MOT Risk Index.co.uk

Hyundai Kona — MOT statistics 2024

The Hyundai Kona failed 12.91% of 45,683 first MOT attempts in 2024 ("first-time", excluding retests). Adjusted for the age of the fleet, its initial-failure ratio is 93.2 (100 = expected for its age profile). This car fails its MOT about 7% less often than expected for its age.

MOT risk index 93.2, 95% CI 91.0–95.5 (100 = national average) 100 93.2 0 200
Index
93.2
100 = age-normal
Raw fail rate
12.91%
n = 45,683
Dangerous /100
5
national ≈11
Rank
386 of 761
lower index = better

Age-adjusted peer: Audi A1 (index 93.1) — the two published results are 0.1 index points apart.

Hyundai Kona common problems: what actually fails the MOT

Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment are well below the reference at 1.4 per 100 tests, against 2.6 per 100 tests across UK vehicles of the same ages.

higher bar = fails more oftenrate per 100 tests

Hyundai Kona common problems: what actually fails the MOT — 2024 UK MOT data

family vs national — matched to UK vehicles of the same ages — top component groups, per 100 tests. Legend: This family · National avg. Combined labels: family / national average. A gap here reflects how these vehicles are driven, used and maintained as well as how they were built — an MOT defect is a test outcome, not a breakdown.

Component-group comparison table

Each ratio carries a 95% interval. With 6 groups compared here, roughly one apparent difference in twenty is chance alone.

GroupThis familyCases behind itUK, same agesFamily / national
Visibility5.55,4684.81.16×1.12–1.18
Tyres5.55,4596.10.90×0.87–0.92
Brakes2.22,2072.90.75×0.72–0.79
Lamps & electrical1.41,4212.60.53×0.51–0.57
Suspension0.55011.40.35×0.32–0.38
Emissions & leaks0.54530.60.82×0.68–0.81
Named defects — items per 100 initial tests, this family vs UK national average; this model measured on 100,035 tests, 2019-2024, national column 2024
What failedper 100 tests (this family)per 100 tests (UK average)ratio family / UKWhat to check
Wiper blade defectiveWiper blade defective1.931.261.53×Check wipers, washers and windscreen chips in the driver's view
Wiper blade missing or obviously not clearing the…Wiper blade missing or obviously not clearing the windscreen1.972.220.89×Check wipers, washers and windscreen chips in the driver's view
Tyre seriously damagedA tyre seriously damaged2.222.540.87×Check tyre tread depth across the full width
Tyre cords visible or damagedA tyre cords visible or damaged0.921.630.56×Check tyre tread depth across the full width
Windscreen washers not working or not providing…Windscreen washers not working or not providing sufficient fluid to clear the windscreen0.401.620.25×Check wipers, washers and windscreen chips in the driver's view
Brake lining or pad worn below 1.5mma brake lining or pad worn below 1.5mm0.882.150.41×Feel for brake judder and pulling on the test drive
Windscreen or window damaged or seriously…Windscreen or window damaged or seriously discoloured but not adversely affecting driver's view0.982.360.42×Check wipers, washers and windscreen chips in the driver's view
Tyre tread depth not in accordance with the…Tyre tread depth not in accordance with the requirements1.953.590.54×Check tyre tread depth across the full width
Aim of a headlamp is not within limits laid down…The aim of a headlamp is not within limits laid down in the requirements0.302.570.12×Try every light and switch — lamps are a top failure
Suspension pin, bush or joint excessively wornA suspension pin, bush or joint excessively worn0.324.870.07×Listen for knocks over bumps — worn joints show up on the test

Named defects ranked by how much more often they appear than the national average — not by raw rate.

Hyundai Kona MOT advisories: what gets flagged

Tyres are highest at 37.9 per 100 tests; Seatbelts & SRS are lowest at 0.5 per 100 tests — the gap is 37.4 per 100 tests.

higher bar = flagged more oftenadvisory items per 100 initial tests

Hyundai Kona MOT advisories: what gets flagged — 2024 UK MOT data
Advisory rates table
GroupAdvisories per 100
Tyres37.9
Brakes14.2
Non-component advisories6.2
Suspension1.7
Identification0.6
Seatbelts & SRS0.5

Advisories are wear the tester noted but didn't fail — what will need money soon.

Tyres, brakes and suspension: Hyundai Kona against cars of the same age

AgePartHyundai KonaSame age, petrol and dieselDifference
3 yearsTyres4.054.17-0.12
3 yearsBrakes0.931.77-0.84
3 yearsSuspension0.350.63-0.28
4 yearsTyres4.124.54-0.42
4 yearsBrakes1.432.43-1.00
4 yearsSuspension0.391.21-0.82
5 yearsTyres3.995.06-1.07
5 yearsBrakes2.483.09-0.61
5 yearsSuspension0.382.19-1.81
6 yearsTyres4.195.54-1.35
6 yearsBrakes3.753.81-0.06
6 yearsSuspension0.523.72-3.20

Failing items per 100 initial tests, 2019-2024. The comparison group is every petrol or diesel car tested at the same age, so weight and drivetrain show up rather than fleet age.

If a car like this fails, does it fail again?

A failure rate does not say whether a failure is a one-off or the start of something. This follows the same vehicles into their next ordinary MOT a year later — retests after a repair are excluded, because they follow a failure by definition. 2019-2024.

After this year's testFails next yearVehicles followed
It failed14.5%2,106
It passed11.2%49,729

A failed test raises next year's chance of failing again by 3.3 percentage points. The failure most likely to come back is visibility — 20.1% of those vehicles fail again next year. Some of this is the vehicle and some is the owner: a car that was let go once tends to be let go again. One caveat: a car that fails may be sold or scrapped rather than tested again, so these figures describe the vehicles that came back.

Adjusted for how much these are actually driven

The headline index adjusts for the fleet's age. Wear, though, follows mileage: a three-year-old taxi and a three-year-old garage queen sit in the same age band. These two rows compare every car with vehicles of the same age, and then with vehicles of the same age and the same annual mileage, 2019-2024, on 99,983 tests. Both stand on the six-year corpus so they are measured on identical data — compare them with each other, not with the headline index above, which is measured on 2024 alone.

