2010 Hyundai Sonata MOT pass rate

Only 79 tests of this exact model and year are in the DVSA data, below the 100 we ask for before a page goes in the index. The figures are still shown, because they are the only ones there are.

Pass rate

79.7%

Around average — 5.0 pts ahead of the 74.7% that cars this age and mileage manage.

Across 79 recorded tests.

Typical repair bill £37–£106

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
76.5%
Typical mileage
99k mi

The 2010 Hyundai Sonata MOT pass rate is 79.7% of its MOT tests — 5.0 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. Suspension is the biggest single reason it fails, at 40.6% of what testers record.

MOT PASS RATES

The 2010 Hyundai Sonata on the real record

79.7% of 2010 Hyundai Sonata MOTs passed — 79 tests, 2023–2025

Pass rate

The answer from the DVSA's class-4 MOT records.

Check your postcode

MOT pass rates are national — type your postcode to see how Hyundai Sonata does in your corner of the country.

How one model's pass rate varies by postcode →

Expert verdict

Suspension: 1.9× the national share

Suspension accounts for 40.6% of everything recorded on the 2010 Hyundai Sonata, against 21.0% nationally — 19.6 points above. Ask for the front and rear suspension to be checked on a ramp before you buy — worn bushes and broken springs are cheap to look at and expensive to discover at test time.

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 2010 Hyundai Sonata compare?

Cars of this age and mileage average 74.7%, so this figure is 5.0 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 76.5%. The median 2010 Hyundai Sonata in this dataset had covered 98,832 mi.

The single most recorded failure item is "Door condition cannot be opened from outside the vehicle", noted on 7.59% of tests.

  • 79 recorded tests behind this page.
  • 79.7% overall pass rate, 76.5% 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
79
Typical mileage (median)
98,832 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?

30-60k 100.0%
60-90k 75.0%
90-120k 80.0%
120k+ 81.0%

Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 67% so small gaps stay visible.

What fails a 2010 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.

Suspension 40.6%
+19.6 pts vs national national 21.0% Price suspension parts
Lamps & electrics 13.9%
+1.7 pts vs national national 12.2% Order bulbs & wipers
Brakes 10.9%
−10.0 pts vs national national 20.9% Price brakes parts
Tyres 10.9%
−8.9 pts vs national national 19.8% Compare tyre prices
Show the other 6 fault categories
  • Emissions & leaks 7.4%
  • Visibility 5.4%
  • Body & chassis 4.5%
  • Advisories 3.5%
  • Identification 1.5%
  • Steering 1.0%

Shares are of every item recorded on 2010 Hyundai Sonata tests — a composition, so they add to 100% across all sections, not per test.

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 2010 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.

  1. Check the lights 6.3% 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.

  2. Check the windscreen 6.3% 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.

  3. Check the wipers and washers 3.8% of tests

    “wipers does not clear the windscreen effectively”

    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.

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 2010 Sonata through its MOT

Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £37–£106 — and 44% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.

Average repair across the 10 common items
£37–£106
Cheapest common item: registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the…
£5–£20
Dearest common item: door condition cannot be opened from outside…
£80–£250
Common items a careful owner can do at home
70%
Repairs that still cost under £30
44%

Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 79 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.

  1. 2002 82.7% headlamp lens slightly defective
  2. 2003 77.1% joints constant velocity boot…
  3. 2004 75.6% joints constant velocity boot…
  4. 2005 73.2% joints constant velocity boot…
  5. 2006 74.6% registration plate lamp(s)…
  6. 2007 77.8% registration plate lamp(s)…
  7. 2008 69.3% registration plate lamp(s)…
  8. 2009 74.9% ball joint dust cover severely…
  9. 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 2010 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.

Compare 2010 with another year →

Compare two different cars instead →

Other 2010 cars with a similar record

Closest pass rates among 2010 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 2010 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 201 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 82 40.60% 20.98% +19.62
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 28 13.90% 12.21% +1.69
Brakes 22 10.90% 20.89% −9.99
Tyres 22 10.90% 19.76% −8.86
Noise, emissions and leaks 15 7.40% 5.52% +1.88
Visibility 11 5.40% 4.97% +0.43
Body, chassis, structure 9 4.50% 5.57% −1.07
Non-component advisories 7 3.50% 4.18% −0.68
Identification of the vehicle 3 1.50% 1.76% −0.26
Steering 2 1.00% 2.57% −1.57

The exact failure items, in the tester's words

Share of the 79 tests on this vehicle that recorded each item
Recorded item Severity Tests Est. cost Part
Door condition cannot be opened from outside the vehicle Body, chassis, structure Major 7.6% £80–250 Body Panel Repair →
Registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment Minor 6.3% £5–20 Number Plate Lamp →
Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view Visibility Minor 6.3% £80–200 Windscreen →
Position lamp not working Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment Major 5.1% £5–25 Headlight Bulb →
Position lamp not working Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment Rectified 3.8% £5–25 Headlight Bulb →
Wipers does not clear the windscreen effectively Visibility Major 3.8% £8–22 Wiper Blade →
Ball joint excessively worn Suspension Major 2.5% £18–45 Ball Joint →
Battery(ies) insecure but not likely to fall from carrier Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment Minor 2.5% £60–140 Battery →
Full power hydraulic systems malfunctioning or defective Brakes Minor 2.5% £45–110 Brake Discs and Pads Set →
Headlamp aim too low Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment Rectified 2.5% £30–80 Headlight Alignment →

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.

Items recorded as advisory on this vehicle
Recorded item Severity Tests Est. cost
Pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn Suspension Advisory 22.8% £40–150
Coil spring corroded so that its cross sectional area is reduced and seriously weakened Suspension Advisory 21.5% £25–65
Sub-frame corroded and seriously weakened Suspension Advisory 15.2% £180–450
Suspension arm corroded and seriously weakened Suspension Advisory 12.7% £35–85
Ball joint excessively worn Suspension Advisory 11.4% £18–45
Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres Advisory 11.4% £45–95

Pass rate by mileage

Mileage Tests Pass rate Median odometer
30-60k 4 100.0% 45,349 mi
60-90k 24 75.0% 80,551 mi
90-120k 30 80.0% 101,033 mi
120k+ 21 81.0% 137,936 mi

Source: 79 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.

2010 Sonata MOT questions

What is the MOT pass rate for a 2010 Hyundai Sonata?

79.7% of the 79 2010 Hyundai Sonata tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 74.7% for cars first used in 2010. First-attempt pass rate: 76.5%.

What are the most common MOT failures on a 2010 Hyundai Sonata?

The three most recorded items are door condition cannot be opened from outside the vehicle (7.59%), registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources (6.33%), windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view (6.33%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.

Does mileage affect the 2010 Hyundai Sonata MOT pass rate?

Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 100.0% of the time, falling to 81.0% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2010 Hyundai Sonata in this dataset had covered 98,832 mi.