SEAT Toledo — MOT statistics 2024
The SEAT Toledo failed 30.94% of 5,976 first MOT attempts in 2024 ("first-time", excluding retests). Adjusted for the age of the fleet, its initial-failure ratio is 113.0 (100 = expected for its age profile). This car fails its MOT about 13% more often than expected for its age.
Age-adjusted peer: Ford Fiesta (index 113.0) — the two published results are 0.0 index points apart.
SEAT Toledo common problems: what actually fails the MOT
Body, chassis, structure stand out at 10.6 per 100 tests, against 4.6 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, and 1 of these is already inside an interval that includes 1.00×.
| Group | This family | Cases behind it | UK, same ages | Family / national |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Suspension | 16.9 | 7,461 | 12.4 | 1.37×1.34–1.40 |
| Lamps & electrical | 16.7 | 7,374 | 14.6 | 1.14×1.12–1.17 |
| Brakes | 12.8 | 5,651 | 10.1 | 1.27×1.24–1.30 |
| Tyres | 10.6 | 4,656 | 8.4 | 1.26×1.22–1.29 |
| Body & structure | 10.6 | 4,650 | 4.6 | 2.31×2.24–2.37 |
| Visibility | 7.2 | 3,151 | 7.4 | 0.97×0.93–1.00 · not distinguishable |
| What failed | per 100 tests (this family) | per 100 tests (UK average) | ratio family / UK | What to check |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Transmission shaft constant velocity joint boot…A transmission shaft constant velocity joint boot severely deteriorated | 4.31 | 1.48 | 2.92× | Ask the seller about: A transmission shaft constant velocity joint boot severely d |
| Transmission shaft constant velocity joint boot…A transmission shaft constant velocity joint boot missing or no longer prevents the ingress of dirt etc | 3.66 | 1.56 | 2.35× | Ask the seller about: A transmission shaft constant velocity joint boot missing or |
| Aim of a headlamp is not within limits laid down…The aim of a headlamp is not within limits laid down in the requirements | 3.92 | 2.57 | 1.53× | Try every light and switch — lamps are a top failure |
| Suspension pin, bush or joint excessively wornA suspension pin, bush or joint excessively worn | 6.14 | 4.87 | 1.26× | Listen for knocks over bumps — worn joints show up on the test |
| Tyre seriously damagedA tyre seriously damaged | 3.62 | 2.54 | 1.43× | Check tyre tread depth across the full width |
| Suspension joint dust cover missing or no longer…A suspension joint dust cover missing or no longer prevents the ingress of dirt etc | 2.32 | 1.78 | 1.30× | Listen for knocks over bumps — worn joints show up on the test |
| Spring or spring component fractured or seriously…A spring or spring component fractured or seriously weakened | 3.14 | 2.86 | 1.10× | Ask the seller about: A spring or spring component fractured or seriously weakened |
| Brake lining or pad worn below 1.5mma brake lining or pad worn below 1.5mm | 2.36 | 2.15 | 1.10× | Feel for brake judder and pulling on the test drive |
| Tyre tread depth not in accordance with the…Tyre tread depth not in accordance with the requirements | 3.72 | 3.59 | 1.04× | Check tyre tread depth across the full width |
| 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 | 2.50 | 2.83 | 0.88× | Try every light and switch — lamps are a top failure |
Named defects ranked by how much more often they appear than the national average — not by raw rate.
SEAT Toledo MOT advisories: what gets flagged
Tyres are highest at 41.1 per 100 tests; Body & structure are lowest at 3.6 per 100 tests — the gap is 37.5 per 100 tests.
higher bar = flagged more oftenadvisory items per 100 initial tests
Advisory rates table
| Group | Advisories per 100 |
|---|---|
| Tyres | 41.1 |
| Brakes | 36.6 |
| Suspension | 34.4 |
| Non-component advisories | 8.6 |
| Emissions & leaks | 6.4 |
| Body & structure | 3.6 |
Advisories are wear the tester noted but didn't fail — what will need money soon.