Standardised forIndexReading
Age only80.1fails less often than expected
Age and annual mileage86.6fails less often than vehicles driven as much
Share doing under 3,000 miles a year8.8%a normal spread of use

Mileage matters here: matching on how much these are driven moves the figure by 6.5 points — this fleet is driven less than the vehicles it is measured against, so the age-only view flatters it — but it does not change which side of normal the car sits on. One limit to keep in mind: mileage is partly a result of how often a car breaks down — one that spends weeks in the workshop covers fewer miles — so the mileage-matched figure can understate a real weakness. Tests with no usable odometer reading are left out of it.

How the Hyundai Kona compares with cars of its own age and size

Not against the whole fleet — against cars of the same size class tested at the same age, 2019-2024.

AgeHyundai KonaSame class, same ageDifferenceTests
3 years10.78%10.87%-0.09 pp44,671
4 years11.68%13.88%-2.21 pp28,119
5 years12.69%17.41%-4.72 pp16,012
6 years12.82%20.67%-7.85 pp7,114
7 years11.99%23.51%-11.52 pp417

Raw first-time failure rates within each age, so fleet age cannot flatter either side. A positive difference means this model fails more often than its own class at that age.

How does the Hyundai Kona perform as it gets older?

The Kona at age 7 is well below the reference at 12.0%, against 20.2% for all vehicles of the same age.

higher = larger sharecompare shares in percentage points

How does the Hyundai Kona perform as it gets older? — 2024 UK MOT data

Chart axes: car age, years · failure-rate scale 0–25%.

Takeaway: solid line: this family; dashed: all cars.

Data table
AgeHyundai KonaAll vehiclesGap
312.9%12.4%+0.5 pp
413.1%13.1%-0.0 pp
513.3%15.1%-1.8 pp
612.9%17.5%-4.6 pp
712.0%20.2%-8.2 pp

Is a Hyundai Kona ULEZ compliant?

The share of classifiable 2024 Hyundai Kona MOT tests likely ULEZ compliant by first-registration date is 100.0%.

Based on 45,678 classifiable initial MOT tests. This describes the tested fleet, not a specific car. MOT data do not record Euro class, so likely compliance is inferred from fuel and first-registration date. For the only authoritative answer, check the registration with TfL's official ULEZ checker.

higher = larger share likely compliantinferred from fuel and first-registration date; not a recorded Euro class

Age-band estimate from classifiable initial MOT tests
Vehicle age at testLikely ULEZ-compliant shareTests
Under 3 years100.0%
Check a registration with TfL
n = 1,015
3–5 years100.0%
Check a registration with TfL
n = 37,551
6–7 years100.0%
Check a registration with TfL
n = 7,112
8 yearsSuppressed — sample below publication threshold
Check a registration with TfL
n = 0
9 yearsSuppressed — sample below publication threshold
Check a registration with TfL
n = 0
10–14 yearsSuppressed — sample below publication threshold
Check a registration with TfL
n = 0
15–17 yearsSuppressed — sample below publication threshold
Check a registration with TfL
n = 0
18 yearsSuppressed — sample below publication threshold
Check a registration with TfL
n = 0
19 yearsSuppressed — sample below publication threshold
Check a registration with TfL
n = 0
20+ yearsSuppressed — sample below publication threshold
Check a registration with TfL
n = 0

How dangerous are Hyundai Kona MOT failures?

Major defects are well below the reference at 8.0 per 100 tests, against 52.8 per 100 tests nationally.

higher bar = fails more oftenrate per 100 tests

How dangerous are Hyundai Kona MOT failures? — 2024 UK MOT data
Severity table
SeverityThis family /100National /100Family / national
Minor3.4814.220.24×
Major7.9552.750.15×
Dangerous4.6011.150.41×

Chart values: Minor 3.5 · Major 8.0 · Dangerous 4.6.

Per 100 tests on this family. National average: Minor 14.2 · Major 52.8 · Dangerous 11.2 per 100.

Does the month of a Hyundai Kona MOT matter?

Apr is highest at 12.7%; Jan is lowest at 10.1% — the gap is 2.6 percentage points.

higher = larger sharecompare shares in percentage points

Does the month of a Hyundai Kona MOT matter? — 2024 UK MOT data

Chart scale: 9%–33%.

bars: Hyundai Kona · dashed: all class-4 cars

Month-by-month table
MonthHyundai KonaAll vehiclesGap
Jan10.14%31.12%-21.0 pp
Feb10.42%29.99%-19.6 pp
Mar10.44%28.26%-17.8 pp
Apr12.71%29.78%-17.1 pp
May12.02%28.79%-16.8 pp
Jun11.7%28.15%-16.4 pp
Jul12.1%29.33%-17.2 pp
Aug11.44%29.2%-17.8 pp
Sep10.71%28.19%-17.5 pp
Oct11.25%30.34%-19.1 pp
Nov11.63%30.58%-18.9 pp
Dec11.8%29.33%-17.5 pp

Takeaway: the spread between best and worst month is 2.6 percentage points — booking month barely matters for this family. Seasonality partly reflects registration-date clustering, not weather.

Before reading the shape: most of it is not about cars. Britain changes its registration plates twice a year, and 18.9% of these cars were first registered in March with another17.1% in September — 36% in two months against the 17% an even spread would give. An MOT falls due three years after first registration, so the buying calendar becomes the testing calendar. That shapes how many cars are tested each month — not how often they fail: the busiest months here are not the worst ones, so read the failure line on its own and the volume behind it separately.

Hyundai Kona average mileage by age

At age 5, the middle half of Konas runs from 23,122 miles to 42,217 miles, against 31,910 miles as the median.

further right = more milesmedian is the typical car; band is p25–p75

Bars: Hyundai Kona · dashed: all class-4 cars — 2024 UK MOT data

Chart axes: car age, years · odometer scale 0–56k mi.

Does high mileage mean more Hyundai Kona MOT failures at the same age?

