Hyundai Santa Fe — MOT statistics 2024
The Hyundai Santa Fe failed 32.74% of 33,318 first MOT attempts in 2024 ("first-time", excluding retests). Adjusted for the age of the fleet, its initial-failure ratio is 107.8 (100 = expected for its age profile). This car fails its MOT about 8% more often than expected for its age.
Age-adjusted peer: Ford S-MAX (index 107.6) — the two published results are 0.2 index points apart.
Hyundai Santa Fe common problems: what actually fails the MOT
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment stand out at 25.1 per 100 tests, against 17.9 per 100 tests across UK vehicles of the same ages.
higher bar = fails more oftenrate per 100 tests
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.
| Group | This family | Cases behind it | UK, same ages | Family / national |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lamps & electrical | 25.1 | 54,114 | 17.9 | 1.41×1.39–1.42 |
| Suspension | 17.1 | 36,927 | 15.7 | 1.09×1.08–1.10 |
| Brakes | 16.1 | 34,645 | 11.7 | 1.37×1.36–1.38 |
| Body & structure | 12.1 | 26,153 | 5.4 | 2.22×2.20–2.26 |
| Tyres | 8.6 | 18,549 | 9.1 | 0.95×0.93–0.96 |
| Visibility | 8.5 | 18,366 | 8.0 | 1.07×1.06–1.09 |
| What failed | per 100 tests (this family) | per 100 tests (UK average) | ratio family / UK | What to check |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Suspension pin, bush or joint excessively wornA suspension pin, bush or joint excessively worn | 9.13 | 4.87 | 1.88× | Listen for knocks over bumps — worn joints show up on the test |
| Transmission shaft constant velocity joint boot…A transmission shaft constant velocity joint boot missing or no longer prevents the ingress of dirt etc | 5.22 | 1.56 | 3.35× | Ask the seller about: A transmission shaft constant velocity joint boot missing or |
| Transmission shaft constant velocity joint boot…A transmission shaft constant velocity joint boot severely deteriorated | 4.72 | 1.48 | 3.19× | Ask the seller about: A transmission shaft constant velocity joint boot severely d |
| Lamp missing, inoperative or in the case of a…A lamp missing, inoperative or in the case of a multiple light source more than 1/2 not functioning | 4.78 | 2.09 | 2.29× | Try every light and switch — lamps are a top failure |
| Brake lining or pad worn below 1.5mma brake lining or pad worn below 1.5mm | 4.14 | 2.15 | 1.92× | Feel for brake judder and pulling on the test drive |
| Rear registration plate lamp or light source…A rear registration plate lamp or light source missing or inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources | 4.51 | 2.83 | 1.59× | Try every light and switch — lamps are a top failure |
| Steering ball joint with excessive wear or free playA steering ball joint with excessive wear or free play | 2.79 | 1.22 | 2.28× | Ask the seller about: A steering ball joint with excessive wear or free play |
| Wiper blade missing or obviously not clearing the…Wiper blade missing or obviously not clearing the windscreen | 2.68 | 2.22 | 1.21× | 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 requirements | 3.87 | 3.59 | 1.08× | Check tyre tread depth across the full width |
| Windscreen or window damaged or seriously…Windscreen or window damaged or seriously discoloured but not adversely affecting driver's view | 2.44 | 2.36 | 1.03× | Check wipers, washers and windscreen chips in the driver's view |
Named defects ranked by how much more often they appear than the national average — not by raw rate.
Hyundai Santa Fe MOT advisories: what gets flagged
Brakes are highest at 44.7 per 100 tests; Identification is lowest at 3.6 per 100 tests — the gap is 41.1 per 100 tests.
higher bar = flagged more oftenadvisory items per 100 initial tests
Advisory rates table
| Group | Advisories per 100 |
|---|---|
| Brakes | 44.7 |
| Tyres | 41 |
| Suspension | 33.7 |
| Non-component advisories | 10 |
| Emissions & leaks | 6.3 |
| Identification | 3.6 |
Advisories are wear the tester noted but didn't fail — what will need money soon.
Tyres, brakes and suspension: Hyundai Santa Fe against cars of the same age
| Age | Part | Hyundai Santa Fe | Same age, petrol and diesel | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 years | Tyres | 3.31 | 4.17 | -0.86 |
| 3 years | Brakes | 3.23 | 1.77 | 1.46 |
| 3 years | Suspension | 0.89 | 0.63 | 0.26 |
| 4 years | Tyres | 3.89 | 4.54 | -0.65 |
| 4 years | Brakes | 3.71 | 2.43 | 1.28 |
| 4 years | Suspension | 0.87 | 1.21 | -0.34 |
| 5 years | Tyres | 4.64 | 5.06 | -0.42 |
| 5 years | Brakes | 3.9 | 3.09 | 0.81 |
| 5 years | Suspension | 1.26 | 2.19 | -0.93 |
| 6 years | Tyres | 5.06 | 5.54 | -0.48 |
| 6 years | Brakes | 4.58 | 3.81 | 0.77 |
| 6 years | Suspension | 2.21 | 3.72 | -1.51 |
| 7 years | Tyres | 5.95 | 5.95 | 0.00 |
| 7 years | Brakes | 6.41 | 4.55 | 1.86 |
| 7 years | Suspension | 3.99 | 5.68 | -1.69 |
| 8 years | Tyres | 6.34 | 6.31 | 0.03 |
| 8 years | Brakes | 8.08 | 5.38 | 2.70 |
| 8 years | Suspension | 7.4 | 7.78 | -0.38 |
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 test | Fails next year | Vehicles followed |
|---|---|---|
| It failed | 38.4% | 13,049 |
| It passed | 27.5% | 108,818 |
A failed test raises next year's chance of failing again by 10.9 percentage points. The failure most likely to come back is visibility — 37.4% 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 214,449 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 for | Index | Reading |
|---|---|---|
| Age only | 111.6 | fails more often than expected |
| Age and annual mileage | 106.1 | fails more often than vehicles driven as much |
| Share doing under 3,000 miles a year | 1.5% | a normal spread of use |
Mileage matters here: matching on how much these are driven moves the figure by 5.5 points — this fleet works harder than the vehicles it is measured against, so the age-only view penalises 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 Santa Fe 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.