Tyres, brakes and suspension: SEAT Toledo against cars of the same age
| Age | Part | SEAT Toledo | Same age, petrol and diesel | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 years | Tyres | 5.14 | 4.17 | 0.97 |
| 3 years | Brakes | 1.38 | 1.77 | -0.39 |
| 3 years | Suspension | 1.88 | 0.63 | 1.25 |
| 4 years | Tyres | 5.99 | 4.54 | 1.45 |
| 4 years | Brakes | 2.54 | 2.43 | 0.11 |
| 4 years | Suspension | 3.35 | 1.21 | 2.14 |
| 5 years | Tyres | 7.55 | 5.06 | 2.49 |
| 5 years | Brakes | 4.06 | 3.09 | 0.97 |
| 5 years | Suspension | 6.07 | 2.19 | 3.88 |
| 6 years | Tyres | 7.49 | 5.54 | 1.95 |
| 6 years | Brakes | 5.53 | 3.81 | 1.72 |
| 6 years | Suspension | 7.64 | 3.72 | 3.92 |
| 7 years | Tyres | 7.04 | 5.95 | 1.09 |
| 7 years | Brakes | 5.62 | 4.55 | 1.07 |
| 7 years | Suspension | 9.31 | 5.68 | 3.63 |
| 8 years | Tyres | 7.17 | 6.31 | 0.86 |
| 8 years | Brakes | 7.17 | 5.38 | 1.79 |
| 8 years | Suspension | 11.55 | 7.78 | 3.77 |
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 | 36.7% | 2,459 |
| It passed | 25.1% | 22,727 |
A failed test raises next year's chance of failing again by 11.6 percentage points. The failure most likely to come back is body, chassis, structure — 41.0% 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 43,841 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 | 113.8 | fails more often than expected |
| Age and annual mileage | 102.8 | fails more often than vehicles driven as much |
| Share doing under 3,000 miles a year | 2.9% | a normal spread of use |
Mileage matters here: matching on how much these are driven moves the figure by 11.0 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 SEAT Toledo 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 | SEAT Toledo | Same class, same age | Difference | Tests |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 years | 13.95% | 11.3% | +2.65 pp | 2,975 |
| 4 years | 17.37% | 14.24% | +3.13 pp | 3,823 |
| 5 years | 22.95% | 17.41% | +5.54 pp | 4,994 |
| 6 years | 25.79% | 20.75% | +5.04 pp | 6,313 |
| 7 years | 27.88% | 24.32% | +3.56 pp | 4,960 |
| 8 years | 30.06% | 28.15% | +1.92 pp | 3,905 |
| 9 years | 31.95% | 32.03% | -0.07 pp | 3,070 |
| 10 years | 32.04% | 35.6% | -3.56 pp | 2,038 |
| 11 years | 37.2% | 38.65% | -1.45 pp | 1,043 |
| 12 years | 43.47% | 41.25% | +2.22 pp | 375 |
| 13 years | 48.75% | 43.29% | +5.46 pp | 757 |
| 14 years | 51.11% | 45.03% | +6.08 pp | 1,438 |
| 15 years | 49.19% | 46.31% | +2.88 pp | 1,486 |
| 16 years | 48.64% | 47.34% | +1.3 pp | 1,581 |
| 17 years | 47.35% | 47.79% | -0.44 pp | 1,415 |
| 18 years | 47.46% | 47.99% | -0.54 pp | 1,161 |
| 19 years | 45.12% | 47.74% | -2.61 pp | 882 |
| 20 years | 45.76% | 47.37% | -1.61 pp | 566 |
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 SEAT Toledo perform as it gets older?
The Toledo at age 19 stands out at 51.4%, against 43.5% for all vehicles of the same age.
higher = larger sharecompare shares in percentage points
Chart axes: car age, years · failure-rate scale 0–56%.
Takeaway: a 10-year-old Toledo has roughly a 31% chance of failing its MOT; from about age 6 it stays above the national age curve.
Data table
| Age | SEAT Toledo | All vehicles | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 6 | 20.4% | 17.5% | +2.9 pp |
| 7 | 25.0% | 20.2% | +4.9 pp |
| 8 | 30.0% | 23.3% | +6.7 pp |
| 9 | 32.4% | 26.5% | +5.9 pp |
| 10 | 31.0% | 30.1% | +0.9 pp |
| 11 | 37.1% | 33.2% | +4.0 pp |
| 18 | 45.8% | 43.9% | +1.9 pp |
| 19 | 51.4% | 43.5% | +7.9 pp |
| 20 | 41.5% | 41.0% | +0.5 pp |
Is a SEAT Toledo ULEZ compliant?
The share of classifiable 2024 SEAT Toledo MOT tests likely ULEZ compliant by first-registration date is 62.2%.
Based on 5,950 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 = 2 |
| 3–5 years | Suppressed — sample below publication threshold Check a registration with TfL | n = 89 |
| 6–7 years | 100.0% Check a registration with TfL | n = 1,859 |
| 8 years | 100.0% Check a registration with TfL | n = 563 |
| 9 years | 57.0% Check a registration with TfL | n = 765 |
| 10–14 years | 38.4% Check a registration with TfL | n = 1,883 |
| 15–17 years | Suppressed — sample below publication threshold Check a registration with TfL | n = 119 |
| 18 years | Suppressed — sample below publication threshold Check a registration with TfL | n = 155 |
| 19 years | Suppressed — sample below publication threshold Check a registration with TfL | n = 179 |
| 20+ years | Suppressed — sample below publication threshold Check a registration with TfL | n = 336 |
SEAT Toledo petrol vs diesel: which ages best
Diesel is highest at 36.6%; Petrol is lowest at 25.6% — the gap is 11.0 percentage points.
higher = larger sharecompare shares in percentage points
Fuel split table
| Fuel | Tests | % failing | Gap vs best |
|---|---|---|---|
| Petrol | 3,060 | 25.6% | +0.0 pp |
| Diesel | 2,915 | 36.6% | +11.0 pp |
Chart sample sizes: n=3,060 · n=2,915.
How dangerous are SEAT Toledo MOT failures?
Major defects stand out at 56.2 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 | 15.71 | 14.22 | 1.10× |
| Major | 56.23 | 52.75 | 1.07× |
| Dangerous | 12.68 | 11.15 | 1.14× |
Chart values: Minor 15.7 · Major 56.2 · Dangerous 12.7.
Per 100 tests on this family. National average: Minor 14.2 · Major 52.8 · Dangerous 11.2 per 100.