Within the same age group, split by odometer (2024 MOTs), so this separates wear from age: at ages 3–5, 11.9% of those with under 40,000 miles failed first time versus 15.3% of those with over 140,000 miles.No clear mileage gap inside this age group, among cars still being tested.

Does high mileage mean more Hyundai Kona MOT failures at the same age? — 2024 UK MOT data
Hyundai Kona: first-time failure by mileage within each age group (2024)
AgeOdometer% failing95% intervalTests
3–5<40k miles11.9%11.5–12.3%29,601
3–540-70k miles17.2%16.3–18.1%6,767
3–570-100k miles17.6%15.3–20.3%891
3–5100-140k miles21%16–27.1%205 (rough estimate)
3–5140k+ miles15.3%8.8–25.3%72 (rough estimate)
6–9<40k miles10.9%9.9–11.9%3,985
6–940-70k miles14.1%12.9–15.5%2,783
6–970-100k miles25.6%21–30.8%301 (rough estimate)

line: median · band: middle half of the fleet (p25–p75)

Mileage by age (p25 / median / p75)
Agep25Medianp75Tests
315,57623,18833,31616,691
419,20627,88738,80411,961
523,12231,91042,2178,900
627,92337,50849,2296,695
731,31541,94353,585417

A typical 5-year-old Kona has ~31,910 miles on the clock. Much more — ask why; much less — check for gaps in the MOT history.

Where in Britain the Hyundai Kona fails its MOT most

Dundee area is highest at 20.5%; Romford area is lowest at 3.6% — the gap is 16.9 percentage points.

higher = larger sharecompare shares in percentage points

Hyundai Kona line: median · band: middle half of the fleet (p25–p75) — 2024 UK MOT data
Toughest areas% failingvs model overall
Dundee (DD)20.53%+9.2 pp
Aberdeen (AB)16.46%+5.1 pp
Portsmouth (PO)16.39%+5.0 pp
Lincoln (LN)16.13%+4.8 pp
Croydon (CR)15.6%+4.3 pp
Easiest areas% failingvs model overall
Romford (RM)3.6%-7.8 pp
Colchester (CO)6.71%-4.6 pp
Warrington (WA)6.72%-4.6 pp
Canterbury (CT)6.84%-4.5 pp
Chelmsford (CM)7.16%-4.2 pp

Why do areas differ?

For each external factor we correlate the area fail rate with the factor across postcode areas that have ≥800 tests of this family, then compare the bottom vs top fifth (quintile) of the factor. Correlation, not causation — factors travel together (the north is colder and often poorer; urban areas are denser and less salted). Road surface condition is joined now, for the 91 English areas the DfT publishes, and it explains nothing: the correlation with suspension failures is −0.01 and with body and structure failures 0.07. Potholes wreck wheels and tyres between tests, but by the time a car reaches the bay the road it drives on leaves no measurable trace.

In areas with the highest frost days this model fails 0.5 pp less often than in the lowest fifth (r=0.17, n=57 areas with ≥800 tests).

In areas with the highest road-salt proxy this model fails 0.8 pp more often than in the lowest fifth (r=0.16, n=57 areas with ≥800 tests).

In areas with the highest mot centre density this model fails 1.9 pp more often than in the lowest fifth (r=0.15, n=57 areas with ≥800 tests).

Hyundai Kona Why do areas differ? — 2024 UK MOT data
Values shown in the quintile chart
FactorLow QHigh QGapCorrelation
Frost days12.9%12.5%-0.4 ppr=0.17
Road-salt proxy11.9%12.7%+0.8 ppr=0.16
MOT centre density10.7%12.7%+2.0 ppr=0.15

Factors that only mean something combined

Some conditions are useless on their own and informative multiplied together. Frost days alone say little — Britain barely freezes. Salt tonnage alone says little — it tracks frost. Distance to the sea alone says little. Multiply the first two and divide by the third and you get an index of how hard an area attacks a car's underside, and it lines up with the corrosion defects we actually record. We built five such combinations and tested each against our own data. Three survived; two did not, and the failures are listed here on purpose — a proxy that was never checked is decoration. One survivor only survived on the second attempt: built from a crude stand-in for street parking it failed outright, and rebuilt from the census — terraced streets carrying more cars than they have driveways — it works, and carries information the salt index does not.

Composite area indicators, each tested against a defect rate we measure
CompositeBuilt fromTested againstrVerdict
Underbody corrosionfrost days × salt load ÷ (distance to coast + 1)share of tests with a corrosion defect+0.42holds (116 areas)
Tyre wearrain days × annual miles ÷ age at first tyre advisoryshare of tests failing on tyres+0.45holds (116 areas)
Overnight corrosionterraced housing × cars per household × frost daysshare with a corrosion defect+0.41holds (102 areas) — and adds signal beyond the first index
Deferred maintenancedeprivation × advisory-to-failure conversion ÷ labour ratecars repeating the same advisory−0.26fails (118 areas)
Powertrain stressengine capacity ÷ kerb weightsuspension, brake and emissions failures−0.16fails (22 models)

The deprivation result is the one worth dwelling on. The intuition that poorer areas defer repairs is strong enough that most people treat it as established. We tested it twice — once on raw failure rates (r = 0.04) and again, more fairly, on whether an advisory turns into a failure — and it did not hold any of the three times we tried it — on raw failure rates, on advisory-to-failure conversion, and again with deprivation measured properly inside each nation rather than England alone. We are closing it. What does predict local failure rates is the density of test centres, which is a statement about testing, not about cars.

All external-factor correlations (machine-readable)
Factorrn areasLow-Q fail %High-Q fail %Gap ppLow-Q factorHigh-Q factor
Frost days (days/year)0.1755712.912.5-0.511.335.9
Road-salt proxy (g/m²-yr)0.1605711.912.7+0.8223.6631.5
MOT centre density (per 10k vehicles)0.1485710.712.7+1.95.48.3
Terrain gradient (% grade)0.111359.711.3+1.60.43.8
Distance to coast (km)-0.0365712.511.1-1.46.182
Income deprivation (score)-0.0254911.211.4+0.20.10.2
Urban share (0–1)-0.0035711.311.4+0.00.40.9

Deprivation uses England IMD 2019 income score only (Scotland SIMD is a different scale). Salt proxy is a simplified NWSRG-style dry-salt sum from air Tmin; coastalness is distance from the area centroid to the nearest coastline.

