Pass rate
77.1%
Around average — 4.5 pts ahead of the 72.6% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 109 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £46–£133
2003 Hyundai Sonata MOT pass rate
- 2003
- typical 75,039 mi
Most common fault
Brakes
24.9% 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 →
Which year to buy
- Best 2002 82.7% pass
- Avoid 2008 69.3% pass
Across the 9 years on record, a spread of 13.4 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 71.6%
- Typical mileage
- 75k mi
The 2003 Hyundai Sonata MOT pass rate is 77.1% of its MOT tests — 4.5 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. Brakes is the biggest single reason it fails, at 24.9% of what testers record.
Check your postcode
MOT pass rates are national — type your postcode to see how Hyundai Sonata does in your corner of the country.
Expert verdict
Emissions & leaks: 2.0× the national share
Emissions & leaks make up 11.2% of everything recorded on the 2003 Hyundai Sonata, against 5.5% nationally — 5.7 points above. Brakes are still the single largest share at 24.9%, but at 20.9% nationally that one is ordinary. A smoky diesel or a leaking joint fails on emissions more often than on wear, so ask for a recent emissions printout.
- Beats its own age and mileage. Once you allow for how old and how far these cars have been driven, the expected pass rate is 72.6% and this one manages 77.1% — 4.5 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict.
- When it fails, it costs. Only 34% 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 Sonata? Get an email when these numbers change .
How does the 2003 Hyundai Sonata compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 72.6%, so this figure is 4.5 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 71.6%. The median 2003 Hyundai Sonata in this dataset had covered 75,039 mi.
Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 83.0% of the time, April–September 71.4%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Joints constant velocity boot severely deteriorated", noted on 13.76% of tests.
- 109 recorded tests behind this page.
- 77.1% overall pass rate, 71.6% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the Hyundai Sonata, the average is 75.2% — best year 2002 (82.7%), worst 2008 (69.3%).
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
- 109
- Typical mileage (median)
- 75,039 mi
- Make and model
- Hyundai Sonata
- 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 Sonata MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 66% so small gaps stay visible.
Regional pass rates for the Sonata
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| South East | 32 | 75.0% |
| West Midlands | 24 | 75.0% |
| East of England | 15 | 80.0% |
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 2003 Sonata
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 2003 Sonata
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 wipers and washers 8.3% of tests
“wipers blade defective”
Run the wipers with the screen wet: they should clear it in one sweep without smearing or juddering. Top the washer bottle up and check both jets hit the screen.
-
Check the windscreen 7.3% 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 lights 6.4% of tests
“headlamp lens slightly defective”
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.
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 2003 Sonata through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £46–£133 — and 34% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £46–£133
- 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
- 34%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 109 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 Sonata, side by side
9 model years on record, from 2002 to 2010. Across them the pass rate runs from 69.3% to 82.7% — a spread of 13.4 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2002 82.7% headlamp lens slightly defective
- 2003 77.1%joints constant velocity boot…
- 2004 75.6% joints constant velocity boot…
- 2005 73.2% joints constant velocity boot…
- 2006 74.6% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2007 77.8% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2008 69.3% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2009 74.9% ball joint dust cover severely…
- 2010 79.7% door condition cannot be opened…
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 2003 Hyundai Sonata 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 2003 cars with a similar record
Closest pass rates among 2003 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 2003 Hyundai Sonata 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 361 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 | 91 | 24.90% | 20.89% | +4.01 |
| Suspension | 65 | 17.80% | 20.98% | −3.18 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 43 | 11.70% | 12.21% | −0.51 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 41 | 11.20% | 5.52% | +5.68 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 35 | 9.60% | 5.57% | +4.03 |
| Tyres | 28 | 7.70% | 19.76% | −12.06 |
| Visibility | 22 | 6.00% | 4.97% | +1.03 |
| Identification of the vehicle | 14 | 3.80% | 1.76% | +2.04 |
| Steering | 12 | 3.30% | 2.57% | +0.73 |
| Non-component advisories | 10 | 2.70% | 4.18% | −1.48 |
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 | 13.8% | £80–250 |
| Wipers blade defective Visibility | Minor | 8.3% | £8–22 |
| Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view Visibility | Minor | 7.3% | £80–200 |
| Headlamp lens slightly defective Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 6.4% | £5–25 |
| Joints constant velocity boot split or insecure, no longer prevents the ingress of dirt Body, chassis, structure | Major | 6.4% | £80–250 |
| Registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 6.4% | £5–20 |
| Ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated Suspension | Minor | 4.6% | £18–45 |
| Rigid brake pipes excessively corroded Brakes | Major | 3.7% | £80–180 |
| Headlamp aim projected beam image is obviously incorrect Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 2.8% | £30–80 |
| Headlamp aim too low Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 2.8% | £30–80 |
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 | 27.5% | £200–700 |
| Rigid brake pipes excessively corroded Brakes | Advisory | 21.1% | £80–180 |
| Brake discs in such a condition that it is seriously weakened Brakes | Advisory | 20.2% | £45–110 |
| Registration plates inscription illegible Identification of the vehicle | Advisory | 11.9% | £20–80 |
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Advisory | 11.9% | £45–95 |
| Brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick Brakes | Advisory | 11.0% | £18–45 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 4 | 100.0% | 27,321 mi |
| 30-60k | 39 | 74.4% | 46,677 mi |
| 60-90k | 43 | 74.4% | 79,974 mi |
| 90-120k | 15 | 80.0% | 98,394 mi |
| 120k+ | 8 | 87.5% | 136,858 mi |
Source: 109 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.
2003 Sonata MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2003 Hyundai Sonata?
77.1% of the 109 2003 Hyundai Sonata tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 72.6% for cars first used in 2003. First-attempt pass rate: 71.6%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2003 Hyundai Sonata?
The three most recorded items are joints constant velocity boot severely deteriorated (13.76%), wipers blade defective (8.26%), windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view (7.34%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2003 Hyundai Sonata MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 100.0% of the time, falling to 87.5% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2003 Hyundai Sonata in this dataset had covered 75,039 mi.
Does the season affect the 2003 Hyundai Sonata MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 83.0% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 71.4%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.