Pass rate
72.7%
Below average — 4.5 pts behind the 77.2% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 45,780 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £26–£73
2012 Kia Ceed MOT pass rate
- 2012
- 4 trims combined
- typical 95,633 mi
Most common fault
Suspension
25.6% of faults · 21.0% nationally
mostly worn arm bushes, split ball-joint boots and broken coil springs.
Which year to buy
- Best 2024 98.4% pass
- Avoid 2007 69.5% pass
Across the 18 years on record, a spread of 28.9 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 63.4%
- Typical mileage
- 96k mi
The 2012 Kia Ceed MOT pass rate is 72.7% of its MOT tests — 4.5 points behind what its age and mileage predict. Suspension is the biggest single reason it fails, at 25.6% of what testers record.
Check your postcode
MOT pass rates are national — type your postcode to see how Kia Ceed does in your corner of the country.
Expert verdict
Falls short of its own age and mileage
Like-for-like, cars this age and mileage expect about 77.2%; this one manages 72.7% — 4.5 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 Kia Ceed? Get an email when these numbers change .
Every Kia Ceed first registered in 2012 is combined here — 4 trim and body variants in total — so the sample is as large as the DVSA data allows.
How does the 2012 Kia Ceed compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 77.2%, so this figure is 4.5 points behind what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 63.4%. The median 2012 Kia Ceed in this dataset had covered 95,633 mi.
78% of the tests on this vehicle ran on Diesel, which passed 72.2% of the time. Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 72.3% of the time, April–September 73.3%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources", noted on 7.40% of tests.
- 45,780 recorded tests behind this page.
- 72.7% overall pass rate, 63.4% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the Kia Ceed, the average is 78.3% — best year 2024 (98.4%), worst 2007 (69.5%).
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
- 45,780
- Typical mileage (median)
- 95,633 mi
- Make and model
- Kia Ceed
- 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 Ceed 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 (78% of tests).
Regional pass rates for the Ceed
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| South East | 8,110 | 75.2% |
| North West | 5,993 | 73.0% |
| East of England | 5,263 | 75.2% |
| Yorkshire | 5,014 | 73.1% |
| South West | 4,872 | 70.1% |
| Scotland | 4,494 | 67.7% |
| West Midlands | 4,082 | 74.4% |
| East Midlands | 3,454 | 72.4% |
| Wales | 2,120 | 69.2% |
| North East | 1,736 | 71.3% |
| London | 642 | 79.4% |
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 Ceed
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 Ceed
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 7.4% 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 5.2% of tests
“track rod end ball joint has excessive play”
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 3.0% 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 Ceed through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £26–£73 — and 36% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £26–£73
- 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
- 80%
- Repairs that still cost under £30
- 36%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 45,780 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 Ceed, side by side
18 model years on record, from 2007 to 2024. Across them the pass rate runs from 69.5% to 98.4% — a spread of 28.9 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2007 69.5% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2008 70.1% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2009 71.1% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2010 70.7% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2011 71.0% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2012 72.7%registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2013 74.7% track rod end ball joint has…
- 2014 77.0% track rod end ball joint has…
- 2015 81.5% pins and bushes pin or bush…
- 2016 83.7% pins and bushes pin or bush…
- 2017 85.5% pins and bushes pin or bush…
- 2018 87.1% wipers does not clear the…
- 2019 88.2% wipers does not clear the…
- 2020 89.0% wipers does not clear the…
- 2021 88.8% wipers does not clear the…
- 2022 90.6% wipers does not clear the…
- 2023 93.3% has a cut in excess of the…
- 2024 98.4% brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick
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 Kia Ceed 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
- Suzuki SX4 72.7%
- Hyundai I800 72.7%
- Citroen C4 72.9%
- Chevrolet Spark 72.9%
- Renault Scenic 72.5%
- Nissan X-Trail 72.5%
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 Kia Ceed 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 109,118 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 | 28,225 | 25.60% | 20.98% | +4.62 |
| Brakes | 22,919 | 20.80% | 20.89% | −0.09 |
| Tyres | 17,874 | 16.20% | 19.76% | −3.56 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 16,545 | 15.00% | 12.21% | +2.79 |
| Steering | 6,406 | 5.80% | 2.57% | +3.23 |
| Visibility | 4,575 | 4.20% | 4.97% | −0.77 |
| Non-component advisories | 4,560 | 4.10% | 4.18% | −0.08 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 3,491 | 3.20% | 5.57% | −2.37 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 2,386 | 2.20% | 5.52% | −3.32 |
| Identification of the vehicle | 2,137 | 1.90% | 1.76% | +0.14 |
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 | 7.4% | £5–20 |
| Track rod end ball joint has excessive play Steering | Major | 5.2% | £18–45 |
| Position lamp not working Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 3.6% | £5–25 |
| Ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated Suspension | Minor | 3.6% | £18–45 |
| Joints constant velocity boot severely deteriorated Body, chassis, structure | Minor | 3.5% | £80–250 |
| Rbt (sp) efficiency below requirements Brakes | Major | 3.2% | £45–110 |
| Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view Visibility | Minor | 3.0% | £80–200 |
| Ball joint dust cover no longer prevents the ingress of dirt Suspension | Major | 2.7% | £18–45 |
| Ball joint excessively worn Suspension | Major | 2.5% | £18–45 |
| Stop lamp not working Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 2.5% | £3–12 |
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 | 21.1% | £45–95 |
| Brake discs in such a condition that it is seriously weakened Brakes | Advisory | 13.8% | £45–110 |
| Pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn Suspension | Advisory | 12.8% | £40–150 |
| Brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick Brakes | Advisory | 10.1% | £18–45 |
| Has a tear, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres | Advisory | 8.4% | £45–95 |
| Coil spring corroded so that its cross sectional area is reduced and seriously weakened Suspension | Advisory | 6.0% | £25–65 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 634 | 84.2% | 21,433 mi |
| 30-60k | 5,276 | 79.5% | 48,651 mi |
| 60-90k | 13,825 | 73.9% | 76,363 mi |
| 90-120k | 14,639 | 71.0% | 103,920 mi |
| 120k+ | 11,363 | 69.8% | 145,967 mi |
Source: 45,780 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 Ceed MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2012 Kia Ceed?
72.7% of the 45,780 2012 Kia Ceed tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 77.2% for cars first used in 2012. First-attempt pass rate: 63.4%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2012 Kia Ceed?
The three most recorded items are registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources (7.40%), track rod end ball joint has excessive play (5.17%), position lamp not working (3.61%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2012 Kia Ceed MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 84.2% of the time, falling to 69.8% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2012 Kia Ceed in this dataset had covered 95,633 mi.
Which fuel type is most reliable for a 2012 Kia Ceed?
Diesel: 72.2% pass rate across 35,877 tests. Petrol: 74.9% pass rate across 9,897 tests. Shares are of the tests on this vehicle that recorded each fuel type.
Does the season affect the 2012 Kia Ceed MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 72.3% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 73.3%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.