Every dot is a postcode area — size = how many were tested there, colour = share failing. These figures are not age-adjusted: coastal and rural areas often run older fleets and salted roads, so higher raw fail rates do not automatically mean a worse local stock of this model.

Map labels: Scotland · N. England · Wales · London · S. West. Colour scale: 7%–16% failing.

Hyundai Kona survival: which cars are still on the road

By age 7 is well below the reference at 2.4%, against 100.0% at the ages 4–6 reference level.

higher = larger sharecompare shares in percentage points

Hyundai Kona survival: which cars are still on the road — 2024 UK MOT data

Chart axes: car age, years · survival vs ages 4–6 · scale 0–105%.

Survival vs fail rate by age
AgeTestsSurvival vs ages 4–6Fail %
344,671100%10.78%
428,119100%11.68%
516,01293.7%12.69%
67,11441.6%12.82%
74172.4%11.99%

By age 7, only about 2% as many cars of this family present for MOT as at ages 4–6 (reference n≈17,082); survivors still fail at 12.0% vs 11.7% at age 4. Older cars that still appear are a selected subset — weaker ones have already left.

How many years is a Hyundai Kona likely to last?

Bought at age 5 stands out at 1.0 years.

bigger number = longer remaining lifeyears on the observed survival curve

Age nowTypical mileage (p50)Expected years left
5—at least 1

estimateObserved only until age 7. The curve does not run five years past the stated age with the share still tested under 50%, so no 'years left' number is given.

Hyundai Kona faults that come together

Body & structure + Emissions & leaks stand out at 122.48×, against 1.00× if the faults were independent.

above 1.0× = more than expectedbelow 1.0× = less

Group AGroup BTogetherLift
Body, chassis, structureNoise, emissions and leaks96122.48× (rough estimate)
BrakesLamps, reflectors and electrical equipment915.43× (rough estimate)
BrakesSuspension305.31× (rough estimate)
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipmentNoise, emissions and leaks225.01× (rough estimate)
BrakesTyres2664.37× (rough estimate)
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipmentVisibility2003.95× (rough estimate)
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipmentTyres1623.63× (rough estimate)
BrakesVisibility2393.47× (rough estimate)
BrakesNoise, emissions and leaks203.34× (rough estimate)
TyresVisibility6083.31×
SuspensionVisibility533.11× (rough estimate)
SuspensionTyres452.99× (rough estimate)
Body, chassis, structureVisibility272.99× (rough estimate)
Noise, emissions and leaksVisibility452.49× (rough estimate)
Noise, emissions and leaksTyres352.2× (rough estimate)
Body, chassis, structureLamps, reflectors and electrical equipment18too few (rough estimate)
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipmentSuspension18too few (rough estimate)
Body, chassis, structureTyres15too few (rough estimate)
Seat belts and supplementary restraint systemsVisibility12too few (rough estimate)
SteeringTyres11too few (rough estimate)
Body, chassis, structureBrakes11too few (rough estimate)
Identification of the vehicleVisibility11too few (rough estimate)
Identification of the vehicleTyres10too few (rough estimate)
BrakesIdentification of the vehicle9too few (rough estimate)
Road WheelsTyres9too few (rough estimate)
SteeringVisibility9too few (rough estimate)
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipmentRoad Wheels8too few (rough estimate)
BrakesSeat belts and supplementary restraint systems7too few (rough estimate)
Seat belts and supplementary restraint systemsTyres7too few (rough estimate)
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipmentSeat belts and supplementary restraint systems5too few (rough estimate)

Defects in «Tyres» and «Visibility» appear together 3.31× more often than chance (608 co-occurrences in the same test; lift≥1.3, n≥500).

Lift = how many times more often both groups appear on the same test than if independent. A pair is listed from 5 tests with both faults; the lift is shown from 20, and called above chance only when its 95% interval excludes 1 (see rough estimates).

Is low mileage better for a Hyundai Kona?

Cars driven under 5,000 miles a year is well below the reference at 9.9%, against 16.0% for cars driven 8,000–12,000 miles a year.

higher = larger sharecompare shares in percentage points

BandFail %Tests
<5k miles/year9.85%7,130
8–12k miles/year16.03%5,205
Gap (low − normal)-6.16 pp—
By fuel and age

Petrol

AgeLow-use fail %nNormal fail %nGap pp
59.184,55216.073,098-6.89 pp
610.322,11315.751,594-5.43 pp
710.8114813.5881-2.77 pp

At matched ages 5–14, cars averaging under 5k miles/year fail at 9.8% vs 16.0% for 8–12k miles/year — 6.2 pp lower (n_low=7,130, n_normal=5,205). In this family low annual use is associated with fewer MOT fails, not more — the ‘garage queen’ penalty is not visible in overall fail rates.

Which Hyundai Kona engine is best?

petrol 1.8–2.0 is highest at 131.8; petrol 1.5–1.8 is lowest at 77.1 — the gap is 54.7 points.

below 100 is betterabove 100 is worse100 = normal for this model at that age

Engine bands against this model's own failure rate at the same ages
FuelCapacityvs own age normRaw fail %Tests
petrol1.5–1.8 litre77.18.55%6,399
diesel1.5–1.8 litre93.410.18%167 (rough estimate)
petrolunder 1.0 litre102.811.36%51,339
petrol1.0–1.2 litre105.911.76%102 (rough estimate)
petrol1.8–2.0 litre131.812.5%136 (rough estimate)

Splitting this model by fuel alone hides the thing that actually differs. Within the same badge, the petrol under 1.0 runs at 102.8 against this model's own age norm while the petrol 1.5–1.8 runs at 77.1 — a spread of 25.7 points between two cars that share a name.

