Pass rate
72.0%
Below average — 5.2 pts behind the 77.2% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 12,054 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £35–£108
2012 Hyundai Santa Fe MOT pass rate
- 2012
- typical 101,290 mi
Most common fault
Suspension
25.7% of faults · 21.0% nationally
mostly worn arm bushes, split ball-joint boots and broken coil springs.
Part only £35–£75 for Suspension pin or bush excessively worn. What fitting it takes →
5.6 pts down across model years — 6.5% in 2003, 0.9% in 2018.
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
- 62.5%
- Typical mileage
- 101k mi
The 2012 Hyundai Santa Fe MOT pass rate is 72.0% of its MOT tests — 5.2 points behind what its age and mileage predict. Suspension is the biggest single reason it fails, at 25.7% 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
Lamps & electrics: 1.4× the national share
Lamps & electrics make up 17.7% of everything recorded on the 2012 Hyundai Santa Fe, against 12.2% nationally — 5.5 points above. Suspension is still the single largest share at 25.7%, but at 21.0% nationally that one is ordinary. Walk round the car with the lights on before the test: bulbs, indicators and number-plate lamps are the cheapest failures to prevent and among the most common.
- Falls short of its own age and mileage. Like-for-like, cars this age and mileage expect about 77.2%; this one manages 72.0% — 5.2 points below. Age is a fair excuse; this is not age.
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 2012 Hyundai Santa Fe compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 77.2%, so this figure is 5.2 points behind what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 62.5%. The median 2012 Hyundai Santa Fe in this dataset had covered 101,290 mi.
The most common fuel recorded here is Diesel — 100% of tests, with a 72.0% pass rate. Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 72.0% of the time, April–September 72.0%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources", noted on 10.08% of tests.
- 12,054 recorded tests behind this page.
- 72.0% overall pass rate, 62.5% 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
- 12,054
- Typical mileage (median)
- 101,290 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
Number Plate Lamp
Usually a DIY or independent-garage job.
Does mileage affect the Santa Fe MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 61% so small gaps stay visible.
Fuel type and reliability
Pass rate by fuel type. Diesel is the most common here (100% of tests).
Regional pass rates for the Santa Fe
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| South East | 2,230 | 72.1% |
| South West | 1,506 | 68.6% |
| West Midlands | 1,469 | 74.5% |
| East of England | 1,314 | 74.4% |
| North West | 1,313 | 72.7% |
| Yorkshire | 1,130 | 71.9% |
| Scotland | 953 | 68.0% |
| East Midlands | 878 | 72.6% |
| Wales | 706 | 72.4% |
| North East | 435 | 71.5% |
| London | 120 | 77.5% |
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 2012 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 2012 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 10.1% 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 suspension joints 4.9% of tests
“ball joint excessively worn”
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.
-
Check the windscreen 3.4% 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.
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 2012 Santa Fe through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £35–£108 — and 46% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £35–£108
- Cheapest common item: stop lamp not working
- £3–£12
- Dearest common item: joints constant velocity boot severely…
- £80–£250
- Common items a careful owner can do at home
- 60%
- Repairs that still cost under £30
- 46%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 12,054 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 2012 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 2012 cars with a similar record
- Nissan Juke 71.9%
- Citroen DS4 71.9%
- Peugeot Bipper 72.1%
- Vauxhall Antara 71.8%
- Chevrolet Captiva 72.2%
- Renault Twingo 72.4%
Closest pass rates among 2012 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 2012 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 30,795 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Suspension | 7,966 | 25.70% | 20.98% | +4.72 |
| Brakes | 6,362 | 20.50% | 20.89% | −0.39 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 5,490 | 17.70% | 12.21% | +5.49 |
| Tyres | 4,175 | 13.50% | 19.76% | −6.26 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 2,118 | 6.80% | 5.57% | +1.23 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 1,195 | 3.90% | 5.52% | −1.62 |
| Non-component advisories | 1,083 | 3.50% | 4.18% | −0.68 |
| Visibility | 1,027 | 3.30% | 4.97% | −1.67 |
| Steering | 723 | 2.30% | 2.57% | −0.27 |
| Identification of the vehicle | 656 | 2.10% | 1.76% | +0.34 |
The exact failure items, in the tester's words
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 10.1% | £5–20 |
| Joints constant velocity boot severely deteriorated Body, chassis, structure | Minor | 7.2% | £80–250 |
| Joints constant velocity boot split or insecure, no longer prevents the ingress of dirt Body, chassis, structure | Major | 6.6% | £80–250 |
| Position lamp not working Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 5.3% | £5–25 |
| Ball joint excessively worn Suspension | Major | 4.9% | £18–45 |
| Stop lamp not working Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 3.9% | £3–12 |
| Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view Visibility | Minor | 3.4% | £80–200 |
| Side repeaters not working Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 3.1% | £5–25 |
| Pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn Suspension | Major | 2.2% | £40–150 |
| Coil spring fractured or broken Suspension | Major | 1.9% | £25–65 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Advisory | 20.9% | £45–95 |
| Pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn Suspension | Advisory | 13.2% | £40–150 |
| Rigid brake pipes excessively corroded Brakes | Advisory | 11.4% | £80–180 |
| Brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick Brakes | Advisory | 11.1% | £18–45 |
| Brake discs in such a condition that it is seriously weakened Brakes | Advisory | 9.5% | £45–110 |
| Coil spring corroded so that its cross sectional area is reduced and seriously weakened Suspension | Advisory | 9.5% | £25–65 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 47 | 83.0% | 22,991 mi |
| 30-60k | 897 | 78.1% | 50,118 mi |
| 60-90k | 3,260 | 73.6% | 77,380 mi |
| 90-120k | 4,508 | 71.5% | 104,312 mi |
| 120k+ | 3,340 | 69.3% | 142,391 mi |
Source: 12,054 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.
2012 Santa Fe MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2012 Hyundai Santa Fe?
72.0% of the 12,054 2012 Hyundai Santa Fe tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 77.2% for cars first used in 2012. First-attempt pass rate: 62.5%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2012 Hyundai Santa Fe?
The three most recorded items are registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources (10.08%), joints constant velocity boot severely deteriorated (7.23%), joints constant velocity boot split or insecure, no longer prevents the ingress of dirt (6.62%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2012 Hyundai Santa Fe MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 83.0% of the time, falling to 69.3% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2012 Hyundai Santa Fe in this dataset had covered 101,290 mi.
Which fuel type is most reliable for a 2012 Hyundai Santa Fe?
Diesel: 72.0% pass rate across 11,998 tests. Petrol: 75.0% pass rate across 56 tests. Shares are of the tests on this vehicle that recorded each fuel type.
Does the season affect the 2012 Hyundai Santa Fe MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 72.0% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 72.0%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.