| Age | Hyundai Santa Fe | Same class, same age | Difference | Tests |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 years | 12.82% | 10.75% | +2.06 pp | 12,710 |
| 4 years | 14.09% | 12.32% | +1.76 pp | 13,763 |
| 5 years | 16.23% | 14.14% | +2.09 pp | 15,697 |
| 6 years | 18.05% | 16.06% | +2 pp | 15,946 |
| 7 years | 24.91% | 18.15% | +6.76 pp | 17,283 |
| 8 years | 31.03% | 20.37% | +10.66 pp | 18,356 |
| 9 years | 37.21% | 22.85% | +14.36 pp | 17,673 |
| 10 years | 41.09% | 25.35% | +15.74 pp | 15,442 |
| 11 years | 43.98% | 27.98% | +16 pp | 14,102 |
| 12 years | 45.66% | 30.31% | +15.35 pp | 14,648 |
| 13 years | 47.34% | 32.4% | +14.94 pp | 13,860 |
| 14 years | 47.05% | 34.42% | +12.63 pp | 11,592 |
| 15 years | 47.61% | 35.91% | +11.7 pp | 9,344 |
| 16 years | 48.18% | 36.98% | +11.21 pp | 8,439 |
| 17 years | 48.21% | 37.37% | +10.85 pp | 6,803 |
| 18 years | 49.12% | 37.76% | +11.36 pp | 4,520 |
| 19 years | 48.32% | 37.39% | +10.93 pp | 2,500 |
| 20 years | 45.45% | 36.93% | +8.52 pp | 1,320 |
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 Santa Fe perform as it gets older?
The Santa Fe at age 13 stands out at 47.1%, against 38.2% for all vehicles of the same age.
higher = larger sharecompare shares in percentage points
Chart axes: car age, years · failure-rate scale 0–54%.
Takeaway: a 10-year-old Santa Fe has roughly a 32% chance of failing its MOT; from about age 10 it stays above the national age curve.
Data table
| Age | Hyundai Santa Fe | All vehicles | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | 10.3% | 12.4% | -2.1 pp |
| 4 | 11.1% | 13.1% | -2.0 pp |
| 5 | 16.0% | 15.1% | +0.9 pp |
| 6 | 16.1% | 17.5% | -1.4 pp |
| 7 | 18.4% | 20.2% | -1.8 pp |
| 8 | 20.1% | 23.3% | -3.2 pp |
| 9 | 23.5% | 26.5% | -3.0 pp |
| 10 | 32.1% | 30.1% | +2.0 pp |
| 11 | 37.5% | 33.2% | +4.3 pp |
| 12 | 44.5% | 35.7% | +8.8 pp |
| 13 | 47.1% | 38.2% | +8.9 pp |
| 14 | 47.0% | 40.4% | +6.6 pp |
| 15 | 44.1% | 41.6% | +2.6 pp |
| 16 | 46.9% | 43.1% | +3.8 pp |
| 17 | 47.5% | 43.1% | +4.4 pp |
| 18 | 49.0% | 43.9% | +5.1 pp |
| 19 | 49.8% | 43.5% | +6.3 pp |
| 20 | 45.9% | 41.0% | +4.8 pp |
Is a Hyundai Santa Fe ULEZ compliant?
The share of classifiable 2024 Hyundai Santa Fe MOT tests likely ULEZ compliant by first-registration date is 39.2%.
Based on 33,250 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
| Vehicle age at test | Likely ULEZ-compliant share | Tests |
|---|---|---|
| Under 3 years | Suppressed — sample below publication threshold Check a registration with TfL | n = 259 |
| 3–5 years | 100.0% Check a registration with TfL | n = 2,597 |
| 6–7 years | 100.0% Check a registration with TfL | n = 4,588 |
| 8 years | 100.0% Check a registration with TfL | n = 4,294 |
| 9 years | 32.8% Check a registration with TfL | n = 2,946 |
| 10–14 years | 0.3% Check a registration with TfL | n = 13,193 |
| 15–17 years | 2.2% Check a registration with TfL | n = 2,498 |
| 18 years | 20.1% Check a registration with TfL | n = 1,136 |
| 19 years | 0.0% Check a registration with TfL | n = 697 |
| 20+ years | 0.0% Check a registration with TfL | n = 1,042 |
How dangerous are Hyundai Santa Fe MOT failures?
Major defects stand out at 63.8 per 100 tests, against 52.8 per 100 tests nationally.
higher bar = fails more oftenrate per 100 tests
Severity table
| Severity | This family /100 | National /100 | Family / national |
|---|---|---|---|
| Minor | 19.95 | 14.22 | 1.40× |
| Major | 63.76 | 52.75 | 1.21× |
| Dangerous | 14.02 | 11.15 | 1.26× |
Chart values: Minor 19.9 · Major 63.8 · Dangerous 14.0.
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 Santa Fe MOT matter?
Jan is highest at 36.3%; Mar is lowest at 31.9% — the gap is 4.4 percentage points.
higher = larger sharecompare shares in percentage points
Chart scale: 27%–38%.
bars: Hyundai Santa Fe · dashed: all class-4 cars
Month-by-month table
| Month | Hyundai Santa Fe | All vehicles | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 36.28% | 31.12% | +5.2 pp |
| Feb | 34.31% | 29.99% | +4.3 pp |
| Mar | 31.92% | 28.26% | +3.7 pp |
| Apr | 34.45% | 29.78% | +4.7 pp |
| May | 32.63% | 28.79% | +3.8 pp |
| Jun | 32.85% | 28.15% | +4.7 pp |
| Jul | 34.01% | 29.33% | +4.7 pp |
| Aug | 33.08% | 29.2% | +3.9 pp |
| Sep | 32.79% | 28.19% | +4.6 pp |
| Oct | 35.01% | 30.34% | +4.7 pp |
| Nov | 35.5% | 30.58% | +4.9 pp |
| Dec | 34.4% | 29.33% | +5.1 pp |
Takeaway: the spread between best and worst month is 4.4 percentage points — noticeable seasonality. 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 Santa Fe average mileage by age
At age 8, the middle half of Santa Fes runs from 51,246 miles to 79,876 miles, against 64,532 miles as the median.
further right = more milesmedian is the typical car; band is p25–p75
Chart axes: car age, years · odometer scale 0–153k mi.
Does high mileage mean more Hyundai Santa Fe MOT failures at the same age?
