Pass rate
85.3%
Above average — 1.3 pts ahead of the 84.0% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 14,795 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £30–£74
2016 Hyundai Santa Fe MOT pass rate
- 2016
- typical 65,248 mi
Most common fault
Tyres
29.6% of faults · 19.8% nationally
mostly tread below the limit, cuts and sidewall bulges.
Part only £55–£85 for Tread depth below 1.6 mm. What fitting it takes →
4.4 pts down across model years — 9.3% in 2003, 4.9% in 2021.
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
- 83.0%
- Typical mileage
- 65k mi
The 2016 Hyundai Santa Fe MOT pass rate is 85.3% of its MOT tests — 1.3 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. Tyres is the biggest single reason it fails, at 29.6% 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
Tyres: 1.5× the national share
Tyres make up 29.6% of everything recorded on the 2016 Hyundai Santa Fe, against 19.8% nationally — 9.8 points above. Check all four tyres yourself, including the inner shoulders, and look at the date stamp — a tyre can pass on tread and still be six years old.
- When it fails, it costs. Only 30% 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 2016 Hyundai Santa Fe compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 84.0%, so this figure is 1.3 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 83.0%. The median 2016 Hyundai Santa Fe in this dataset had covered 65,248 mi.
The most common fuel recorded here is Diesel — 100% of tests, with a 85.4% pass rate. Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 85.6% of the time, April–September 85.1%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Ball joint excessively worn", noted on 1.99% of tests.
- 14,795 recorded tests behind this page.
- 85.3% overall pass rate, 83.0% 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
- 14,795
- Typical mileage (median)
- 65,248 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
Ball Joint
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 68% 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 | 2,936 | 85.2% |
| West Midlands | 1,729 | 87.2% |
| North West | 1,718 | 85.3% |
| South West | 1,425 | 83.2% |
| East of England | 1,408 | 87.9% |
| Scotland | 1,365 | 79.0% |
| Yorkshire | 1,327 | 86.9% |
| East Midlands | 990 | 86.5% |
| Wales | 772 | 84.7% |
| London | 638 | 87.3% |
| North East | 487 | 88.7% |
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 2016 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 2016 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 suspension joints 2.0% 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 1.9% 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 brakes 1.7% of tests
“brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick”
Look through the spokes of each wheel at the pad — less than 3mm of friction material, or a lip on the disc edge, is the usual failure. Check the handbrake holds on a slope with a few clicks, not at the top of its travel.
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 2016 Santa Fe through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £30–£74 — and 30% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £30–£74
- Cheapest common item: malfunction indicator lamp inoperative or…
- £3–£12
- Dearest common item: windscreen damaged
- £80–£200
- Common items a careful owner can do at home
- 90%
- Repairs that still cost under £30
- 30%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 14,795 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 2016 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 2016 cars with a similar record
- Mercedes-Benz Gla 85.3%
- Audi Q7 85.3%
- Mitsubishi Shogun 85.3%
- Volkswagen Cc 85.2%
- Mitsubishi L200 85.4%
- Citroen C1 85.5%
Closest pass rates among 2016 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 2016 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 16,869 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tyres | 5,039 | 29.60% | 19.76% | +9.84 |
| Brakes | 4,731 | 27.80% | 20.89% | +6.91 |
| Suspension | 2,489 | 14.60% | 20.98% | −6.38 |
| Non-component advisories | 1,259 | 7.40% | 4.18% | +3.22 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 1,042 | 6.10% | 12.21% | −6.11 |
| Visibility | 802 | 4.70% | 4.97% | −0.27 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 643 | 3.80% | 5.52% | −1.72 |
| Steering | 363 | 2.10% | 2.57% | −0.47 |
| Identification of the vehicle | 337 | 2.00% | 1.76% | +0.24 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 164 | 1.00% | 5.57% | −4.57 |
The exact failure items, in the tester's words
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ball joint excessively worn Suspension | Major | 2.0% | £18–45 |
| Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view Visibility | Minor | 1.9% | £80–200 |
| Brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick Brakes | Major | 1.7% | £18–45 |
| Has a cut in excess of the requirements deep enough to reach the ply or cords Tyres | Major | 1.2% | £45–95 |
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Major | 1.1% | £45–95 |
| Headlamp not working on dipped beam Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 1.0% | £5–25 |
| Malfunction indicator lamp inoperative or indicates a malfunction Noise, emissions and leaks | Major | 0.99% | £3–12 |
| Has ply or cords exposed Tyres | Major | 0.98% | £45–95 |
| Wipers blade defective Visibility | Minor | 0.89% | £8–22 |
| Side repeaters not working Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 0.88% | £5–25 |
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 | 20.2% | £45–95 |
| Brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick Brakes | Advisory | 11.9% | £18–45 |
| Brake discs in such a condition that it is seriously weakened Brakes | Advisory | 7.7% | £45–110 |
| Has a tear, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres | Advisory | 5.3% | £45–95 |
| Brake discs significantly and obviously worn Brakes | Advisory | 3.4% | £45–110 |
| Pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn Suspension | Advisory | 3.3% | £40–150 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 511 | 94.1% | 23,904 mi |
| 30-60k | 5,483 | 88.8% | 47,974 mi |
| 60-90k | 6,294 | 84.1% | 73,272 mi |
| 90-120k | 2,028 | 79.8% | 101,331 mi |
| 120k+ | 478 | 76.6% | 140,837 mi |
Source: 14,795 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.
2016 Santa Fe MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2016 Hyundai Santa Fe?
85.3% of the 14,795 2016 Hyundai Santa Fe tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 84.0% for cars first used in 2016. First-attempt pass rate: 83.0%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2016 Hyundai Santa Fe?
The three most recorded items are ball joint excessively worn (1.99%), windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view (1.88%), brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick (1.68%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2016 Hyundai Santa Fe MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 94.1% of the time, falling to 76.6% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2016 Hyundai Santa Fe in this dataset had covered 65,248 mi.
Which fuel type is most reliable for a 2016 Hyundai Santa Fe?
Diesel: 85.4% pass rate across 14,776 tests. Petrol: 78.9% pass rate across 19 tests. Shares are of the tests on this vehicle that recorded each fuel type.
Does the season affect the 2016 Hyundai Santa Fe MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 85.6% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 85.1%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.