Does the month of a SEAT Toledo MOT matter?
May is highest at 32.7%; Sep is lowest at 28.0% — the gap is 4.6 percentage points.
higher = larger sharecompare shares in percentage points
Chart scale: 27%–34%.
bars: SEAT Toledo · dashed: all class-4 cars
Month-by-month table
| Month | SEAT Toledo | All vehicles | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 32.08% | 31.12% | +1.0 pp |
| Feb | 30.77% | 29.99% | +0.8 pp |
| Mar | 28.97% | 28.26% | +0.7 pp |
| Apr | 31.04% | 29.78% | +1.3 pp |
| May | 32.67% | 28.79% | +3.9 pp |
| Jun | 30.92% | 28.15% | +2.8 pp |
| Jul | 31.61% | 29.33% | +2.3 pp |
| Aug | 29.2% | 29.2% | +0.0 pp |
| Sep | 28.04% | 28.19% | -0.2 pp |
| Oct | 31.01% | 30.34% | +0.7 pp |
| Nov | 32.55% | 30.58% | +2.0 pp |
| Dec | 31.3% | 29.33% | +2.0 pp |
Takeaway: the spread between best and worst month is 4.6 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.
SEAT Toledo average mileage by age
At age 8, the middle half of Toledos runs from 62,698 miles to 171,431 miles, against 99,400 miles as the median.
further right = more milesmedian is the typical car; band is p25–p75
Chart axes: car age, years · odometer scale 0–183k mi.
Does high mileage mean more SEAT Toledo MOT failures at the same age?
Within the same age group, split by odometer (2024 MOTs), so this separates wear from age: at ages 6–9, 17.5% of those with under 40,000 miles failed first time versus 34.3% of those with over 140,000 miles.Inside this age group, higher mileage goes with more failures.
| Age | Odometer | % failing | 95% interval | Tests |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6–9 | <40k miles | 17.5% | 15–20.4% | 736 |
| 6–9 | 40-70k miles | 23.1% | 20.5–25.9% | 936 |
| 6–9 | 70-100k miles | 31.7% | 27.5–36.1% | 445 (rough estimate) |
| 6–9 | 100-140k miles | 27.8% | 23.4–32.7% | 352 (rough estimate) |
| 6–9 | 140k+ miles | 34.3% | 30.9–37.8% | 715 |
| 10–14 | <40k miles | 13.5% | 7.9–22.1% | 89 (rough estimate) |
| 10–14 | 40-70k miles | 27.8% | 23.4–32.7% | 356 (rough estimate) |
| 10–14 | 70-100k miles | 33.2% | 29.1–37.6% | 467 (rough estimate) |
| 10–14 | 100-140k miles | 32.7% | 28.5–37.2% | 443 (rough estimate) |
| 10–14 | 140k+ miles | 42.7% | 38.5–47% | 527 |
| 15+ | 70-100k miles | 44.5% | 36.7–52.6% | 146 (rough estimate) |
| 15+ | 100-140k miles | 46.5% | 40.7–52.4% | 275 (rough estimate) |
| 15+ | 140k+ miles | 48.1% | 42.6–53.6% | 312 (rough estimate) |
line: median · band: middle half of the fleet (p25–p75)
Mileage by age (p25 / median / p75)
| Age | p25 | Median | p75 | Tests |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 | 24,364 | 36,678 | 45,316 | 89 |
| 6 | 31,373 | 44,566 | 70,979 | 1,128 |
| 7 | 41,441 | 60,279 | 105,337 | 731 |
| 8 | 62,698 | 99,400 | 171,431 | 563 |
| 9 | 66,666 | 105,701 | 174,434 | 765 |
| 10 | 66,561 | 96,050 | 140,581 | 896 |
| 11 | 76,441 | 108,955 | 154,646 | 891 |
| 12 | 76,872 | 103,236 | 125,733 | 96 |
| 17 | 101,104 | 127,273 | 150,786 | 97 |
| 18 | 101,111 | 123,811 | 158,765 | 155 |
| 19 | 95,170 | 121,421 | 151,456 | 179 |
| 20+ | 100,828 | 131,547 | 163,942 | 337 |
A typical 8-year-old Toledo has ~99,400 miles on the clock. Much more — ask why; much less — check for gaps in the MOT history.
Where in Britain the SEAT Toledo fails its MOT most
Taunton area is highest at 46.6%; St Albans area is lowest at 13.6% — the gap is 32.9 percentage points.
higher = larger sharecompare shares in percentage points
| Toughest areas | % failing | vs model overall |
|---|---|---|
| Taunton (TA) | 46.55% | +15.9 pp |
| Kirkcaldy (KY) | 45.34% | +14.7 pp |
| Halifax (HX) | 42.86% | +12.2 pp |
| Blackpool (FY) | 41.75% | +11.1 pp |
| Falkirk (FK) | 40.91% | +10.3 pp |
| Easiest areas | % failing | vs model overall |
|---|---|---|
| St Albans (AL) | 13.64% | -17.0 pp |
| Chelmsford (CM) | 14.33% | -16.3 pp |
| Bromley (BR) | 22.06% | -8.6 pp |
| Stevenage (SG) | 22.07% | -8.6 pp |
| Crewe (CW) | 22.12% | -8.5 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 urban share this model fails 2.8 pp more often than in the lowest fifth (r=0.31, n=11 areas with ≥800 tests).
