Pass rate
87.1%
Above average — 1.1 pts ahead of the 86.0% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 43,597 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £28–£67
2017 Kia Picanto MOT pass rate
- 2017
- typical 33,511 mi
Check your postcode
Most common fault
Tyres
36.7% 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 →
3.5 pts down across model years — 5.6% in 2004, 2.1% in 2022.
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
- 85.3%
- Typical mileage
- 34k mi
The 2017 Kia Picanto MOT pass rate is 87.1% of its MOT tests — 1.1 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. Tyres is the biggest single reason it fails, at 36.7% of what testers record.
Expert verdict
Tyres: 1.9× the national share
Tyres make up 36.7% of everything recorded on the 2017 Kia Picanto, against 19.8% nationally — 16.9 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.
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 .
How does the 2017 Kia Picanto compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 86.0%, so this figure is 1.1 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 85.3%. The median 2017 Kia Picanto in this dataset had covered 33,511 mi.
Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 86.6% of the time, April–September 87.5%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Wipers does not clear the windscreen effectively", noted on 1.45% of tests.
- 43,597 recorded tests behind this page.
- 87.1% overall pass rate, 85.3% 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
- 43,597
- Typical mileage (median)
- 33,511 mi
- Make and model
- Kia Picanto
- Updated
- 2026-11-07
Source: DVSA anonymised MOT test data (2023–2025), OGL v3.0.
Top part to budget for
Wiper Blade
Usually a DIY or independent-garage job.
Does mileage affect the Picanto MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 66% so small gaps stay visible.
Where the Kia Picanto is most common
Across all Picanto model years on record (2004–2023): 249,372 Kia Picanto cars tested in a recordable postcode area, across 636,124 tests. Birmingham (B) has the most, with 6,780 cars tested there. Cars are counted by the postcode area of the MOT station, so this is where they were tested, not necessarily where their owners live.
| # | Postcode area | Cars | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Birmingham (B) | 6,780 | 83.7% |
| 2 | Sheffield (S) | 5,912 | 82.2% |
| 3 | Nottingham (NG) | 5,699 | 78.9% |
| 4 | Portsmouth (PO) | 5,674 | 80.6% |
| 5 | Manchester (M) | 4,733 | 80.0% |
| 6 | Cardiff (CF) | 4,601 | 79.1% |
| 7 | Bristol (BS) | 4,543 | 77.2% |
| 8 | Swansea (SA) | 4,247 | 79.8% |
| 9 | Stockport (SK) | 4,061 | 83.0% |
| 10 | Peterborough (PE) | 3,930 | 81.7% |
| 11 | Glasgow (G) | 3,901 | 76.3% |
| 12 | Guildford (GU) | 3,845 | 83.0% |
| 13 | Leicester (LE) | 3,831 | 83.0% |
| 14 | Brighton (BN) | 3,824 | 80.7% |
| 15 | Derby (DE) | 3,591 | 82.4% |
| 16 | Southampton (SO) | 3,446 | 82.0% |
| 17 | Maidstone (ME) | 3,352 | 83.3% |
| 18 | Edinburgh (EH) | 3,303 | 74.3% |
| 19 | Bolton (BL) | 3,286 | 81.5% |
| 20 | Newcastle upon Tyne (NE) | 3,224 | 78.3% |
The twenty areas with the most Kia Picanto cars in the record, sorted by car count — sort the columns for a different question. Cars tested at a station whose postcode area could not be resolved are counted in the model's total but in no area, so the shares add up to slightly under 100% even across every area, and an area's cars are a subset of the model's. Pass rate is blank below 30 tests in an area, where a percentage is noise rather than a finding. How this model's pass rate varies by postcode →
Regional pass rates for the Picanto
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| South East | 9,552 | 88.7% |
| North West | 5,739 | 87.6% |
| East of England | 4,376 | 89.2% |
| Yorkshire | 4,168 | 87.2% |
| Scotland | 4,136 | 80.2% |
| South West | 4,134 | 87.1% |
| West Midlands | 3,545 | 88.8% |
| East Midlands | 2,835 | 87.8% |
| Wales | 2,398 | 85.2% |
| North East | 1,698 | 83.9% |
| London | 1,015 | 88.8% |
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 2017 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 2017 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 wipers and washers 1.4% 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.