Within the same age group, split by odometer (2024 MOTs), so this separates wear from age: at ages 10–14, 14.8% of those with under 40,000 miles failed first time versus 50.3% of those with over 140,000 miles.Inside this age group, higher mileage goes with more failures.
| Age | Odometer | % failing | 95% interval | Tests |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3–5 | <40k miles | 10.6% | 9.2–12.2% | 1,665 |
| 3–5 | 40-70k miles | 17.7% | 15.2–20.5% | 807 |
| 3–5 | 70-100k miles | 15.2% | 9.7–23% | 112 (rough estimate) |
| 6–9 | <40k miles | 10.6% | 9.2–12.3% | 1,606 |
| 6–9 | 40-70k miles | 17.9% | 16.9–18.9% | 5,752 |
| 6–9 | 70-100k miles | 24.2% | 22.8–25.7% | 3,455 |
| 6–9 | 100-140k miles | 30.7% | 27.7–33.8% | 893 |
| 6–9 | 140k+ miles | 37.2% | 29.1–46.1% | 121 (rough estimate) |
| 10–14 | <40k miles | 14.8% | 10.7–20.3% | 209 (rough estimate) |
| 10–14 | 40-70k miles | 31.3% | 29.1–33.5% | 1,679 |
| 10–14 | 70-100k miles | 39.7% | 38.3–41.2% | 4,277 |
| 10–14 | 100-140k miles | 47.2% | 45.8–48.5% | 5,137 |
| 10–14 | 140k+ miles | 50.3% | 48–52.5% | 1,888 |
| 15+ | 40-70k miles | 38.3% | 33.3–43.6% | 342 (rough estimate) |
| 15+ | 70-100k miles | 44.3% | 41.6–47.2% | 1,211 |
| 15+ | 100-140k miles | 48.3% | 46.3–50.3% | 2,429 |
| 15+ | 140k+ miles | 51.1% | 48.4–53.7% | 1,351 |
line: median · band: middle half of the fleet (p25–p75)
Mileage by age (p25 / median / p75)
| Age | p25 | Median | p75 | Tests |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | 20,517 | 27,519 | 35,845 | 929 |
| 4 | 26,383 | 33,750 | 42,928 | 532 |
| 5 | 31,204 | 40,828 | 53,772 | 1,136 |
| 6 | 38,406 | 49,427 | 62,734 | 1,934 |
| 7 | 46,715 | 59,171 | 73,219 | 2,654 |
| 8 | 51,246 | 64,532 | 79,876 | 4,294 |
| 9 | 57,930 | 73,298 | 91,456 | 2,946 |
| 10 | 67,734 | 84,602 | 103,280 | 2,482 |
| 11 | 75,745 | 93,756 | 113,750 | 1,363 |
| 12 | 81,161 | 101,174 | 121,928 | 3,002 |
| 13 | 90,445 | 111,038 | 133,098 | 3,266 |
| 14 | 95,015 | 115,956 | 138,196 | 3,081 |
| 15 | 92,269 | 110,441 | 130,555 | 632 |
| 16 | 102,364 | 119,758 | 139,170 | 731 |
| 17 | 101,300 | 121,770 | 145,866 | 1,135 |
| 18 | 92,497 | 114,766 | 136,797 | 1,137 |
| 19 | 96,402 | 120,853 | 144,750 | 699 |
| 20+ | 88,741 | 113,319 | 140,016 | 1,046 |
A typical 8-year-old Santa Fe has ~64,532 miles on the clock. Much more — ask why; much less — check for gaps in the MOT history.
Where in Britain the Hyundai Santa Fe fails its MOT most
Llandrindod Wells area is highest at 49.5%; Warrington area is lowest at 24.9% — the gap is 24.5 percentage points.
higher = larger sharecompare shares in percentage points
| Toughest areas | % failing | vs model overall |
|---|---|---|
| Llandrindod Wells (LD) | 49.45% | +15.5 pp |
| Dundee (DD) | 47.56% | +13.6 pp |
| Kirkcaldy (KY) | 46.37% | +12.4 pp |
| Dorchester (DT) | 45.41% | +11.5 pp |
| Harrogate (HG) | 42.23% | +8.3 pp |
| Easiest areas | % failing | vs model overall |
|---|---|---|
| Warrington (WA) | 24.92% | -9.0 pp |
| St Albans (AL) | 25.84% | -8.1 pp |
| Huddersfield (HD) | 26.47% | -7.5 pp |
| Twickenham (TW) | 26.63% | -7.3 pp |
| Enfield (EN) | 26.66% | -7.3 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 mot centre density this model fails 7.1 pp more often than in the lowest fifth (r=0.51, n=97 areas with ≥800 tests).
In areas with the highest urban share this model fails 5.0 pp less often than in the lowest fifth (r=-0.42, n=97 areas with ≥800 tests).
In the most coastal fifth of areas this model fails 4.5 pp more often than in the most inland fifth (r=-0.34, n=97 areas with ≥800 tests).
| Factor | Low Q | High Q | Gap | Correlation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| MOT centre density | 30.8% | 37.9% | +7.1 pp | r=0.51 |
| Urban share | 36.2% | 31.2% | -5.0 pp | r=-0.42 |
| Distance to coast | 37.1% | 32.6% | -4.5 pp | r=-0.34 |
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 | Built from | Tested against | r | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Underbody corrosion | frost days × salt load ÷ (distance to coast + 1) | share of tests with a corrosion defect | +0.42 | holds (116 areas) |
| Tyre wear | rain days × annual miles ÷ age at first tyre advisory | share of tests failing on tyres | +0.45 | holds (116 areas) |
| Overnight corrosion | terraced housing × cars per household × frost days | share with a corrosion defect | +0.41 | holds (102 areas) — and adds signal beyond the first index |
| Deferred maintenance | deprivation × advisory-to-failure conversion ÷ labour rate | cars repeating the same advisory | −0.26 | fails (118 areas) |
| Powertrain stress | engine capacity ÷ kerb weight | suspension, brake and emissions failures | −0.16 | fails (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)
| Factor | r | n areas | Low-Q fail % | High-Q fail % | Gap pp | Low-Q factor | High-Q factor |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MOT centre density (per 10k vehicles) | 0.508 | 97 | 30.8 | 37.9 | +7.1 | 5.2 | 8.4 |
| Urban share (0–1) | -0.423 | 97 | 36.2 | 31.2 | -5.0 | 0.4 | 1 |
| Distance to coast (km) | -0.342 | 97 | 37.1 | 32.6 | -4.5 | 5.6 | 81.2 |
| Frost days (days/year) | 0.207 | 97 | 34.8 | 35.9 | +1.1 | 11.6 | 36.6 |
| Road-salt proxy (g/m²-yr) | 0.197 | 97 | 33.8 | 36.0 | +2.2 | 222.1 | 646.3 |
| Terrain gradient (% grade) | 0.156 | 60 | 33.3 | 35.0 | +1.7 | 0.5 | 3.5 |
| Income deprivation (score) | -0.125 | 83 | 33.7 | 32.7 | -1.0 | 0.1 | 0.2 |
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: 27%–42% failing.