In areas with the highest road-salt proxy this model fails 2.4 pp more often than in the lowest fifth (r=0.17, n=11 areas with ≥800 tests).
In areas with the highest mot centre density this model fails 6.5 pp less often than in the lowest fifth (r=-0.14, n=11 areas with ≥800 tests).
| Factor | Low Q | High Q | Gap | Correlation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Urban share | 24.7% | 27.4% | +2.7 pp | r=0.31 |
| Road-salt proxy | 30.0% | 32.4% | +2.4 pp | r=0.17 |
| MOT centre density | 32.4% | 26.0% | -6.4 pp | r=-0.14 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Urban share (0–1) | 0.312 | 11 | 24.7 | 27.4 | +2.8 | 0.5 | 0.9 |
| Road-salt proxy (g/m²-yr) | 0.175 | 11 | 30.0 | 32.4 | +2.4 | 255 | 650 |
| MOT centre density (per 10k vehicles) | -0.143 | 11 | 32.4 | 26.0 | -6.5 | 6.2 | 7.4 |
| Distance to coast (km) | -0.141 | 11 | 28.7 | 29.2 | +0.6 | 5.8 | 81.8 |
| Frost days (days/year) | 0.049 | 11 | 30.0 | 32.4 | +2.4 | 12.5 | 36 |
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: 22%–40% failing.
SEAT Toledo survival: which cars are still on the road
By age 19 is well below the reference at 17.5%, 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 | 2,975 | 59% | 13.95% |
| 4 | 3,823 | 75.8% | 17.37% |
| 5 | 4,994 | 99% | 22.95% |
| 6 | 6,313 | 100% | 25.79% |
| 7 | 4,960 | 98.3% | 27.88% |
| 8 | 3,905 | 77.4% | 30.06% |
| 9 | 3,070 | 60.9% | 31.95% |
| 10 | 2,038 | 40.4% | 32.04% |
| 11 | 1,043 | 20.7% | 37.2% |
| 12 | 375 | 7.4% | 43.47% |
| 13 | 757 | 15% | 48.75% |
| 14 | 1,438 | 28.5% | 51.11% |
| 15 | 1,486 | 29.5% | 49.19% |
| 16 | 1,581 | 31.3% | 48.64% |
| 17 | 1,415 | 28.1% | 47.35% |
| 18 | 1,161 | 23% | 47.46% |
| 19 | 882 | 17.5% | 45.12% |
By age 19, only about 18% as many cars of this family present for MOT as at ages 4–6 (reference n≈5,043); survivors still fail at 45.1% vs 17.4% at age 4. Older cars that still appear are a selected subset — weaker ones have already left.
How many miles does a SEAT Toledo last?
100,000+ miles is highest at 46.0%; 200,000+ miles is lowest at 7.8% — the gap is 38.2 percentage points.
higher = larger sharecompare shares in percentage points
| Odometer | Tests ≥ threshold | Share of sample |
|---|---|---|
| 100,000+ miles | 20,166 | 45.97% |
| 150,000+ miles | 9,333 | 21.27% |
| 200,000+ miles | 3,431 | 7.82% |
Of 43,871 tests of this family with a usable odometer in 2024, 46.0% had reached 100k miles, 21.3% had reached 150k miles, 7.8% 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 SEAT Toledo likely to last?
Bought at age 5 is highest at 6.4 years; Bought at age 15 is lowest at 3.9 years — the gap is 2.5 years.
bigger number = longer remaining lifeyears on the observed survival curve
| Age now | Typical mileage (p50) | Expected years left |
|---|---|---|
| 5 | — | 6.4 |
| 8 | — | 4.5 |
| 10 | — | 5.7 |
| 15 | — | at least 3.9 |
estimateEstimate only — not a warranty: a typical 10-year-old example of this family has about 5.7 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.
