Does the Kia Optima fail the MOT on brakes more than it should?

The Kia Optima records 9.73 brakes failure items per 100 initial MOT tests (2019–2024), against 5.01 expected for a car of the same age mix: more than expected for its class and age (+4.72, 95% interval +4.46 to +4.98). It ranks 133 of 712 models on brakes (1 = most failures above expected).

Data release dvsa-2024-v2 (24 Sep 2026) · page updated 30 Sep 2026 · all models on brakes · check a Kia Optima by registration

What exactly fails on brakes?

The most frequent DVSA defect wording in this group on the Kia Optima is “a brake lining or pad worn below 1.5mm”, recorded 2,102 times in 2019–2024.

Kia Optima: most frequent brakes defect wordings, 2019–2024 (30+ items each)
DVSA defect wording	Items	Per 100 tests
a brake lining or pad worn below 1.5mm	2,102	3.67
Significant brake effort recorded with no brake applied indicating a binding brake	584	1.02
Parking brake efficiency below minimum requirement	362	0.63
Brake pipe damaged or excessively corroded	295	0.52
Brake disc or drum significantly and obviously worn	287	0.50

Source: DVSA MOT bulk data (OGL v3.0) · Window: 2019–2024 · n = 57,208 (initial tests) · Method: failure items (major and minor) grouped by DVSA's defect tree; wordings with 30+ items · Updated: 30 Sep 2026 · Release: dvsa-2024-v2 · CSV

If a Kia Optima gets a brakes advisory, how often does it fail next time?

10.7% of Kia Optima MOTs with a brakes advisory were followed by a fail in the same group at the next MOT, typically 12 months and 8,231 miles later (9,023 advisories followed).

Source: DVSA MOT bulk data (OGL v3.0) · Window: 2019–2024 · n = 9,023 (advisories followed) · Method: the same vehicles followed to their next ordinary MOT · Updated: 30 Sep 2026 · Release: dvsa-2024-v2 · CSV

Does the Kia Optima fail the MOT on brakes more than it should?

What exactly fails on brakes?

If a Kia Optima gets a brakes advisory, how often does it fail next time?

Related pages

Other pages for this model