Hyundai Santa Fe survival: which cars are still on the road
By age 19 is well below the reference at 16.5%, against 100.0% at the ages 4–6 reference level.
higher = larger sharecompare shares in percentage points
Chart axes: car age, years · survival vs ages 4–6 · scale 0–105%.
Survival vs fail rate by age
| Age | Tests | Survival vs ages 4–6 | Fail % |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | 12,710 | 84% | 12.82% |
| 4 | 13,763 | 90.9% | 14.09% |
| 5 | 15,697 | 100% | 16.23% |
| 6 | 15,946 | 100% | 18.05% |
| 7 | 17,283 | 100% | 24.91% |
| 8 | 18,356 | 100% | 31.03% |
| 9 | 17,673 | 100% | 37.21% |
| 10 | 15,442 | 100% | 41.09% |
| 11 | 14,102 | 93.2% | 43.98% |
| 12 | 14,648 | 96.8% | 45.66% |
| 13 | 13,860 | 91.6% | 47.34% |
| 14 | 11,592 | 76.6% | 47.05% |
| 15 | 9,344 | 61.7% | 47.61% |
| 16 | 8,439 | 55.8% | 48.18% |
| 17 | 6,803 | 44.9% | 48.21% |
| 18 | 4,520 | 29.9% | 49.12% |
| 19 | 2,500 | 16.5% | 48.32% |
By age 19, only about 16% as many cars of this family present for MOT as at ages 4–6 (reference n≈15,135); survivors still fail at 48.3% vs 14.1% at age 4. Older cars that still appear are a selected subset — weaker ones have already left.
How many miles does a Hyundai Santa Fe last?
100,000+ miles is highest at 32.1%; 200,000+ miles is lowest at 0.5% — the gap is 31.6 percentage points.
higher = larger sharecompare shares in percentage points
| Odometer | Tests ≥ threshold | Share of sample |
|---|---|---|
| 100,000+ miles | 68,931 | 32.13% |
| 150,000+ miles | 12,298 | 5.73% |
| 200,000+ miles | 1,163 | 0.54% |
Of 214,561 tests of this family with a usable odometer in 2024, 32.1% had reached 100k miles, 5.7% had reached 150k miles, 0.5% had reached 200k miles. This is a cross-section of cars still presenting for MOT, not a full birth cohort.
How many years is a Hyundai Santa Fe likely to last?
Bought at age 5 is highest at 11.2 years; Bought at age 15 is lowest at 2.9 years — the gap is 8.3 years.
bigger number = longer remaining lifeyears on the observed survival curve
| Age now | Typical mileage (p50) | Expected years left |
|---|---|---|
| 5 | — | 11.2 |
| 8 | — | 8.2 |
| 10 | — | 6.2 |
| 12 | — | 4.4 |
| 15 | — | at least 2.9 |
estimateEstimate only — not a warranty: a typical 10-year-old example of this family has about 6.2 expected years of further MOT-present life on the 2024 survival curve. Derived from how many cars of each age still appear for test, not from a longitudinal panel.
Hyundai Santa Fe faults that come together
Emissions & leaks + Seatbelts & SRS stand out at 6.25×, against 1.00× if the faults were independent.
above 1.0× = more than expectedbelow 1.0× = less
| Group A | Group B | Together | Lift |
|---|---|---|---|
| Noise, emissions and leaks | Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems | 205 | 6.25× (rough estimate) |
| Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems | Steering | 458 | 4.4× (rough estimate) |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | Road Wheels | 33 | 4.06× (rough estimate) |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems | 1,199 | 3.82× |
| Identification of the vehicle | Noise, emissions and leaks | 68 | 3.8× (rough estimate) |
| Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems | Suspension | 898 | 3.65× |
| Brakes | Identification of the vehicle | 395 | 3.61× (rough estimate) |
| Identification of the vehicle | Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 611 | 3.57× |
| Brakes | Noise, emissions and leaks | 1,159 | 3.53× |
| Brakes | Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems | 703 | 3.5× |
| Body, chassis, structure | Noise, emissions and leaks | 1,151 | 3.49× |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Noise, emissions and leaks | 1,774 | 3.45× |
| Identification of the vehicle | Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems | 37 | 3.39× (rough estimate) |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | Steering | 574 | 3.37× |
| Identification of the vehicle | Visibility | 265 | 3.33× (rough estimate) |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Road Wheels | 248 | 3.19× (rough estimate) |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | Suspension | 1,278 | 3.18× |
| Identification of the vehicle | Suspension | 420 | 3.14× (rough estimate) |
| Road Wheels | Tyres | 97 | 3.12× (rough estimate) |
| Identification of the vehicle | Tyres | 213 | 3.11× (rough estimate) |
| Brakes | Road Wheels | 155 | 3.11× (rough estimate) |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | Visibility | 733 | 3.06× |
| Road Wheels | Suspension | 185 | 3.04× (rough estimate) |
| Brakes | Suspension | 7,281 | 2.96× |
| Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems | Visibility | 427 | 2.92× (rough estimate) |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Suspension | 11,123 | 2.89× |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | Tyres | 582 | 2.83× |
| Steering | Suspension | 3,595 | 2.82× |
| Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems | Tyres | 354 | 2.82× (rough estimate) |
| Brakes | Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 8,776 | 2.79× |
| Body, chassis, structure | Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 8,765 | 2.78× |
| Body, chassis, structure | Identification of the vehicle | 300 | 2.73× (rough estimate) |
| Brakes | Tyres | 3,410 | 2.71× |
| Road Wheels | Visibility | 95 | 2.62× (rough estimate) |
| Body, chassis, structure | Suspension | 6,450 | 2.61× |
| Road Wheels | Steering | 66 | 2.56× (rough estimate) |
| Body, chassis, structure | Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems | 511 | 2.54× |
| Body, chassis, structure | Road Wheels | 127 | 2.54× (rough estimate) |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Visibility | 5,695 | 2.49× |
| Identification of the vehicle | Steering | 140 | 2.47× (rough estimate) |
| Body, chassis, structure | Brakes | 4,960 | 2.46× |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Tyres | 4,821 | 2.45× |
| Brakes | Steering | 2,552 | 2.44× |
| Suspension | Tyres | 3,742 | 2.43× |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Steering | 3,907 | 2.4× |
| Tyres | Visibility | 2,137 | 2.33× |
| Brakes | Visibility | 3,397 | 2.32× |
| Suspension | Visibility | 3,907 | 2.18× |
| Steering | Tyres | 1,406 | 2.15× |
| Body, chassis, structure | Visibility | 3,055 | 2.08× |
| Steering | Visibility | 1,518 | 2× |
| Body, chassis, structure | Steering | 2,020 | 1.93× |
| Body, chassis, structure | Tyres | 2,332 | 1.85× |
| Road Wheels | Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems | 19 | too few (rough estimate) |
| Identification of the vehicle | Road Wheels | 12 | too few (rough estimate) |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Speedometer and speed limiter | 10 | too few (rough estimate) |
| Brakes | Speedometer and speed limiter | 7 | too few (rough estimate) |
| Body, chassis, structure | Speedometer and speed limiter | 7 | too few (rough estimate) |
| Speedometer and speed limiter | Suspension | 6 | too few (rough estimate) |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Seat belt installation check | 6 | too few (rough estimate) |
| Seat belt installation check | Suspension | 5 | too few (rough estimate) |
Defects in «Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment» and «Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems» appear together 3.82× more often than chance (1,199 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 Santa Fe?