SEAT Toledo faults that come together
Emissions & leaks + Seatbelts & SRS stand out at 6.97×, 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 | 157 | 6.97× (rough estimate) |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | Road Wheels | 26 | 6× (rough estimate) |
| Identification of the vehicle | Noise, emissions and leaks | 27 | 5.49× (rough estimate) |
| Brakes | Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems | 206 | 4.77× (rough estimate) |
| Identification of the vehicle | Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 62 | 4.66× (rough estimate) |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems | 272 | 4.46× (rough estimate) |
| Brakes | Identification of the vehicle | 42 | 4.45× (rough estimate) |
| Brakes | Noise, emissions and leaks | 545 | 4.24× |
| Body, chassis, structure | Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems | 207 | 4.12× (rough estimate) |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Noise, emissions and leaks | 743 | 4.09× |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Road Wheels | 47 | 4.01× (rough estimate) |
| Brakes | Road Wheels | 33 | 3.97× (rough estimate) |
| Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems | Suspension | 252 | 3.88× (rough estimate) |
| Identification of the vehicle | Suspension | 55 | 3.88× (rough estimate) |
| Road Wheels | Tyres | 31 | 3.71× (rough estimate) |
| Brakes | Steering | 285 | 3.69× (rough estimate) |
| Body, chassis, structure | Noise, emissions and leaks | 545 | 3.65× |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Steering | 398 | 3.65× (rough estimate) |
| Brakes | Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 1,267 | 3.64× |
| Brakes | Suspension | 1,279 | 3.45× |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | Suspension | 655 | 3.39× |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | Steering | 136 | 3.38× (rough estimate) |
| Steering | Suspension | 386 | 3.33× (rough estimate) |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | Visibility | 349 | 3.3× (rough estimate) |
| Road Wheels | Suspension | 41 | 3.28× (rough estimate) |
| Identification of the vehicle | Tyres | 31 | 3.26× (rough estimate) |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Suspension | 1,624 | 3.1× |
| Body, chassis, structure | Brakes | 881 | 3.07× |
| Body, chassis, structure | Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 1,215 | 3× |
| Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems | Visibility | 106 | 2.99× (rough estimate) |
| Body, chassis, structure | Suspension | 1,261 | 2.93× |
| Body, chassis, structure | Steering | 262 | 2.92× (rough estimate) |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | Tyres | 376 | 2.9× (rough estimate) |
| Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems | Tyres | 126 | 2.9× (rough estimate) |
| Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems | Steering | 39 | 2.89× (rough estimate) |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Visibility | 816 | 2.85× |
| Identification of the vehicle | Visibility | 22 | 2.84× (rough estimate) |
| Body, chassis, structure | Identification of the vehicle | 31 | 2.83× (rough estimate) |
| Brakes | Tyres | 695 | 2.8× |
| Body, chassis, structure | Road Wheels | 27 | 2.8× (rough estimate) |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Tyres | 943 | 2.69× |
| Brakes | Visibility | 534 | 2.63× |
| Suspension | Tyres | 971 | 2.6× |
| Steering | Visibility | 165 | 2.6× (rough estimate) |
| Tyres | Visibility | 509 | 2.49× |
| Suspension | Visibility | 690 | 2.26× |
| Body, chassis, structure | Tyres | 648 | 2.24× |
| Body, chassis, structure | Visibility | 519 | 2.2× |
| Steering | Tyres | 167 | 2.15× (rough estimate) |
| Identification of the vehicle | Steering | 16 | too few (rough estimate) |
| Road Wheels | Visibility | 13 | too few (rough estimate) |
| Identification of the vehicle | Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems | 9 | too few (rough estimate) |
| Road Wheels | Steering | 6 | too few (rough estimate) |
| Road Wheels | Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems | 5 | too few (rough estimate) |
Defects in «Brakes» and «Noise, emissions and leaks» appear together 4.24× more often than chance (545 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 SEAT Toledo?
Cars driven under 5,000 miles a year is well below the reference at 14.0%, against 21.0% for cars driven 8,000–12,000 miles a year.
higher = larger sharecompare shares in percentage points
| Band | Fail % | Tests |
|---|---|---|
| <5k miles/year | 13.96% | 1,261 |
| 8–12k miles/year | 21.04% | 2,177 |
| Gap (low − normal) | -7.08 pp | — |
By fuel and age
Diesel
| Age | Low-use fail % | n | Normal fail % | n | Gap pp |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 | 15.38 | 52 | 22.64 | 265 | -7.26 pp |
| 6 | 12.86 | 70 | 21.23 | 471 | -8.37 pp |
| 7 | 9.33 | 75 | 26.92 | 509 | -17.58 pp |
| 8 | 19.44 | 72 | 29.36 | 470 | -9.92 pp |
| 9 | 15.25 | 59 | 34.87 | 456 | -19.61 pp |
| 10 | 20 | 45 | 32.01 | 353 | -12.01 pp |
| 11 | 22.58 | 31 | 39.53 | 253 | -16.95 pp |
| 13 | 37.5 | 32 | 52.08 | 361 | -14.58 pp |
| 14 | 35.09 | 57 | 52.27 | 595 | -17.18 pp |
Petrol
| Age | Low-use fail % | n | Normal fail % | n | Gap pp |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 | 12.92 | 565 | 19.77 | 688 | -6.85 pp |
| 6 | 14.98 | 574 | 21.65 | 753 | -6.66 pp |
| 7 | 15.23 | 348 | 22.77 | 527 | -7.54 pp |
| 8 | 13.45 | 238 | 26.84 | 395 | -13.39 pp |
| 9 | 20.39 | 206 | 31.99 | 322 | -11.6 pp |
| 10 | 22.08 | 154 | 28.76 | 233 | -6.68 pp |
| 11 | 18.64 | 59 | 37.18 | 78 | -18.54 pp |
| 14 | 37.14 | 35 | 53 | 100 | -15.86 pp |
At matched ages 5–14, cars averaging under 5k miles/year fail at 14.0% vs 21.0% for 8–12k miles/year — 7.1 pp lower (n_low=1,261, n_normal=2,177). 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 SEAT Toledo engine is best?
diesel 1.5–1.8 is highest at 114.1; petrol 1.0–1.2 is lowest at 78.9 — the gap is 35.2 points.
