Yes. At 3 to 5 years old, 89.1% of Hyundai Santa FE tests pass. By fifteen years or more, that falls to 53.6%. 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 Santa FE models petrol or diesel?

Of the Hyundai Santa FE cars tested, 88% are diesel, 9% are hybrid, 2% are petrol. 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