Hyundai Santa Fe: MOT pass rate and reliability data

The Hyundai Santa Fe fails its first MOT more often than the average UK car, by 5.4 percentage points. These figures come from the DVSA's full year of anonymised MOT results, covering 32,782 individual Hyundai Santa Fe tests. Nothing here is an estimate or a survey.

The numbers

What this means if you are buying one

A 71.3% first-time pass rate means roughly 29 in every 100 Hyundai Santa Fes presented for MOT fail on the first attempt. That is worse than average, so budget for remedial work and treat a fresh 12-month MOT as a genuine selling point rather than a given. The average Hyundai Santa Fe tested had covered 88,707 miles and was built around 2013.

What this means at salvage auction

Pass rate is a proxy for what a car costs to keep on the road. On a Hyundai Santa Fe bought as a repairable salvage, assume the mechanical side needs more than the visible accident damage, and pad your repair estimate accordingly.

Before you bid: run the lot through the analyzer, check the car's own record, check the mileage, decode the VIN, and if it carries a marker use the write-off value calculator. Or compare it against another model.

Looking at a specific Hyundai Santa Fe rather than the model in general? The free check covers its MOT and mileage history, and the full HPI report confirms the insurance write-off category, outstanding finance and whether it is recorded stolen, from licensed data for 5 credits. Already own one that has been damaged? Work out whether fixing it beats selling it with the repair or scrap calculator, and see what damaged Hyundai Santa Fes actually sold for at UK salvage auction.

Most common MOT failures on a Hyundai Santa Fe

1. A direction indicator lamp missing, inoperative or in the case of a multiple light source more than 1/2 not functioning, 1.4% of tests (2.85x the national rate for this defect)
2. A transmission shaft constant velocity joint boot missing or no longer prevents the ingress of dirt etc, 3% of tests (2.71x the national rate for this defect)
3. A steering ball joint with excessive wear or free play, 2.4% of tests (2.52x the national rate for this defect)
4. A lamp missing, inoperative or in the case of a multiple light source more than 1/2 not functioning, 3.4% of tests (2.09x the national rate for this defect)
5. A suspension pin, bush or joint excessively worn, 7% of tests (1.89x the national rate for this defect)
6. a brake lining or pad worn below 1.5mm, 2.9% of tests (1.86x the national rate for this defect)
7. Stop lamp missing, inoperative or in the case of a multiple light source more than 1/2 not functioning, 1.8% of tests (1.79x the national rate for this defect)
8. Brake pipe damaged or excessively corroded, 1.4% of tests (1.67x the national rate for this defect)
9. Parking brake efficiency below minimum requirement, 1.5% of tests (1.56x the national rate for this defect)
10. A tyre cords visible or damaged, 1.7% of tests (1.43x the national rate for this defect)

From 51,537 DVSA-tracked Hyundai Santa Fe tests, 2024. DVSA testers marked 5.34% of these flagged Hyundai Santa Fe defects as "dangerous", meaning the tester judged the car unsafe to drive away, against 4.97% nationally.

Hyundai Santa Fe pass rate by model year

Pass rates fall steadily as cars age, so the model year matters as much as the model. First-time pass rate for each Hyundai Santa Fe year:

• 2003 Hyundai Santa Fe - 63.9% first-time pass, 338 tests
• 2004 Hyundai Santa Fe - 61.4% first-time pass, 529 tests
• 2005 Hyundai Santa Fe - 57.8% first-time pass, 702 tests
• 2006 Hyundai Santa Fe - 58.8% first-time pass, 1,141 tests
• 2007 Hyundai Santa Fe - 60.3% first-time pass, 1,139 tests
• 2008 Hyundai Santa Fe - 62.7% first-time pass, 740 tests
• 2009 Hyundai Santa Fe - 63.1% first-time pass, 643 tests
• 2010 Hyundai Santa Fe - 60.3% first-time pass, 3,090 tests
• 2011 Hyundai Santa Fe - 60.4% first-time pass, 3,278 tests
• 2012 Hyundai Santa Fe - 62.8% first-time pass, 3,006 tests
• 2013 Hyundai Santa Fe - 65.5% first-time pass, 1,371 tests
• 2014 Hyundai Santa Fe - 71% first-time pass, 2,489 tests
• 2015 Hyundai Santa Fe - 80% first-time pass, 2,950 tests
• 2016 Hyundai Santa Fe - 83.1% first-time pass, 4,296 tests
• 2017 Hyundai Santa Fe - 84.7% first-time pass, 2,658 tests
• 2018 Hyundai Santa Fe - 87.4% first-time pass, 1,937 tests
• 2019 Hyundai Santa Fe - 86.8% first-time pass, 1,141 tests
• 2020 Hyundai Santa Fe - 91.8% first-time pass, 534 tests
• 2021 Hyundai Santa Fe - 85.7% first-time pass, 391 tests

Hyundai Santa Fe by fuel type

Diesel and petrol versions of the same car fail on different things, so the fuel type moves the number:

• Diesel Hyundai Santa Fe - 72.1% first-time pass, 31,572 tests
• Petrol Hyundai Santa Fe - 62.7% first-time pass, 978 tests

Other Hyundai models

• Hyundai I10 - 78.3%
• Hyundai I20 - 78.3%
• Hyundai Tucson - 84%
• Hyundai I30 - 70.5%
• Hyundai Ix35 - 69.8%
• Hyundai Ioniq - 89.9%
• Hyundai Ix20 - 76.5%
• Hyundai Kona - 90.6%

Models with a similar pass rate

• Peugeot Rcz - 71.4%
• Audi 80 - 71.4%
• SEAT Ibiza - 71.3%
• Audi Cabriolet - 71.2%
• Ssangyong Korando - 71%
• BMW 523 - 71%

If this car is a salvage or write-off

• What does Cat N mean? Category N explained
• What does Cat S mean? Category S explained
• Cat S vs Cat N: the real differences

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All 2,005 models ranked by MOT pass rate