below 100 is betterabove 100 is worse100 = normal for this model at that age
| Fuel | Capacity | vs own age norm | Raw fail % | Tests |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| petrol | 1.0–1.2 litre | 78.9 | 20.99% | 7,603 |
| petrol | under 1.0 litre | 78.9 | 16% | 6,100 |
| petrol | 1.2–1.5 litre | 79 | 23.04% | 651 (rough estimate) |
| petrol | over 2.0 litre | 90.2 | 40.67% | 627 (rough estimate) |
| petrol | 1.5–1.8 litre | 101.2 | 47.63% | 2,383 (rough estimate) |
| diesel | 1.8–2.0 litre | 101.5 | 47.82% | 7,508 |
| diesel | 1.2–1.5 litre | 104.9 | 23.1% | 1,208 (rough estimate) |
| petrol | 1.8–2.0 litre | 109.8 | 51.58% | 190 (rough estimate) |
| diesel | 1.5–1.8 litre | 114.1 | 30.46% | 17,746 |
Splitting this model by fuel alone hides the thing that actually differs. Within the same badge, the diesel 1.5–1.8 runs at 114.1 against this model's own age norm while the petrol 1.0–1.2 runs at 78.9 — a spread of 35.2 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 SEAT Toledo, and the years to avoid
Build year 2013 is highest at 107.5; Build year 2019 is lowest at 70.0 — the gap is 37.5 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 70 | 46.1–93.9 | 12.36% | 267 | better |
| 2018 | 84.8 | 78.8–90.9 | 16.55% | 4,634 | better |
| 2017 | 93.4 | 86.9–100 | 19.44% | 4,058 | no different |
| 2016 | 99.8 | 93.3–106.3 | 22.41% | 4,025 | no different |
| 2015 | 107.3 | 101.9–112.8 | 27.37% | 5,481 | worse |
| 2014 | 98.6 | 94.1–103.1 | 27.77% | 6,627 | no different |
| 2013 | 107.5 | 103.2–111.8 | 32.58% | 7,363 | worse |
| 2012 | 92.9 | 79.4–106.4 | 29.59% | 615 | no different |
| 2007 | 100.5 | 89.5–111.5 | 48.93% | 652 | no different |
| 2006 | 101.2 | 94.2–108.2 | 50.98% | 1,577 | no different |
| 2005 | 96.2 | 90–102.3 | 49.87% | 1,873 | no different |
| 2004 | 93 | 82.4–103.7 | 46.88% | 625 | no different |
The best build year here is 2018 and the weakest is 2013. 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 — 3 of 12 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.
SEAT Toledo MOT repair costs
The MOT-failure repair budget per test runs from £82.54 to £156.83, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Suspension | 16.9 (nat. 15.36) | Suspension coil spring (single corner) | £180 | £30.42 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 16.7 (nat. 18.09) | Battery replacement (standard 12V lead-acid) | £140 | £23.38 |
| Brakes | 12.8 (nat. 11.25) | Front brake pads (parts + labour, typical hatchback) | £150 | £19.20 |
| Tyres | 10.6 (nat. 8.7) | Tyre (single mid-range 16" fitted) | £90 | £9.54 |
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 £83 to £157, 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.
SEAT Toledo running costs for a fleet
Vehicles failing at age 10 stand out at 31.0%, against 20.0% at age 6, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 | 20.39% | 44,566 | 1,128 | — |
| 7 | 25.03% | 60,279 | 731 | — |
| 8 | 30.02% | 99,400 | 563 | — |
| 9 | 32.42% | 105,701 | 765 | — |
| 10 | 31.03% | 96,050 | 896 | — |
| 11 | 37.15% | 108,955 | 891 | — |
| 18 | 45.81% | 123,811 | 155 | — |
| 19 | 51.4% | 121,421 | 179 | — |
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.
SEAT Toledo rust problems: where they corrode
Age-standardised corrosion susceptibility is well below the reference at 0.81×, against 1.00× for the national age-standardised rate.
above 1.0× = rusts more than averagebelow 1.0× = rusts less
This SEAT Toledo fails on corrosion at about the average rate 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 SEAT Toledo advisory become a failure?
Body, chassis, structure are highest at 20.6%; Non-component advisories are lowest at 0.0% — the gap is 20.6 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Body, chassis, structure | 20.6% | 12 months | 5,854 | 882 |
| Suspension | 18.2% | 12 months | 7,321 | 6,268 |
| Brakes | 13.2% | 12 months | 6,267 | 6,695 |
| Tyres | 11.0% | 12 months | 7,410 | 8,067 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 8.8% | 12 months | 7,672 | 1,698 |
| Identification of the vehicle | 2.8% | 12.1 months | 6,856 | 668 |
| Non-component advisories | 0.0% | — | — | 2,428 |
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 21 in 100 cars, and the median gap is 12 months and roughly 5,854 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 SEAT Toledo?