Cars driven under 5,000 miles a year is well below the reference at 19.2%, against 35.1% for cars driven 8,000–12,000 miles a year.
higher = larger sharecompare shares in percentage points
| Band | Fail % | Tests |
|---|---|---|
| <5k miles/year | 19.22% | 12,246 |
| 8–12k miles/year | 35.05% | 68,915 |
| Gap (low − normal) | -15.83 pp | — |
By fuel and age
Diesel
| Age | Low-use fail % | n | Normal fail % | n | Gap pp |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 | 8.61 | 1,789 | 17.85 | 6,134 | -9.24 pp |
| 6 | 10.59 | 1,615 | 19.79 | 6,484 | -9.2 pp |
| 7 | 12.38 | 1,502 | 27.35 | 7,331 | -14.97 pp |
| 8 | 14.78 | 1,421 | 33.89 | 7,893 | -19.11 pp |
| 9 | 19.77 | 1,199 | 40.5 | 7,914 | -20.73 pp |
| 10 | 24.41 | 967 | 44.9 | 7,152 | -20.49 pp |
| 11 | 27.83 | 848 | 46.52 | 6,744 | -18.69 pp |
| 12 | 30.05 | 915 | 48.78 | 7,155 | -18.72 pp |
| 13 | 33.22 | 849 | 50.21 | 6,457 | -16.99 pp |
| 14 | 30.18 | 792 | 50.44 | 5,016 | -20.26 pp |
Petrol
| Age | Low-use fail % | n | Normal fail % | n | Gap pp |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 13 | 36.84 | 114 | 53.65 | 192 | -16.8 pp |
| 14 | 40.61 | 165 | 53.37 | 208 | -12.76 pp |
At matched ages 5–14, cars averaging under 5k miles/year fail at 19.2% vs 35.0% for 8–12k miles/year — 15.8 pp lower (n_low=12,246, n_normal=68,915). 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. Diesel alone: 18.7% low-use vs 34.6% normal (-15.9 pp).
Best year for a Hyundai Santa Fe, and the years to avoid
Build year 2012 is highest at 114.9; Build year 2015 is lowest at 78.8 — the gap is 36.1 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
Every build year with its confidence interval
| Build year | vs own age norm | 95% CI | Raw fail % | Tests | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 99.3 | 82.9–115.8 | 12.94% | 1,082 | no different |
| 2019 | 98.2 | 89.4–107 | 13.65% | 3,503 | no different |
| 2018 | 99 | 93.3–104.7 | 14.73% | 7,887 | no different |
| 2017 | 91.1 | 87.2–94.9 | 15.11% | 14,263 | better |
| 2016 | 85.3 | 82.7–87.8 | 16.46% | 25,937 | better |
| 2015 | 78.8 | 76.1–81.4 | 18.29% | 18,031 | better |
| 2014 | 92.4 | 89.5–95.3 | 25.58% | 15,241 | better |
| 2013 | 104.3 | 100.5–108.1 | 33.57% | 8,464 | worse |
| 2012 | 114.9 | 112.4–117.4 | 42.28% | 19,421 | worse |
| 2011 | 110.1 | 107.9–112.3 | 44.76% | 21,615 | worse |
| 2010 | 103.7 | 101.6–105.8 | 45.06% | 20,884 | worse |
| 2009 | 99 | 94.9–103 | 44.81% | 5,168 | no different |
| 2008 | 99.1 | 95.5–102.6 | 46.2% | 6,560 | no different |
| 2007 | 98.9 | 96.2–101.6 | 47.02% | 10,718 | no different |
| 2006 | 102 | 99.4–104.5 | 49.22% | 12,603 | no different |
| 2005 | 98.7 | 95.6–101.8 | 47.91% | 8,307 | no different |
| 2004 | 99.9 | 96.5–103.2 | 48.84% | 7,039 | no different |
| 2003 | 96.3 | 92.1–100.6 | 47.6% | 4,130 | no different |
| 2002 | 94.9 | 88.5–101.3 | 47.27% | 1,792 | no different |
| 2001 | 88.6 | 76–101.3 | 44.68% | 423 | no different |
The best build year here is 2015 and the weakest is 2012. 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 — 8 of 20 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 Santa Fe MOT repair costs
The MOT-failure repair budget per test runs from £97.81 to £185.84, against £54.85 for the test itself.