-
Check the suspension joints 1.4% 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 1.2% 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 2017 Picanto through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £28–£67 — and 41% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £28–£67
- Cheapest common item: washers provides insufficient washer liquid
- £5–£15
- Dearest common item: windscreen damaged
- £80–£200
- Common items a careful owner can do at home
- 90%
- Repairs that still cost under £30
- 41%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 43,597 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 2017 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 2017 cars with a similar record
- Mercedes-Benz B-Class 87.1%
- Toyota Estima 87.1%
- Subaru Forester 87.1%
- Hyundai I40 87.0%
- BMW X4 87.0%
- Land Rover Discovery 87.2%
Closest pass rates among 2017 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 2017 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 40,196 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 | 15,006 | 36.70% | 19.76% | +16.94 |
| Brakes | 12,124 | 29.60% | 20.89% | +8.71 |
| Suspension | 3,548 | 8.70% | 20.98% | −12.28 |
| Visibility | 3,466 | 8.50% | 4.97% | +3.53 |
| Non-component advisories | 2,007 | 4.90% | 4.18% | +0.72 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 1,829 | 4.50% | 12.21% | −7.71 |
| Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems | 618 | 1.50% | 0.82% | +0.68 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 560 | 1.40% | 5.57% | −4.17 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 552 | 1.30% | 5.52% | −4.22 |
| Identification of the vehicle | 486 | 1.20% | 1.76% | −0.56 |
The exact failure items, in the tester's words
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wipers does not clear the windscreen effectively Visibility | Major | 1.4% | £8–22 |
| Ball joint excessively worn Suspension | Major | 1.4% | £18–45 |
| Wipers blade defective Visibility | Minor | 1.3% | £8–22 |
| Has a cut in excess of the requirements deep enough to reach the ply or cords Tyres | Major | 1.3% | £45–95 |
| Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view Visibility | Minor | 1.2% | £80–200 |
| Rbt (sp) efficiency below requirements Brakes | Major | 1.2% | £45–110 |
| Wipers does not clear the windscreen effectively Visibility | Rectified | 1.1% | £8–22 |
| Brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick Brakes | Major | 1.1% | £18–45 |
| Washers provides insufficient washer liquid Visibility | Major | 0.81% | £5–15 |
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Major | 0.80% | £45–95 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Has a tear, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres | Advisory | 15.4% | £45–95 |
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Advisory | 10.9% | £45–95 |
| Brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick Brakes | Advisory | 8.3% | £18–45 |
| Brake discs in such a condition that it is seriously weakened Brakes | Advisory | 6.1% | £45–110 |
| Brake discs significantly and obviously worn Brakes | Advisory | 2.9% | £45–110 |
| Pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn Suspension | Advisory | 2.4% | £40–150 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 18,489 | 91.3% | 19,387 mi |
| 30-60k | 19,895 | 85.0% | 42,447 mi |
| 60-90k | 4,430 | 80.5% | 70,612 mi |
| 90-120k | 640 | 78.4% | 100,032 mi |
| 120k+ | 114 | 74.6% | 137,844 mi |
Source: 43,597 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.
2017 Picanto MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2017 Kia Picanto?
87.1% of the 43,597 2017 Kia Picanto tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 86.0% for cars first used in 2017. First-attempt pass rate: 85.3%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2017 Kia Picanto?
The three most recorded items are wipers does not clear the windscreen effectively (1.45%), ball joint excessively worn (1.38%), wipers blade defective (1.33%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2017 Kia Picanto MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 91.3% of the time, falling to 74.6% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2017 Kia Picanto in this dataset had covered 33,511 mi.
Does the season affect the 2017 Kia Picanto MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 86.6% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 87.5%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.