Pass rate
71.2%
Below average — 1.7 pts behind the 72.9% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 545 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £43–£127
2002 Hyundai Santa Fe MOT pass rate
- 2002
- typical 109,440 mi
Most common fault
Brakes
22.2% of faults · 20.9% nationally
mostly worn pads and discs, corroded pipes and a handbrake that will not hold.
Part only £25–£55 for Rigid brake pipes excessively corroded. What fitting it takes →
10.1 pts down across model years — 10.9% in 2003, 0.8% in 2016.
Which year to buy
- Best 2023 98.9% pass
- Avoid 2005 69.2% pass
Across the 23 years on record, a spread of 29.7 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 61.7%
- Typical mileage
- 109k mi
The 2002 Hyundai Santa Fe MOT pass rate is 71.2% of its MOT tests — 1.7 points behind what its age and mileage predict. Brakes is the biggest single reason it fails, at 22.2% of what testers record.
Check your postcode
MOT pass rates are national — type your postcode to see how Hyundai Santa Fe does in your corner of the country.
Expert verdict
Body & chassis: 2.0× the national share
Body & chassis accounts for 11.3% of everything recorded on the 2002 Hyundai Santa Fe, against 5.6% nationally — 5.7 points above. Brakes are still the single largest share at 22.2%, but at 20.9% nationally that one is ordinary. Look underneath for corrosion near the jacking points and suspension mounts; surface rust is normal, flaking metal is not.
- When it fails, it costs. Only 29% of this model’s typical repairs come in under £30 in parts — the failures here tend to be the kind that need a garage rather than a bulb.
Written from this page's own figures: fault shares against the national composition, the like-for-like pass rate, and the priced repair list. How these are worked out
Watching a Hyundai Santa Fe? Get an email when these numbers change .
How does the 2002 Hyundai Santa Fe compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 72.9%, so this figure is 1.7 points behind what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 61.7%. The median 2002 Hyundai Santa Fe in this dataset had covered 109,440 mi.
62% of the tests on this vehicle ran on Petrol, which passed 70.5% of the time. Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 73.0% of the time, April–September 68.6%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Joints constant velocity boot severely deteriorated", noted on 9.72% of tests.
- 545 recorded tests behind this page.
- 71.2% overall pass rate, 61.7% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the Hyundai Santa Fe, the average is 77.7% — best year 2023 (98.9%), worst 2005 (69.2%).
Figures count every completed test on this vehicle-year in the dataset, including retests. See methodology for the exact definition.
This page's data
- Tests analysed
- 545
- Typical mileage (median)
- 109,440 mi
- Make and model
- Hyundai Santa Fe
- Updated
- 2026-11-05
Source: DVSA anonymised MOT test data (2023–2025), OGL v3.0.
Top part to budget for
Body Panel Repair
Typically a garage job — get quotes before committing.
Does mileage affect the Santa Fe MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 62% so small gaps stay visible.
Fuel type and reliability
Pass rate by fuel type. Petrol is the most common here (62% of tests).
Regional pass rates for the Santa Fe
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| South East | 108 | 71.3% |
| East of England | 86 | 75.6% |
| South West | 80 | 68.8% |
| West Midlands | 60 | 78.3% |
| North West | 53 | 67.9% |
| Yorkshire | 48 | 66.7% |
| East Midlands | 38 | 68.4% |
| Wales | 34 | 67.6% |
| London | 23 | 78.3% |
Regions come from the postcode area recorded at the test station. Areas on region borders are assigned to the region with the majority of their population.
What fails a 2002 Santa Fe
Everything a tester recorded on this vehicle, grouped into the inspection sections that produced it. The notch on each bar is the national share, so you can see at a glance whether this car is unusual or just ordinary.
A test can record several items, so these percentages do not add up to 100%. The exact strings, with prices, are in the full DVSA record at the bottom of this page.
Before your test
Three checks worth doing on a 2002 Santa Fe
These are not generic tips — they are the faults recorded most often on this exact model, rewritten as things you can check yourself. All three take about ten minutes and cost nothing.
-
Check the lights 7.9% of tests
“registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources”
Switch everything on and walk round the car: both headlamps on dip and main, every indicator, both brake lights, reverse, fog and the two number-plate lamps. A bulb is a few pounds and a five-minute job.
-
Check the windscreen 4.8% of tests
“windscreen damaged”
Check the driver’s side of the screen within the swept area for chips and cracks; anything larger than 10mm in the driver’s central view is a fail. Most chips can be resin-repaired for far less than a new screen.
-
Check the suspension joints 4.4% of tests
“ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated”
With the car parked on level ground, rock the top of each front wheel in and out while someone watches the suspension arm. Clunks, or rubber boots split and greasy, are what testers record here.
Shares are the proportion of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item, so they overlap: one test can record several.