bigger number = costs morepounds per test, MOT-failing faults only
| Component | Fails per 100 tests | Typical repair | Its price | Contribution |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 25.1 (nat. 18.09) | Battery replacement (standard 12V lead-acid) | £140 | £35.14 |
| Suspension | 17.1 (nat. 15.36) | Suspension coil spring (single corner) | £180 | £30.78 |
| Brakes | 16.1 (nat. 11.25) | Front brake pads (parts + labour, typical hatchback) | £150 | £24.15 |
| Tyres | 8.6 (nat. 8.7) | Tyre (single mid-range 16" fitted) | £90 | £7.74 |
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 £98 to £186, 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 Santa Fe running costs for a fleet
Vehicles failing at age 10 stand out at 32.0%, against 16.0% at age 5, tested in the same year.
higher = larger sharecompare shares in percentage points
Failure rate and typical odometer by age
| Age | Fails | Median odometer | Tests | Gap vs age 5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | 10.33% | 27,519 | 929 | -5.7 pp |
| 4 | 11.09% | 33,750 | 532 | -4.9 pp |
| 5 | 16.02% | 40,828 | 1,136 | +0.0 pp |
| 6 | 16.08% | 49,427 | 1,934 | +0.1 pp |
| 7 | 18.35% | 59,171 | 2,654 | +2.3 pp |
| 8 | 20.14% | 64,532 | 4,294 | +4.1 pp |
| 9 | 23.49% | 73,298 | 2,946 | +7.5 pp |
| 10 | 32.11% | 84,602 | 2,482 | +16.1 pp |
| 11 | 37.49% | 93,756 | 1,363 | +21.5 pp |
| 12 | 44.47% | 101,174 | 3,002 | +28.4 pp |
| 13 | 47.09% | 111,038 | 3,266 | +31.1 pp |
| 14 | 47.03% | 115,956 | 3,081 | +31.0 pp |
| 15 | 44.15% | 110,441 | 632 | +28.1 pp |
| 16 | 46.92% | 119,758 | 731 | +30.9 pp |
| 17 | 47.49% | 121,770 | 1,135 | +31.5 pp |
| 18 | 48.99% | 114,766 | 1,137 | +33.0 pp |
| 19 | 49.79% | 120,853 | 699 | +33.8 pp |
The number a fleet manager needs is not the failure rate, it is the year the car starts costing more. Between cars aged 9 and cars aged 10, both tested in 2024, the failure rate of this model is 8.62 percentage points higher — the steepest one-year step in this cross-section of different cars, and a natural planning point for replacement.
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 Santa Fe rust problems: where they corrode
Age-standardised corrosion susceptibility stands out at 1.96×, against 1.00× for the national age-standardised rate.
above 1.0× = rusts more than averagebelow 1.0× = rusts less
This Hyundai Santa Fe fails on corrosion far more often than average once age is held constant, and its owners live in areas that are saltier than most for the models we publish.
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 Santa Fe advisory become a failure?
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment are highest at 36.3%; Non-component advisories are lowest at 0.0% — the gap is 36.3 percentage points.
higher = more likelypercentage is the observed transition probability
chance the same component fails at the next MOT, given an advisory now
| Component | Fails next time | Typical lead time | Miles of warning | Advisories tracked |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 36.3% | 12 months | 5,824 | 3,064 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 24.6% | 12 months | 4,834 | 3,895 |
| Suspension | 23.6% | 12 months | 6,072 | 28,114 |
| Steering | 18.9% | 12 months | 5,984 | 4,972 |
| Brakes | 15.0% | 12 months | 6,183 | 40,736 |
| Tyres | 9.4% | 12 months | 6,966 | 40,354 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 5.8% | 12.1 months | 5,054 | 8,699 |
| Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems | 4.4% | 12 months | 6,852 | 1,141 |
| Identification of the vehicle | 3.8% | 12.1 months | 6,930 | 5,338 |
| Non-component advisories | 0.0% | — | — | 14,109 |
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 36 in 100 cars, and the median gap is 12 months and roughly 5,824 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 Santa Fe?
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment after a failure at age 20+ are highest at 34.0%; Tyres after a passed at age <3 are lowest at 2.5% — the gap is 31.5 percentage points.
higher = more likelypercentage is the observed transition probability
| Age | Last test | Most likely next failures | Cars tracked |
|---|---|---|---|
| <3 | passed | Visibility 4.6% · Brakes 2.9% · Tyres 2.5% | 5,978 |
| <3 | advisory | Visibility 6.3% · Brakes 4.5% · Tyres 4.0% | 2,078 |
| <3 | failure | Tyres 5.5% · Brakes 5.1% · Visibility 4.5% | 1,076 |
| 3-5 | passed | Visibility 4.2% · Tyres 3.8% · Brakes 3.4% | 21,548 |
| 3-5 | advisory | Visibility 5.7% · Tyres 5.6% · Brakes 5.4% | 11,150 |
| 3-5 | failure | Tyres 6.8% · Visibility 6.7% · Brakes 5.8% | 6,059 |
| 6-8 | passed | Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 7.4% · Brakes 5.9% · Suspension 5.5% | 17,770 |
| 6-8 | advisory | Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 10.2% · Brakes 8.5% · Suspension 8.2% | 11,890 |
| 6-8 | failure | Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 17.4% · Suspension 12.6% · Brakes 11.8% | 12,914 |
| 9-11 | passed | Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 15.8% · Suspension 13.1% · Body, chassis, structure 12.6% | 10,464 |
| 9-11 | advisory | Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 21.5% · Suspension 17.5% · Body, chassis, structure 16.1% | 10,617 |
| 9-11 | failure | Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 27.9% · Suspension 21.6% · Body, chassis, structure 17.5% | 16,046 |
| 12-14 | passed | Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 18.3% · Suspension 15.5% · Body, chassis, structure 11.6% | 5,841 |
| 12-14 | advisory | Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 23.8% · Suspension 21.4% · Body, chassis, structure 13.9% | 7,861 |
| 12-14 | failure | Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 30.1% · Suspension 23.7% · Brakes 17.1% | 12,000 |
| 15-19 | passed | Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 18.5% · Suspension 15.6% · Body, chassis, structure 13.7% | 3,705 |
| 15-19 | advisory | Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 27.1% · Suspension 21.7% · Body, chassis, structure 20.1% | 6,021 |
| 15-19 | failure | Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 33.3% · Suspension 25.1% · Body, chassis, structure 23.4% | 8,487 |
| 20+ | passed | Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 20.6% · Suspension 16.5% · Body, chassis, structure 12.4% | 97 (rough estimate) |
| 20+ | advisory | Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 29.6% · Suspension 25.0% · Body, chassis, structure 20.4% | 196 (rough estimate) |
| 20+ | failure | Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 34.0% · Suspension 22.1% · Body, chassis, structure 19.7% | 244 (rough estimate) |
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 Santa Fe ownership: what six years of MOTs show
The ten-day re-test pass rate is highest at 64.1%; The later re-test pass rate is lowest at 4.2% — the gap is 59.9 percentage points.
