Pass rate
71.9%
Below average — 2.1 pts behind the 74.0% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 49,356 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £35–£99
2009 Kia Picanto MOT pass rate
- 2009
- 2 trims combined
- typical 63,100 mi
Most common fault
Brakes
22.9% of faults · 20.9% nationally
mostly worn pads and discs, corroded pipes and a handbrake that will not hold.
Which year to buy
- Best 2023 94.1% pass
- Avoid 2006 67.8% pass
Across the 20 years on record, a spread of 26.3 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 62.5%
- Typical mileage
- 63k mi
The 2009 Kia Picanto MOT pass rate is 71.9% of its MOT tests — 2.1 points behind what its age and mileage predict. Brakes is the biggest single reason it fails, at 22.9% of what testers record.
Check your postcode
MOT pass rates are national — type your postcode to see how Kia Picanto does in your corner of the country.
Expert verdict
Body & chassis: 1.9× the national share
Body & chassis accounts for 10.6% of everything recorded on the 2009 Kia Picanto, against 5.6% nationally — 5.0 points above. Brakes are still the single largest share at 22.9%, but at 20.9% nationally that one is ordinary. Look underneath for corrosion near the jacking points and suspension mounts; surface rust is normal, flaking metal is not.
- When it fails, it costs. Only 25% 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 Kia Picanto? Get an email when these numbers change .
Every Kia Picanto first registered in 2009 is combined here — 2 trim and body variants in total — so the sample is as large as the DVSA data allows.
How does the 2009 Kia Picanto compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 74.0%, so this figure is 2.1 points behind what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 62.5%. The median 2009 Kia Picanto in this dataset had covered 63,100 mi.
The most common fuel recorded here is Petrol — 100% of tests, with a 71.9% pass rate. Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 71.5% of the time, April–September 72.4%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources", noted on 6.15% of tests.
- 49,356 recorded tests behind this page.
- 71.9% overall pass rate, 62.5% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the Kia Picanto, the average is 80.5% — best year 2023 (94.1%), worst 2006 (67.8%).
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
- 49,356
- Typical mileage (median)
- 63,100 mi
- Make and model
- Kia Picanto
- 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 Picanto MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 57% so small gaps stay visible.
Fuel type and reliability
Pass rate by fuel type. Petrol is the most common here (100% of tests).
Regional pass rates for the Picanto
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| South East | 10,737 | 73.8% |
| South West | 6,973 | 69.5% |
| North West | 6,122 | 72.0% |
| East of England | 5,229 | 73.9% |
| West Midlands | 4,731 | 73.9% |
| Yorkshire | 4,367 | 71.3% |
| East Midlands | 3,398 | 72.3% |
| Scotland | 2,607 | 64.3% |
| Wales | 2,433 | 69.0% |
| London | 1,434 | 79.6% |
| North East | 1,325 | 68.8% |
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 2009 Picanto
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 2009 Picanto
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 6.2% 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 6.1% of tests
“ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated”
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 exhaust and emissions 2.9% of tests
“exhaust system has a major leak of exhaust gases”
Listen for a blow at idle and have someone rev it gently. Then look at the tailpipe smoke: blue is oil, white when warm is coolant, black is over-fuelling. Any of those and the emissions test is the least of it.