Suspension after a failure at age 12-14 is highest at 28.1%; Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment after a passed at age <3 are lowest at 3.1% — the gap is 25.1 percentage points.
higher = more likelypercentage is the observed transition probability
| Age | Last test | Most likely next failures | Cars tracked |
|---|---|---|---|
| <3 | passed | Tyres 5.7% · Visibility 4.4% · Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 3.1% | 1,602 |
| <3 | advisory | Tyres 7.2% · Visibility 5.2% · Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 3.7% | 573 |
| <3 | failure | Tyres 6.0% · Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 5.4% · Suspension 4.7% | 298 (rough estimate) |
| 3-5 | passed | Tyres 5.7% · Suspension 5.1% · Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 4.5% | 6,025 |
| 3-5 | advisory | Tyres 8.0% · Suspension 7.7% · Visibility 5.5% | 3,574 |
| 3-5 | failure | Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 11.2% · Suspension 10.7% · Tyres 9.0% | 2,599 |
| 6-8 | passed | Suspension 8.6% · Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 7.5% · Body, chassis, structure 6.2% | 4,035 |
| 6-8 | advisory | Suspension 12.3% · Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 10.8% · Tyres 8.1% | 3,177 |
| 6-8 | failure | Suspension 16.5% · Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 16.1% · Body, chassis, structure 11.4% | 2,912 |
| 9-11 | passed | Suspension 11.5% · Body, chassis, structure 10.3% · Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 9.6% | 670 |
| 9-11 | advisory | Suspension 15.1% · Body, chassis, structure 14.7% · Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 10.9% | 736 |
| 9-11 | failure | Suspension 19.6% · Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 17.1% · Body, chassis, structure 16.2% | 745 |
| 12-14 | passed | Suspension 17.6% · Body, chassis, structure 17.3% · Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 12.2% | 584 |
| 12-14 | advisory | Suspension 24.7% · Body, chassis, structure 21.6% · Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 14.7% | 685 |
| 12-14 | failure | Suspension 28.1% · Body, chassis, structure 25.3% · Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 23.2% | 1,251 |
| 15-19 | passed | Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 13.9% · Suspension 13.1% · Body, chassis, structure 11.2% | 895 |
| 15-19 | advisory | Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 18.7% · Suspension 18.0% · Body, chassis, structure 17.3% | 1,303 |
| 15-19 | failure | Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 23.2% · Suspension 22.4% · Body, chassis, structure 20.0% | 1,890 |
| 20+ | passed | Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 11.5% · Suspension 8.8% · Brakes 7.4% | 148 (rough estimate) |
| 20+ | advisory | Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 14.9% · Suspension 14.9% · Brakes 12.3% | 235 (rough estimate) |
| 20+ | failure | Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 24.5% · Suspension 18.9% · Brakes 17.7% | 249 (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.
SEAT Toledo ownership: what six years of MOTs show
The ten-day re-test pass rate is highest at 54.6%; The later re-test pass rate is lowest at 2.7% — the gap is 51.8 percentage points.
higher = larger sharecompare shares in percentage points
Failing is usually a same-week event, not a disaster. Of 9,887 failures followed through to their re-test, 42.72% were repaired and passed the same day and 54.55% within ten days; the median gap is 1 day. 26,902 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 0.299 failures per 10,000 miles, on a median of 7,216 miles a year across 8,929 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. 32% of these cars strung together three or more tests with nothing recorded at all, while 31.41% 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: 2.036% of 8,939 chains show a reading lower than the previous test, with a median drop of 55,003 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.
SEAT Toledo safety recalls and how to check yours
DVSA recall campaigns stand out at 12.
bigger number = more recorded casescompare like-for-like scope, not sample size alone
recall campaigns launched per year
| Reference | Launched | Vehicles | Concern |
|---|---|---|---|
R/2023/273 | 11/09/2023 | 2 | Front driver airbag replacement |
R/2019/157 | 13/05/2019 | 50 | THE DRIVER'S AIR BAG MAY NOT INFLATE FAST ENOUGH IN THE EVENT OF ACTIVATION |
R/2017/212 | 07/07/2017 | 35 | PARTS OF THE FRONT SEAT BELT PRETENSIONER(S) PYROTECHNICAL SYSTEM COULD ENTER THE CABIN |
R/2016/180 | 05/08/2016 | 1,334 | MANUAL CHILD LOCK MAY DISENGAGE WITHOUT WARNING |
R/2006/033 | 05/04/2006 | 1,477 | FLYWHEEL MAY FAIL |
All 12 campaigns
| Reference | Launched | Build dates | Vehicles | Concern |
|---|---|---|---|---|
R/2023/273 | 11/09/2023 | 08/06/2015 – 25/04/2017 | 2 | Front driver airbag replacement |
R/2019/157 | 13/05/2019 | 01/12/2017 – 17/12/2017 | 50 | THE DRIVER'S AIR BAG MAY NOT INFLATE FAST ENOUGH IN THE EVENT OF ACTIVATION |
R/2017/212 | 07/07/2017 | 01/05/2016 – 31/10/2016 | 35 | PARTS OF THE FRONT SEAT BELT PRETENSIONER(S) PYROTECHNICAL SYSTEM COULD ENTER THE CABIN |
R/2016/180 | 05/08/2016 | 25/11/2015 – 14/04/2016 | 1,334 | MANUAL CHILD LOCK MAY DISENGAGE WITHOUT WARNING |
R/2006/033 | 05/04/2006 | 01/02/2004 – 30/06/2005 | 1,477 | FLYWHEEL MAY FAIL |
R/2004/212 | 18/02/2005 | 01/03/2004 – 31/08/2004 | 5,492 | BOLTS OF THE TANDEM FUEL PUMP COVER MAY BREAK |
R/2004/212 | 18/02/2005 | 01/03/2004 – 31/08/2004 | 5,492 | BOLTS OF THE TANDEM FUEL PUMP COVER MAY BREAK |
R/2004/202 | 02/02/2005 | 26,886 | TENSION CRACKS MAY OCCUR ON THE VACUUM PIPE TO THE SERVO | |
R/1996/011 | 25/04/1996 | 01/01/1995 – 31/12/1995 | 64 | INSECURITY OF FAN BLADE |
R/1996/010 | 25/04/1996 | 01/01/1993 – 31/12/1995 | 1,509 | SEIZURE OF COOLING FAN MOTOR |
R/1993/026 | 22/06/1993 | 01/08/1991 – 30/11/1992 | 800 | POSSIBLE BRAKE PIPE CHAFING ON CERTAIN MODELS |
R/1992/073 | 25/01/1993 | 01/10/1991 – 28/02/1993 | 713 | ABS WIRING MODIFICATION |
DVSA lists 12 safety recall campaigns for the SEAT Toledo, covering roughly 43,854 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.