Read this one with more care than the rest of the page. Age is held constant, but who buys which engine is not: the largest capacity in a range is often a performance or executive variant that is garaged, cherished and lightly driven, while the smallest is frequently a fleet or entry car worked hard from new. The gap below is real in the test records; how much of it is the engine and how much is the owner, this data cannot separate. Bands under 100 tests are not shown; bands under 5,000 tests are rough estimates.

Best year for a Hyundai Kona, and the years to avoid

Build year 2020 is highest at 106.4; Build year 2017 is lowest at 79.6 — the gap is 26.8 points.

below 100 is betterabove 100 is worse100 = normal for this model at that age

build year vs the same model at the same age · 100 = as expected

Hyundai Kona build year vs the same model at the same age · 100 = as expected — 2024 UK MOT data
Hyundai Kona by build year, tests 2019–2024. Below 100 is better than the model's own age norm.
Every build year with its confidence interval
Build yearvs own age norm95% CIRaw fail %TestsVerdict
2020106.4102.4–110.311.57%23,865worse
201998.394.7–101.811.15%26,828no different
201895.491.9–98.811.15%26,867better
201779.668.4–90.79.37%2,082better

The best build year here is 2018 and the weakest is 2020. Comparing build years sounds simple and is not: within a single year of testing, a car's build year and its age are the same number, so a naive comparison of years is a comparison of ages wearing a disguise. Each year below is measured against the same model at the same age in other cohorts, across six years of testing — 2 of 4 years come out distinguishable from their own model's age norm.

Two limits worth knowing before you act on this. Age, test year and build year are locked together by arithmetic, so the test-year effect is taken from the observed national failure level of each year rather than estimated — it is an adjustment, not a solution.

Hyundai Kona MOT repair costs

The MOT-failure repair budget per test runs from £12.11 to £23.01, against £54.85 for the test itself.

bigger number = costs morepounds per test, MOT-failing faults only

MOT repairs, budget
£12–23
per test, repairs only
The test itself
£54.85
statutory cap, unchanged since 2010
How the figure is built: chance of failing × typical price of that repair
ComponentFails per 100 testsTypical repairIts priceContribution
Tyres5.5 (nat. 8.7)Tyre (single mid-range 16" fitted)£90£4.95
Brakes2.2 (nat. 11.25)Front brake pads (parts + labour, typical hatchback)£150£3.30
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment1.4 (nat. 18.09)Battery replacement (standard 12V lead-acid)£140£1.96
Noise, emissions and leaks0.5 (nat. 3.67)Exhaust rear silencer£200£1.00
Suspension0.5 (nat. 15.36)Suspension coil spring (single corner)£180£0.90

Multiply how often each component fails on this model by what that repair usually costs, and you get the amount an owner should expect to budget per test for MOT-failing faults only — roughly £12 to £23, on top of the test fee itself. It is a budgeting figure, not a quote: the spread between a set of pads and a set of discs is most of the range.

Prices are modal quotes from a hand-kept catalogue of published UK garage guides — we do not scrape the booking sites, their terms forbid it, so this list is short and updated by hand with a source and date against each line. Each line prices one typical repair in that group, not a full remedy, and only groups our catalogue actually covers are counted. The contrast worth noticing is the second card: the legal maximum for the test has been £54.85 since 2010, while the repairs it uncovers have followed inflation the whole time.

For scale from a different direction: Warrantywise, which sees used-car warranty claims rather than test failures, puts the average claim at £2,052 across the ten highest-claim models it ranks and £539 for Honda, the lowest-claim make in its index (Warrantywise index 2026, 1.6 million claims, cars aged 3–15). Those sit an order of magnitude above the figures in this table, and the gap is the point: a warranty claim is a gearbox or an engine, which almost never fails an MOT, while the faults that do fail one are corrosion, lamps and tyres, which no warranty pays for. The two numbers answer different questions and neither replaces the other.

Hyundai Kona running costs for a fleet

Vehicles failing at age 7 are well below the reference at 12.0%, against 13.0% at age 5, tested in the same year.

higher = larger sharecompare shares in percentage points

Fails per 100 at age 5
13
vehicles needing work
At age 7
12
other cars of this model tested at age 7 in 2024 (rough estimate: 417 tests)
Repairs per 100
£1,211
plus £5,485 in test fees
Off the road
0d
median; 55.93% cleared same day
Failure rate and typical odometer by age
AgeFailsMedian odometerTestsGap vs age 5
312.88%23,18816,691-0.4 pp
413.08%27,88711,961-0.2 pp
513.29%31,9108,900+0.0 pp
612.91%37,5086,695-0.4 pp
711.99%41,943417-1.3 pp

No single year stands out as the point where this model starts costing more: the year-to-year steps in its failure rate are too small or rest on too few tests to name one (D1 rule: a step is named only with at least 2,000 tests on both sides and a jump above 3 percentage points).

Repair spend uses the same modal prices as the section above, so it inherits the same limits: one typical repair per component group, not a full remedy. Downtime is the gap between the failed test and the passed re-test, which is the window a vehicle is legally off the road.

Hyundai Kona rust problems: where they corrode

Age-standardised corrosion susceptibility is well below the reference at <0.1×, against 1.00× for the national age-standardised rate.

above 1.0× = rusts more than averagebelow 1.0× = rusts less

How it rusts
<0.1×
0.01% of tests record a corrosion defect vs 0.77% typical — age-standardised
Salt Belt exposure
93rd
percentile among the models published here, from its tests across 57 postcode areas

This Hyundai Kona virtually never fails on corrosion once age is held constant, and its owners live in areas that are saltier than most for the models we publish. Both point the same way and reinforce each other: it resists corrosion even though its owners live in saltier areas than most.

Corrosion is the one failure mode that is as much about geography as about the car. We keep the two apart on purpose: a model can look rusty simply because it is popular in Scotland, and a model can look clean simply because it is bought in Surrey. Blending them into a single score would hide which of the two is doing the work.

Exposure is this model's tests weighted by an area corrosion index built from frost days, salt load and distance to the coast — the composite validated at r = 0.42 against corrosion defects we actually record. It is published as a rank, not a raw score, because every mainstream model skews towards low-corrosion areas for the simple reason that most of Britain's cars are in the south. Susceptibility is standardised to the national age profile, so an old fleet does not get labelled a rusty model.