What it costs to get a 2002 Santa Fe through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £43–£127 — and 29% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £43–£127
- Cheapest common item: registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the…
- £5–£20
- Dearest common item: joints constant velocity boot severely…
- £80–£250
- Common items a careful owner can do at home
- 40%
- Repairs that still cost under £30
- 29%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 545 MOT tests on this vehicle. They exclude diagnostics, retest fees and garage labour where the part is a DIY fit, and they are not figures from the DVSA dataset. Older and higher-mileage examples cost more than the average. How these estimates are built → · All MOT repair costs → · Cheapest cars to put through a test →
Every year of the Santa Fe, side by side
23 model years on record, from 2001 to 2023. Across them the pass rate runs from 69.2% to 98.9% — a spread of 29.7 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2001 69.3% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2002 71.2%joints constant velocity boot…
- 2003 71.1% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2004 70.2% joints constant velocity boot…
- 2005 69.2% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2006 69.5% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2007 71.4% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2008 71.6% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2009 72.8% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2010 70.6% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2011 71.0% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2012 72.0% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2013 73.8% track rod end ball joint has…
- 2014 77.5% track rod end ball joint has…
- 2015 83.6% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2016 85.3% ball joint excessively worn
- 2017 86.8% brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick
- 2018 88.3% brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick
- 2019 89.1% malfunction indicator lamp…
- 2020 90.4% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2021 90.9% has a cut in excess of the…
- 2022 91.8% wipers blade defective
- 2023 98.9% shock absorbers has a serious…
Colour is the pass rate on a fixed scale, so a block means the same thing on any model. Each year links to its own page with the full fault breakdown.
Compare the 2002 Hyundai Santa Fe with another year
The raw pass rate mostly measures age. The year comparison adds the like-for-like figure, the mileage bands and the repair bill.
Other 2002 cars with a similar record
- Vauxhall Zafira 71.3%
- Toyota Hilux 71.3%
- Nissan Micra 71.1%
- Volvo V70 71.4%
- Rover 75 71.4%
- Suzuki Grand Vitara 71.4%
Closest pass rates among 2002 cars with at least 2,000 tests, so a small sample cannot flatter itself into the list. See the full rankings: best and worst MOT pass rates.
The full DVSA record for the 2002 Hyundai Santa Fe 10 failure items · 6 advisories · 10 inspection categories · mileage brackets · all of it in the page, none of it above the fold
Every inspection category
Shares of the 2,012 individual items recorded on this vehicle, and the same share across all cars nationally. A single test can record several items, so a row is not a percentage of tests.
| Category | Items | This car | Nationally | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brakes | 451 | 22.20% | 20.89% | +1.31 |
| Suspension | 423 | 20.80% | 20.98% | −0.18 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 262 | 12.90% | 12.21% | +0.69 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 229 | 11.30% | 5.57% | +5.73 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 217 | 10.70% | 5.52% | +5.18 |
| Tyres | 172 | 8.50% | 19.76% | −11.26 |
| Visibility | 73 | 3.60% | 4.97% | −1.37 |
| Steering | 63 | 3.10% | 2.57% | +0.53 |
| Non-component advisories | 61 | 3.00% | 4.18% | −1.18 |
| Identification of the vehicle | 61 | 3.00% | 1.76% | +1.24 |
The exact failure items, in the tester's words
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Joints constant velocity boot severely deteriorated Body, chassis, structure | Minor | 9.7% | £80–250 |
| Registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 7.9% | £5–20 |
| Headlamp lens slightly defective Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 7.0% | £5–25 |
| Joints constant velocity boot split or insecure, no longer prevents the ingress of dirt Body, chassis, structure | Major | 4.8% | £80–250 |
| Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view Visibility | Minor | 4.8% | £80–200 |
| Ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated Suspension | Minor | 4.4% | £18–45 |
| Ball joint excessively worn Suspension | Major | 3.7% | £18–45 |
| Headlamp aim projected beam image is obviously incorrect Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 3.1% | £30–80 |
| Pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn Suspension | Major | 3.1% | £40–150 |
| Rigid brake pipes excessively corroded Brakes | Major | 2.9% | £80–180 |
Severity is as recorded: Major and Dangerous fail the test outright; Minor and Advisory do not. Costs are estimates from typical UK parts prices — see how they are built.
What testers noted without failing the car
Advisories are the early warnings — the same parts a year or two before they fail. Reading them is how you tell a car that has been maintained from one that has been patched.
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Engine oil leaks leaking excessively from engine Noise, emissions and leaks | Advisory | 26.4% | £200–700 |
| Rigid brake pipes excessively corroded Brakes | Advisory | 24.6% | £80–180 |
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Advisory | 16.0% | £45–95 |
| Brake discs in such a condition that it is seriously weakened Brakes | Advisory | 14.9% | £45–110 |
| Brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick Brakes | Advisory | 10.6% | £18–45 |
| Coil spring corroded so that its cross sectional area is reduced and seriously weakened Suspension | Advisory | 10.3% | £25–65 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 2 | 100.0% | 25,672 mi |
| 30-60k | 31 | 74.2% | 50,625 mi |
| 60-90k | 131 | 71.8% | 76,396 mi |
| 90-120k | 155 | 71.0% | 104,694 mi |
| 120k+ | 226 | 70.4% | 148,650 mi |
Source: 545 recorded tests on this vehicle-year. Every row above is recomputed from the same DVSA extract as the rest of the page — see the methodology.
2002 Santa Fe MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2002 Hyundai Santa Fe?
71.2% of the 545 2002 Hyundai Santa Fe tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 72.9% for cars first used in 2002. First-attempt pass rate: 61.7%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2002 Hyundai Santa Fe?
The three most recorded items are joints constant velocity boot severely deteriorated (9.72%), registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources (7.89%), headlamp lens slightly defective (6.97%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2002 Hyundai Santa Fe MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 100.0% of the time, falling to 70.4% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2002 Hyundai Santa Fe in this dataset had covered 109,440 mi.
Which fuel type is most reliable for a 2002 Hyundai Santa Fe?
Petrol: 70.5% pass rate across 336 tests. Diesel: 72.1% pass rate across 208 tests. Shares are of the tests on this vehicle that recorded each fuel type.
Does the season affect the 2002 Hyundai Santa Fe MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 73.0% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 68.6%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.