higher = larger sharecompare shares in percentage points
Failing is usually a same-week event, not a disaster. Of 55,462 failures followed through to their re-test, 31.8% were repaired and passed the same day and 64.06% within ten days; the median gap is 1 day. 148,847 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 0.489 failures per 10,000 miles, on a median of 6,228 miles a year across 40,751 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. 31.22% of these cars strung together three or more tests with nothing recorded at all, while 37.19% 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: 0.674% of 40,782 chains show a reading lower than the previous test, with a median drop of 25,134 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 Santa Fe safety recalls and how to check yours
DVSA recall campaigns stand out at 24.
bigger number = more recorded casescompare like-for-like scope, not sample size alone
recall campaigns launched per year
| Reference | Launched | Vehicles | Concern |
|---|---|---|---|
R/2026/146 | 02/04/2026 | 1,143 | Some vehicles may have an instrument cluster operational concern whilst driving the vehicl |
R/2024/341 | 16/09/2024 | 173 | The main floor wiring harness could become damaged due to contact with the second-row benc |
R/2024/341 | 16/09/2024 | 557 | The main floor wiring harness could become damaged due to contact with the second-row benc |
R/2024/309 | 09/09/2024 | 5,306 | A potential safety defect has been identified which could occur within the ABS control uni |
R/2023/126 | 22/05/2023 | 20 | The vehicle fuel tank may be manufactured incorrectly which may result in a fuel leak |
All 24 campaigns
| Reference | Launched | Build dates | Vehicles | Concern |
|---|---|---|---|---|
R/2026/146 | 02/04/2026 | 01/07/2025 – 24/10/2025 | 1,143 | Some vehicles may have an instrument cluster operational concern whilst driving the vehicl |
R/2024/341 | 16/09/2024 | 15/03/2024 – 04/07/2024 | 173 | The main floor wiring harness could become damaged due to contact with the second-row benc |
R/2024/341 | 16/09/2024 | 15/03/2024 – 04/07/2024 | 557 | The main floor wiring harness could become damaged due to contact with the second-row benc |
R/2024/309 | 09/09/2024 | 28/11/2011 – 31/10/2014 | 5,306 | A potential safety defect has been identified which could occur within the ABS control uni |
R/2023/126 | 22/05/2023 | 11/04/2022 – 21/06/2022 | 20 | The vehicle fuel tank may be manufactured incorrectly which may result in a fuel leak |
R/2023/069 | 24/04/2023 | 25/06/2020 – 13/08/2022 | 1,894 | : Some vehicles may experience an abnormal front seat belt pretensioner deployment during |
R/2023/069 | 24/04/2023 | 18/01/2021 – 16/08/2022 | 1,894 | : Some vehicles may experience an abnormal front seat belt pretensioner deployment during |
R/2023/069 | 24/04/2023 | 12/09/2020 – 14/07/2022 | 1,894 | : Some vehicles may experience an abnormal front seat belt pretensioner deployment during |
R/2023/068 | 10/04/2023 | 29/01/2020 – 03/06/2022 | 376 | Certain vehicles may experience a transmission malfunction resulting in a loss of drive. |
R/2022/128 | 01/06/2022 | 02/06/2015 – 18/01/2018 | 80,559 | THE ABS CONTROL UNIT WITHIN THE AFFECTED VIN RANGE COULD EXPERIENCE AN ELECTRICAL SHORT |
R/2022/151 | 23/05/2022 | 18/10/2021 – 06/12/2021 | 36 | THE INSTRUMENT PANEL CLUSTER LIQUID-CRYSTAL DISPLAY PANEL IN THE SUBJECT VEHICLES MAY HAVE |
R/2021/014 | 22/02/2021 | 01/09/2020 – 14/12/2020 | 1,879 | IN THE EVENT OF eCALL TRIGGER THE VIN NUMBER INFORMATION MAY NOT BE SENT |
R/2020/223 | 04/09/2020 | 16/03/2005 – 22/09/2009 | 9,654 | THE ANTI-LOCK BRAKE SYSTEM MODULE REMAINS ENERGIZED WHEN VEHICLE IS TURNED OFF |
R/2018/299 | 19/11/2018 | 01/09/2017 – 14/08/2018 | 239 | CURTAIN AIR BAG MAY NOT INFLATE CORRECTLY IF DEPLOYED |
R/2018/104 | 01/05/2018 | 15/06/2017 – 25/01/2018 | 304 | STEERING WHEEL MAY DETACH |
R/2018/007 | 29/01/2018 | 01/09/2011 – 02/11/2011 | 132 | FUEL MAY LEAK |
R/2017/250 | 16/10/2017 | 01/01/2012 – 01/07/2016 | 12,380 | BONNET MAY OPEN UNEXPECTEDLY |
R/2013/056 | 05/06/2013 | 01/04/2001 – 31/07/2011 | 87,795 | BRAKE LIGHTS MAY MALFUNCTION |
R/2012/018 | 16/04/2012 | 01/09/2009 – 13/12/2011 | 9,989 | FUEL MAY LEAK |
R/2010/091 | 20/09/2010 | 27/01/2003 – 03/06/2003 | 16,927 | SUSPENSION MAY FAIL |
R/2010/091 | 20/09/2010 | 01/01/2000 – 26/01/2003 | 16,927 | SUSPENSION MAY FAIL |
R/2003/166 | 05/01/2004 | 24/03/2003 – 17/06/2003 | 711 | POSSIBLE FUEL LEAK |
R/2003/109 | 22/08/2003 | 419 | POSSIBLE FUEL LEAK AND ENGINE SHUTDOWN. | |
R/2003/062 | 24/06/2003 | 352 | POSSIBLE FUEL LEAK |
DVSA lists 24 safety recall campaigns for the Hyundai Santa Fe, covering roughly 251,560 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 Santa Fe technical service bulletins: what dealers are told
US market, Hyundai SANTA FE and its variants, model years 2015–2022 only. A count of bulletins, not a UK failure rate.
NHTSA manufacturer communications are 424.