Does a Hyundai Kona advisory become a failure?

Brakes are highest at 6.2%; Non-component advisories are lowest at 0.0% — the gap is 6.2 percentage points.

higher = more likelypercentage is the observed transition probability

chance the same component fails at the next MOT, given an advisory now

Hyundai Kona chance the same component fails at the next MOT, given an advisory now — 2024 UK MOT data
Hyundai Kona, advisory → failure conversion by component group, chained tests 2019–2024. Chart labels and rates: Brakes 6.2% · Tyres 5.9% · Non-component 0%.
Advisory today → failure at the next test, with how long you have
ComponentFails next timeTypical lead timeMiles of warningAdvisories tracked
Brakes6.2%12 months7,8384,495
Tyres5.9%11.9 months7,45310,675
Non-component advisories0.0%——2,992

This is the question an advisory note actually raises, and it needs six years of test history to answer. We followed the same vehicles from one MOT to the next across 2019–2024 and measured how often a component that was merely advised came back as a genuine failure at the next test.

Read it as a budgeting horizon, not a prophecy: the most likely component above turns into a failure for about 6 in 100 cars, and the median gap is 12 months and roughly 7,838 miles. The rest were repaired, sold, scrapped, or simply held. Rows with fewer than 500 tracked advisories are not shown.

What will fail next on a Hyundai Kona?

Visibility after a advisory at age <3 is highest at 7.1%; Brakes after a passed at age <3 are lowest at 1.1% — the gap is 6.1 percentage points.

higher = more likelypercentage is the observed transition probability

Probability of each component failing at the next test, by age and last result
AgeLast testMost likely next failuresCars tracked
<3passedVisibility 4.0% · Tyres 3.2% · Brakes 1.1%18,605
<3advisoryVisibility 7.1% · Tyres 5.4% · Brakes 1.6%4,959
<3failureVisibility 6.1% · Tyres 5.8% · Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 2.0%2,365
3-5passedVisibility 4.5% · Tyres 3.5% · Brakes 1.8%19,160
3-5advisoryVisibility 6.4% · Tyres 5.1% · Brakes 4.0%7,775
3-5failureVisibility 6.4% · Tyres 5.2% · Brakes 4.1%3,477

The same chains, cut differently: given a car's age and how its last test went, which component most often causes trouble at the following one.

The pattern that repeats across every family: a failure at one test roughly doubles the chance of a failure on the same component at the next one, and an advisory sits about half-way between a clean pass and a failure. Age bands in years; probabilities are per car, not per defect item.

Hyundai Kona ownership: what six years of MOTs show

The same-day re-test pass rate is highest at 55.9%; The later re-test pass rate is lowest at 1.5% — the gap is 54.4 percentage points.

higher = larger sharecompare shares in percentage points

Fixed same day
55.93%
of failures re-tested
Fails /10k miles
0.169
miles actually driven
Clean streaks
41.8%
3+ tests, nothing noted
Odometer anomaly
0.434%
reading went backwards

Failing is usually a same-week event, not a disaster. Of 7,547 failures followed through to their re-test, 55.93% were repaired and passed the same day and 42.57% within ten days; the median gap is 0 days. 11,916 defect items were cleared in the process.

Per mile driven, not per year. Dividing failures by the miles that actually went onto the odometers between consecutive tests gives 0.169 failures per 10,000 miles, on a median of 6,450 miles a year across 28,326 chains. This is the number to compare between models — an annual rate quietly rewards cars that barely leave the drive.

Two populations hide inside one model. 41.8% of these cars strung together three or more tests with nothing recorded at all, while 4.81% carried the same advisory three times or more — the same fault, noted, ignored, noted again. When you buy used you are buying one of those two histories, and the MOT record shows which.

Odometer anomalies: 0.434% of 28,366 chains show a reading lower than the previous test, with a median drop of 10,173 miles. We call this an anomaly and not fraud on purpose — instrument swaps, imports, unit mix-ups and keying errors all land in the same bucket. Obvious typos (drops under 100 miles or over 90% of the reading) are already excluded.

Hyundai Kona safety recalls and how to check yours

DVSA recall campaigns stand out at 16.

bigger number = more recorded casescompare like-for-like scope, not sample size alone