SEAT Toledo inspection results in other countries
Netherlands APK stands out at 56.2%, against 50.8% nationally.
higher = larger sharecompare shares in percentage points
| Country | Test | This model fails | National average | Position | Sample |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| United Kingdom | MOT (class 4) | 30.94% | 26.01% | +4.9 pp | 5,976 |
| Netherlands | APK | 56.2% | 50.8% | +5.4 pp | 1,826 |
| Finland | Katsastus | 22.8% | 26.3% | -3.5 pp | 1,713 |
The countries disagree about this car, and that is worth saying out loud rather than averaging away. A model can sit above its national average in one country and below it in another because the fleets are not the same cars: different model years, different engines, different roads and salt, and inspection rules that weight components differently. Treat each row as evidence from one regime, not as a verdict.
| Fault area | Share |
|---|---|
| Brake systems | 40.8% |
| Axles, wheels and suspension | 38.6% |
| Environmental hazards | 6.7% |
| Chassis and body | 4.1% |
| Steering equipment | 3.9% |
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 | 356 | failure |
205 | Tyre with insufficient tread | 212 | failure |
RA2 | Excessive leak of other fluids | 169 | advisory |
516 | Dipped headlight incorrectly aimed | 133 | failure |
AC1 | Tyre down to 1.6–2.5 mm of tread | 125 | advisory |
RA1 | Airbag or seat-belt warning light showing a fault | 123 | advisory |
497 | Number-plate light not working or missing | 100 | failure |
178 | Driveshaft gaiter split, no longer sealing | 93 | failure |
Worth dwelling on how mundane the top of that list is: tyre pressure, tread depth, headlight aim. The Dutch APK records 1.497 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 SEAT Toledo 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.; Traficom — Periodic inspections of cars by model / by model and fault object 2024, CC BY 4.0. Adapted; licences and full notice.
SEAT Toledo MOT: quick answers
SEAT Toledo MOT Risk Index stands out at 113.0, 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 SEAT Toledo first-time MOT pass rate?
- 69.06% of first attempts passed in 2024 (5,976 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 30.94% figure is the first-time initial failure rate, using 5,976 primary tests as the denominator (first-time, excluding retests). The age-adjusted MOT initial-failure ratio 113.0 is shown separately because raw rates compare fleet age as well as cars.
Compare the SEAT Toledo with other cars
Ford Fiesta is highest at 113.0; Citroen Relay is lowest at 112.6 — the gap is 0.4 points.
below 100 is betterabove 100 is worse100 = normal for this model at that age
Same brand
All Seat MOT statisticsSeat Altea MOT statsSeat Ibiza MOT stats
Similar risk
Ford Fiesta (index 113.0)Citroen Relay (index 112.6)Nissan X-Trail (index 112.6)
Same size class
how Chevrolet Captiva compareshow Volkswagen Lupo compareshow Hyundai Coupe compares
By build year
SEAT Toledo 2004SEAT Toledo 2005SEAT Toledo 2006SEAT Toledo 2007SEAT Toledo 2012SEAT Toledo 2013SEAT Toledo 2014SEAT Toledo 2015SEAT Toledo 2016SEAT Toledo 2017SEAT Toledo 2018SEAT Toledo 2019
By area
SEAT Toledo MOT failure rate by postcode area
By failure group
SEAT Toledo body, chassis and structure failuresSEAT Toledo brakes failuresSEAT Toledo vehicle identification failuresSEAT Toledo lamps, reflectors and electrics failuresSEAT Toledo noise, emissions and leaks failuresSEAT Toledo road wheels failuresSEAT Toledo seat belts and airbags failuresSEAT Toledo steering failuresSEAT Toledo suspension failuresSEAT Toledo tyres failuresSEAT Toledo visibility failures
Inspections abroad
SEAT Toledo in FinlandSEAT Toledo 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:seat-toledo:dvsa-2024-v2. Full method: methodology.
Cite: MOT Risk Index (2026). SEAT Toledo MOT statistics 2024 (data release dvsa-2024-v2; downloadable dataset motriskindex-families-2024-v5, doi:10.5281/zenodo.22975051). https://motriskindex.co.uk/cars/seat-toledo/ · Published 2026-07-30.