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
| Communication year | Bulletins | Leading subjects across all years |
|---|---|---|
| 2014 | 3 |
|
| 2015 | 2 | |
| 2016 | 34 | |
| 2017 | 32 | |
| 2018 | 26 | |
| 2019 | 58 | |
| 2020 | 62 | |
| 2021 | 29 | |
| 2022 | 39 | |
| 2023 | 56 | |
| 2024 | 18 | |
| 2025 | 29 | |
| 2026 | 36 |
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 Santa Fe owner complaints: what goes wrong
US market, Hyundai SANTA FE and its variants, model years 2015–2022 only. A count of owner complaints, not a UK failure rate; NHTSA has no UK denominator.
Engine (not MOT-tested) is highest at 1,846; Steering is lowest at 87 — the gap is 1,759.
bigger number = more recorded casescompare like-for-like scope, not sample size alone
| Component | Complaints | Share | MOT fail items per 100 | MOT rank | Agreement |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Engine (not MOT-tested) | 1,846 | 56.5% | not in top 6 | — | complained about, rarely an MOT failure |
| Transmission (not MOT-tested) | 477 | 14.6% | not in top 6 | — | complained about, rarely an MOT failure |
| Lamps & electrical | 325 | 9.9% | 25.1 | #1 | complained about and fails often |
| Brakes | 306 | 9.4% | 16.1 | #3 | complained about and fails often |
| Restraints | 132 | 4.0% | not in top 6 | — | complained about, rarely an MOT failure |
| Steering | 87 | 2.7% | not in top 6 | — | complained about, rarely an MOT failure |
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
Vehicle engine started knocking heavily while driving down the road. Had vehicle inspected for issue and was told vehicle had burned all the oil down to one quart and the engine was destroyed. Vehicle recently serviced with oil change within roughly 3,000 miles.
At 110K miles my Sante Fe Sport began burning increasing amounts of oil. My mechanic says he does not know why it is burning oil. Today it has 134171K miles on it. It has been burning a quart or more of oil weekly. I drive about 200 miles per week.
US owners have filed 3,270 complaints about the equivalent Hyundai Santa Fe to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, including 98 that mention a crash, 97 a fire and 89 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 Santa Fe inspection results in other countries
Finland Katsastus stands out at 43.7%, against 26.3% nationally.
higher = larger sharecompare shares in percentage points
| Country | Test | This model fails | National average | Position | Sample |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| United Kingdom | MOT (class 4) | 32.74% | 26.01% | +6.7 pp | 33,318 |
| Netherlands | APK | 66.7% | 50.8% | +15.9 pp | 3,006 |
| Norway | PKK | 44.8% | 33.7% | +11.1 pp | 2,504 |
| Finland | Katsastus | 43.7% | 26.3% | +17.4 pp | 1,114 |
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.
| Fault area | Share |
|---|---|
| Axles, wheels and suspension | 40.4% |
| Brake systems | 31.6% |
| Steering equipment | 10.1% |
| Environmental hazards | 6% |
| Chassis and body | 5.1% |
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.
| Code | Fault | Recorded | Type |
|---|---|---|---|
210 | Tyre pressure not at the correct value | 485 | failure |
205 | Tyre with insufficient tread | 442 | failure |
584 | Sidelight not working properly | 422 | failure |
497 | Number-plate light not working or missing | 331 | failure |
178 | Driveshaft gaiter split, no longer sealing | 297 | failure |
RA2 | Excessive leak of other fluids | 273 | advisory |
186 | Ball joint with excessive play | 236 | failure |
AC1 | Tyre down to 1.6–2.5 mm of tread | 230 | advisory |
Worth dwelling on how mundane the top of that list is: tyre pressure, tread depth, headlight aim. The Dutch APK records 1.941 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 Santa Fe 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 Santa Fe MOT: quick answers
Hyundai Santa Fe MOT Risk Index stands out at 107.8, 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 Santa Fe first-time MOT pass rate?
- 67.26% of first attempts passed in 2024 (33,318 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 32.74% figure is the first-time initial failure rate, using 33,318 primary tests as the denominator (first-time, excluding retests). The age-adjusted MOT initial-failure ratio 107.8 is shown separately because raw rates compare fleet age as well as cars.
Compare the Hyundai Santa Fe with other cars
Vauxhall Insignia is highest at 108.3; Ford S-MAX is lowest at 107.6 — the gap is 0.7 points.
below 100 is betterabove 100 is worse100 = normal for this model at that age
Same brand
All Hyundai MOT statisticsHyundai ix35 MOT statsHyundai i20 MOT stats
Similar risk
Ford S-MAX (index 107.6)Volvo V40 (index 108.1)Vauxhall Insignia (index 108.3)
Same size class
how Land Rover Range Rover Velar compareshow Isuzu D-Max compareshow Honda HR-V compares
By build year
Hyundai Santa Fe 2001Hyundai Santa Fe 2002Hyundai Santa Fe 2003Hyundai Santa Fe 2004Hyundai Santa Fe 2005Hyundai Santa Fe 2006Hyundai Santa Fe 2007Hyundai Santa Fe 2008Hyundai Santa Fe 2009Hyundai Santa Fe 2010Hyundai Santa Fe 2011Hyundai Santa Fe 2012Hyundai Santa Fe 2013Hyundai Santa Fe 2014Hyundai Santa Fe 2015Hyundai Santa Fe 2016Hyundai Santa Fe 2017Hyundai Santa Fe 2018Hyundai Santa Fe 2019Hyundai Santa Fe 2020
By area
Hyundai Santa Fe MOT failure rate by postcode area
By failure group
Hyundai Santa Fe body, chassis and structure failuresHyundai Santa Fe brakes failuresHyundai Santa Fe vehicle identification failuresHyundai Santa Fe lamps, reflectors and electrics failuresHyundai Santa Fe noise, emissions and leaks failuresHyundai Santa Fe road wheels failuresHyundai Santa Fe seat belts and airbags failuresHyundai Santa Fe steering failuresHyundai Santa Fe suspension failuresHyundai Santa Fe tyres failuresHyundai Santa Fe visibility failures
Inspections abroad
Hyundai Santa Fe in NorwayHyundai Santa Fe in FinlandHyundai Santa Fe 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-santa-fe:dvsa-2024-v2. Full method: methodology.
Cite: MOT Risk Index (2026). Hyundai Santa Fe 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-santa-fe/ · Published 2026-07-30.