recall campaigns launched per year

Hyundai Kona recall campaigns launched per year — 2024 UK MOT data
Campaigns launched per year for the Hyundai Kona. Source: DVSA vehicle safety recalls. Chart values: 2019: 2 · 2020: 1 · 2021: 4 · 2022: 1 · 2023: 3 · 2024: 3 · 2025: 0 · 2026: 2.
Most recent safety recall campaigns for the Hyundai Kona
ReferenceLaunchedVehiclesConcern
R/2026/12804/05/202625,056Some vehicles fitted with a high voltage battery may have internal cell voltage deviation
R/2026/14602/04/2026987Some vehicles may have an instrument cluster operational concern whilst driving the vehicl
R/2024/17220/05/2024759The subject vehicles may experience a transmission malfunction resulting in a loss of driv
R/2024/15429/04/20241,910A risk of electrical short circuit within the engine compartment during a vehicle collisio
R/2024/15429/04/2024394A risk of electrical short circuit within the engine compartment during a vehicle collisio
All 16 campaigns
ReferenceLaunchedBuild datesVehiclesConcern
R/2026/12804/05/202624/01/2018 – 15/07/202325,056Some vehicles fitted with a high voltage battery may have internal cell voltage deviation
R/2026/14602/04/202603/07/2025 – 03/11/2025987Some vehicles may have an instrument cluster operational concern whilst driving the vehicl
R/2024/17220/05/202417/04/2023 – 23/12/2023759The subject vehicles may experience a transmission malfunction resulting in a loss of driv
R/2024/15429/04/202417/04/2023 – 30/12/20231,910A risk of electrical short circuit within the engine compartment during a vehicle collisio
R/2024/15429/04/202421/03/2023 – 05/01/2024394A risk of electrical short circuit within the engine compartment during a vehicle collisio
R/2023/13405/06/202317/06/2020 – 02/09/20201,121Subject vehicles may experience a loss of coolant within the electronic power control unit
R/2023/06724/04/202304/12/2018 – 21/06/2020187Certain vehicles may experience a loss of braking assistance and brake performance may be
R/2023/06810/04/202315/06/2020 – 03/05/2022376Certain vehicles may experience a transmission malfunction resulting in a loss of drive.
R/2022/31714/11/202229/03/2018 – 08/10/202164Some vehicles might experience the MIL (Malfunction indicator lamp) becoming illuminated o
R/2021/08723/04/202101/05/2018 – 31/03/20201,214POTENTIAL ELECTRICAL SHORT IN THE LITHIUM-ION BATTERY
R/2021/01422/02/202101/09/2020 – 14/12/20201,879IN THE EVENT OF eCALL TRIGGER THE VIN NUMBER INFORMATION MAY NOT BE SENT
R/2020/38225/01/202124/01/2018 – 10/11/202012,835IF AN ABNORMALITY IS REGISTERED WITHIN THE IEB SYSTEM THAT MAY ILLUMINATE THE MALFUNCTION
R/2020/38225/01/202124/10/2018 – 18/11/202012,835IF AN ABNORMALITY IS REGISTERED WITHIN THE IEB SYSTEM THAT MAY ILLUMINATE THE MALFUNCTION
R/2020/30816/10/202031/01/2018 – 20/03/20201,672THE HIGH VOLTAGE BATTERY SYSTEM MAY HAVE A FAULTY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM (BMS)
R/2019/11501/05/201920/04/2017 – 11/09/20181,522BRAKE FLUID LINE AND A/C TUBE PIPES COULD BECOME DAMAGED AND LEAK
R/2019/00130/01/201909/05/2018 – 19/12/2018416THE AIRBAG CONTROL UNIT MAY DETECT A CRASH SIGNAL AND COMMAND DEPLOYMENT OR NON DEPLOYMENT

DVSA lists 16 safety recall campaigns for the Hyundai Kona, covering roughly 63,227 vehicles in total. A recall is the manufacturer fixing a fault for free, so an open recall on your car costs nothing to clear.

Counter-intuitive, and measured on our own data: across the 25 families published here, more recalls go with a lower MOT Risk Index (r = −0.52). Heavily recalled models are not worse cars in the test bay — an active manufacturer removes the fault before it becomes an MOT failure.

Check whether a specific car has an outstanding recall — free, by registration — at DVSA's recall service. Source: DVSA vehicle safety recalls (check-vehicle-recalls.service.gov.uk), OGL.

Hyundai Kona technical service bulletins: what dealers are told

US market, Hyundai KONA and its variants, model years 2018–2022 only. A count of bulletins, not a UK failure rate.

NHTSA manufacturer communications are 166.

bigger number = more recorded dealer communicationsnot affected vehicles or confirmed faults

These are the issues the manufacturer fixes quietly: service communications sent to dealers without a public recall campaign. They show what the service network has been told even when the issue never became news.

United States · NHTSA manufacturer communications

US technical service bulletins by communication year; leading subjects cover the full file
Communication yearBulletinsLeading subjects across all years
20189
  • Electrical system (79)
  • Equipment (28)
  • Powertrain (28)
  • Engine and cooling (20)
  • Engine (11)
  • Steering (11)
  • Adaptive and mobility equipment (9)
  • Fuel/Propulsion System (6)
201918
202034
202113
202215
202329
202417
202518
202613

Caveat worth stating plainly: this is NHTSA data about US-specification cars. British cars sold under the same name often use different gearboxes, engines and equipment, so a bulletin may describe a component that was never fitted here. The file counts dealer communications, not affected vehicles or confirmed failures, and it cannot tell you whether an individual UK car has the issue. A communication can carry more than one subject tag, so topic counts do not have to add up to the total. Source: NHTSA Manufacturer Communications API (US-market vehicles; queried model years 2015-2022). Licence: U.S. Government work / public domain · retrieved 2026-09-25.

Hyundai Kona owner complaints: what goes wrong

US market, Hyundai KONA and its variants, model years 2018–2022 only. A count of owner complaints, not a UK failure rate; NHTSA has no UK denominator.

Engine (not MOT-tested) is highest at 421; Tyres are lowest at 12 — the gap is 409.

bigger number = more recorded casescompare like-for-like scope, not sample size alone

Owner complaints (US) against actual MOT failures (UK) for the same component groups
ComponentComplaintsShareMOT fail items per 100MOT rankAgreement
Engine (not MOT-tested)42154.5%not in top 6—complained about, rarely an MOT failure
Lamps & electrical17022.0%1.4#4complained about, fails occasionally
Transmission (not MOT-tested)9211.9%not in top 6—complained about, rarely an MOT failure
Brakes324.1%2.2#3complained about and fails often
Restraints131.7%not in top 6—complained about, rarely an MOT failure
Tyres121.6%5.5#2complained about and fails often

Two different populations answering two different questions: the MOT records what an inspector can measure once a year, the complaint file records what annoyed or frightened an owner on the road. A component high in one column and absent from the other is the interesting case — driver-assistance and electronics dominate complaints while almost never appearing as an MOT failure item.

What the reports actually say
car had an engine knock at 110,000 miles and took it to a repair shop and said they are pretty sure it was an engine rod and that the whole engine needed to be replaced still waiting to get it to the dealership to see what they are going to do due to this car being a leased car and it will not run anymore.
NHTSA complaint, filed 09/19/2026 · ENGINE
I purchased a 2018 Hyundai Kona, and it has had one major issue after another. It burns an excessive amount of oil, the engine misfires, and now the turbocharger is failing. I’ve already spent approximately $2,300 repairing the air conditioner and engine, and I can’t afford thousands more in repairs.
NHTSA complaint, filed 07/21/2026 · POWER TRAIN

US owners have filed 773 complaints about the equivalent Hyundai Kona to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, including 39 that mention a crash, 23 a fire and 35 an injury. These are owner reports, not verified findings — but they are the only large public record of what drivers themselves notice, and they cover the years between MOT tests.