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 2009 Picanto through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £35–£99 — and 25% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £35–£99
- 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
- 60%
- Repairs that still cost under £30
- 25%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 49,356 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 Picanto, side by side
20 model years on record, from 2004 to 2023. Across them the pass rate runs from 67.8% to 94.1% — a spread of 26.3 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2004 69.2% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2005 68.6% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2006 67.8% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2007 69.6% ball joint dust cover severely…
- 2008 70.8% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2009 71.9%registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2010 72.7% ball joint dust cover severely…
- 2011 73.3% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2012 75.1% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2013 77.9% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2014 80.9% rbt (sp) efficiency below…
- 2015 83.0% rbt (sp) efficiency below…
- 2016 83.4% rbt (sp) efficiency below…
- 2017 87.1% wipers does not clear the…
- 2018 89.9% wipers does not clear the…
- 2019 90.8% wipers does not clear the…
- 2020 92.5% wipers blade defective
- 2021 92.6% wipers blade defective
- 2022 92.3% has a cut in excess of the…
- 2023 94.1% headlamp aim too low
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 2009 Kia Picanto 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 2009 cars with a similar record
- Ford Ka 71.9%
- Fiat Grande Punto 71.9%
- Renault Twingo 71.8%
- Renault Modus 71.8%
- Volvo C70 71.8%
- Citroen Xsara 71.7%
Closest pass rates among 2009 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 2009 Kia Picanto 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 123,501 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 | 28,624 | 22.90% | 20.89% | +2.01 |
| Suspension | 24,637 | 19.70% | 20.98% | −1.28 |
| Tyres | 18,946 | 15.10% | 19.76% | −4.66 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 13,255 | 10.60% | 5.57% | +5.03 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 13,139 | 10.50% | 12.21% | −1.71 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 10,220 | 8.20% | 5.52% | +2.68 |
| Visibility | 5,746 | 4.60% | 4.97% | −0.37 |
| Steering | 4,235 | 3.40% | 2.57% | +0.83 |
| Identification of the vehicle | 2,610 | 2.10% | 1.76% | +0.34 |
| Non-component advisories | 2,089 | 1.70% | 4.18% | −2.48 |
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 | 6.2% | £5–20 |
| Ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated Suspension | Minor | 6.1% | £18–45 |
| Rbt (sp) efficiency below requirements Brakes | Major | 4.3% | £45–110 |
| Joints constant velocity boot severely deteriorated Body, chassis, structure | Minor | 4.3% | £80–250 |
| Position lamp not working Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 3.9% | £5–25 |
| Joints constant velocity boot split or insecure, no longer prevents the ingress of dirt Body, chassis, structure | Major | 3.5% | £80–250 |
| Ball joint dust cover no longer prevents the ingress of dirt Suspension | Major | 3.3% | £18–45 |
| Service brake performance excessively binding Brakes | Major | 3.0% | £60–150 |
| Track rod end ball joint dust cover damaged or deteriorated, but preventing the ingress of dirt Steering | Minor | 3.0% | £18–45 |
| Exhaust system has a major leak of exhaust gases Body, chassis, structure | Major | 2.9% | £45–120 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rigid brake pipes excessively corroded Brakes | Advisory | 18.0% | £80–180 |
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Advisory | 15.3% | £45–95 |
| Has a tear, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres | Advisory | 14.9% | £45–95 |
| Engine oil leaks leaking excessively from engine Noise, emissions and leaks | Advisory | 13.1% | £200–700 |
| Pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn Suspension | Advisory | 7.7% | £40–150 |
| Service brake performance excessively binding Brakes | Advisory | 6.9% | £60–150 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 5,271 | 82.6% | 21,417 mi |
| 30-60k | 17,409 | 74.6% | 46,118 mi |
| 60-90k | 16,390 | 69.6% | 73,872 mi |
| 90-120k | 7,843 | 65.8% | 101,961 mi |
| 120k+ | 2,412 | 65.6% | 137,400 mi |
Source: 49,356 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.
2009 Picanto MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2009 Kia Picanto?
71.9% of the 49,356 2009 Kia Picanto tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 74.0% for cars first used in 2009. First-attempt pass rate: 62.5%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2009 Kia Picanto?
The three most recorded items are registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources (6.15%), ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated (6.13%), rbt (sp) efficiency below requirements (4.34%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2009 Kia Picanto MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 82.6% of the time, falling to 65.6% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2009 Kia Picanto in this dataset had covered 63,100 mi.
Which fuel type is most reliable for a 2009 Kia Picanto?
Petrol: 71.9% pass rate across 49,338 tests. Diesel: 66.7% pass rate across 18 tests. Shares are of the tests on this vehicle that recorded each fuel type.
Does the season affect the 2009 Kia Picanto MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 71.5% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 72.4%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.