Caveat worth stating plainly: US-specification cars, self-selected reporters, no denominator — complaint counts scale with how many cars were sold there and how motivated owners are to file. The mechanical gap matters as much as the statistical one: American cars of the same name often carry different gearboxes, engines and equipment — automatics where Britain buys manuals — so a drivetrain complaint filed in Ohio may describe a part that was never fitted here. Read the ranking inside a model, not between models, and treat drivetrain entries with particular caution. Source: NHTSA ODI consumer complaints (US market, public domain) — US-spec vehicles, indicative only.

Hyundai Kona inspection results in other countries

Finland Katsastus is well below the reference at 4.7%, against 26.3% nationally.

higher = larger sharecompare shares in percentage points

Same model, different national inspection regimes
CountryTestThis model failsNational averagePositionSample
United KingdomMOT (class 4)12.91%26.01%-13.1 pp45,683
NetherlandsAPK32.7%50.8%-18.1 pp15,713
NorwayPKK15.3%33.7%-18.4 pp9,938
FinlandKatsastus4.7%26.3%-21.6 pp1,128

The verdict is consistent across every regime where the difference is clear, which is the strongest form this comparison takes: independent inspectorates, different rulebooks, same direction of travel.

What Finland fails it for — share of recorded faults
Fault areaShare
Brake systems35.9%
Vehicle identification28.1%
Axles, wheels and suspension20.3%
Other equipment and accessories6.2%
Chassis and body1.6%

Useful as a cross-check on the UK defect table above: the categories are named differently, but a component that dominates in both regimes is a genuine weak point of the model rather than an artefact of one country's testing style.

The exact faults Netherlands records — APK defect codes, 2024
CodeFaultRecordedType
210Tyre pressure not at the correct value4,462failure
516Dipped headlight incorrectly aimed1,575failure
205Tyre with insufficient tread1,319failure
391Wipers leave insufficient visibility1,175failure
414Gordel beschadigd868failure
203Tyre damaged781failure
AC1Tyre down to 1.6–2.5 mm of tread647advisory
497Number-plate light not working or missing164failure

Worth dwelling on how mundane the top of that list is: tyre pressure, tread depth, headlight aim. The Dutch APK records 0.779 defects per inspection against a much higher national failure rate than Britain's, and the reason is not that Dutch cars are worse — it is that the two regimes draw the line between "note it" and "fail it" in different places. Codes are the RDW's own; the English wording here is our translation of the Dutch original.

Britain is not the only country that inspects every car every year, and the Hyundai Kona is on the road in all of them. Each national regime writes its own rules, so the pass rates below are not comparable to each other — what does travel across a border is whether a model sits above or below its own country's average.

Rows with fewer than 500 inspections are not published. Sources: RDW open data — Meldingen Keuringsinstantie + Geconstateerde Gebreken + Gekentekende voertuigen (2024), CC0. Not an RDW endorsement.; Statens vegvesen — Periodisk kjøretøykontroll (PKK) 2024, CC BY 4.0; Traficom — Periodic inspections of cars by model / by model and fault object 2024, CC BY 4.0. Adapted; licences and full notice.

Hyundai Kona MOT: quick answers

Hyundai Kona MOT Risk Index is well below the reference at 93.2, against 100 for a car with the same age profile.

below 100 is betterabove 100 is worse100 = normal for this model at that age

What is the Hyundai Kona first-time MOT pass rate?
87.09% of first attempts passed in 2024 (45,683 tests). This is the first-time figure: retests after repair are excluded. Basis: first-time, excluding retests.
Why does this number differ from other sites?
Other sites often report a pass rate that includes retests or counts all attempts. Our 12.91% figure is the first-time initial failure rate, using 45,683 primary tests as the denominator (first-time, excluding retests). The age-adjusted MOT initial-failure ratio 93.2 is shown separately because raw rates compare fleet age as well as cars.

Compare the Hyundai Kona with other cars

Hyundai Kona is highest at 93.2; Volkswagen Passat is lowest at 92.4 — the gap is 0.8 points.

below 100 is betterabove 100 is worse100 = normal for this model at that age

Same brand

All Hyundai MOT statisticsHyundai i10 MOT statsHyundai Tucson MOT stats

Similar risk

Audi A1 (index 93.1)Toyota Corolla (index 92.7)Volkswagen Passat (index 92.4)

Same size class

how Nissan Leaf compareshow Peugeot 206 compareshow Hyundai Ioniq compares

By build year

Hyundai Kona 2017Hyundai Kona 2018Hyundai Kona 2019Hyundai Kona 2020

By area

Hyundai Kona MOT failure rate by postcode area

By failure group

Hyundai Kona body, chassis and structure failuresHyundai Kona brakes failuresHyundai Kona vehicle identification failuresHyundai Kona lamps, reflectors and electrics failuresHyundai Kona noise, emissions and leaks failuresHyundai Kona road wheels failuresHyundai Kona seat belts and airbags failuresHyundai Kona steering failuresHyundai Kona suspension failuresHyundai Kona tyres failuresHyundai Kona visibility failures

Inspections abroad

Hyundai Kona in NorwayHyundai Kona in FinlandHyundai Kona in the Netherlands


Data details & how to cite

Scope: class-4 vehicles (cars), initial tests only, outcomes pass / fail / fixed-on-the-spot at the station (PRS counts towards the failure rate — the defect was present at arrival). Index = observed initial failures ÷ failures expected for this fleet's exact age profile, ×100; margin of error is a 95% confidence interval. Covers ALL generations together — a 3-year-old and a 15-year-old are very different cars; a generation split is on the roadmap. Dataset release dataset_release_id=dvsa-2024-v2, frozen baseline; headline claim_id=family-stats:hyundai-kona:dvsa-2024-v2. Full method: methodology.

Cite: MOT Risk Index (2026). Hyundai Kona MOT statistics 2024 (data release dvsa-2024-v2; downloadable dataset motriskindex-families-2024-v5, doi:10.5281/zenodo.22975051). https://motriskindex.co.uk/cars/hyundai-kona/ · Published 2026-07-30.