Pass rate
92.7%
Above average — 1.5 pts ahead of the 91.2% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 6,510 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £26–£62
2021 Kia Rio MOT pass rate
- 2021
- 3 trims combined
- typical 22,234 mi
Most common fault
Tyres
38.3% 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 →
5.5 pts down across model years — 8.5% in 2004, 3.0% in 2022.
Which year to buy
- Best 2023 96.3% pass
- Avoid 2002 67.7% pass
Across the 23 years on record, a spread of 28.6 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 92.1%
- Typical mileage
- 22k mi
The 2021 Kia Rio MOT pass rate is 92.7% of its MOT tests — 1.5 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. Tyres is the biggest single reason it fails, at 38.3% of what testers record.
Check your postcode
MOT pass rates are national — type your postcode to see how Kia Rio does in your corner of the country.
Expert verdict
Tyres: 1.9× the national share
Tyres make up 38.3% of everything recorded on the 2021 Kia Rio, against 19.8% nationally — 18.5 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 Rio? Get an email when these numbers change .
Every Kia Rio first registered in 2021 is combined here — 3 trim and body variants in total — so the sample is as large as the DVSA data allows.
How does the 2021 Kia Rio compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 91.2%, so this figure is 1.5 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 92.1%. The median 2021 Kia Rio in this dataset had covered 22,234 mi.
The most common fuel recorded here is Petrol — 77% of tests, with a 93.1% pass rate. Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 93.2% of the time, April–September 92.3%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Wipers blade defective", noted on 2.14% of tests.
- 6,510 recorded tests behind this page.
- 92.7% overall pass rate, 92.1% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the Kia Rio, the average is 79.8% — best year 2023 (96.3%), worst 2002 (67.7%).
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
- 6,510
- Typical mileage (median)
- 22,234 mi
- Make and model
- Kia Rio
- Updated
- 2026-11-05
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 Rio MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 71% so small gaps stay visible.
Fuel type and reliability
Pass rate by fuel type. Petrol is the most common here (77% of tests).
Regional pass rates for the Rio
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| South East | 1,287 | 94.2% |
| North West | 887 | 93.2% |
| Scotland | 814 | 91.4% |
| East of England | 757 | 90.0% |
| South West | 586 | 93.9% |
| Yorkshire | 537 | 94.8% |
| West Midlands | 494 | 95.5% |
| Wales | 411 | 91.0% |
| East Midlands | 403 | 90.8% |
| North East | 214 | 91.6% |
| London | 120 | 85.8% |
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 2021 Rio
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 2021 Rio
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 2.1% 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 brakes 1.1% of tests
“brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick”
Look through the spokes of each wheel at the pad — less than 3mm of friction material, or a lip on the disc edge, is the usual failure. Check the handbrake holds on a slope with a few clicks, not at the top of its travel.
-
Check the windscreen 1.1% 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 2021 Rio through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £26–£62 — and 53% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £26–£62
- Cheapest common item: washers not working
- £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
- 53%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 6,510 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 Rio, side by side
23 model years on record, from 2001 to 2023. Across them the pass rate runs from 67.7% to 96.3% — a spread of 28.6 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2001 73.2% headlamp lens slightly defective
- 2002 67.7% headlamp lens slightly defective
- 2003 68.8% headlamp lens slightly defective
- 2004 68.2% joints constant velocity boot…
- 2005 68.7% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2006 70.0% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2007 70.0% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2008 69.9% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2009 72.2% track rod end ball joint has…
- 2010 72.3% track rod end ball joint has…
- 2011 72.2% track rod end ball joint has…
- 2012 74.3% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2013 75.7% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2014 78.4% track rod end ball joint dust…
- 2015 83.6% tread depth below requirements of…
- 2016 85.1% tread depth below requirements of…
- 2017 87.8% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2018 89.7% wipers does not clear the…
- 2019 90.3% wipers does not clear the…
- 2020 92.0% wipers does not clear the…
- 2021 92.7%wipers blade defective
- 2022 93.8% has a cut in excess of the…
- 2023 96.3% 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 2021 Kia Rio 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 2021 cars with a similar record
- Nissan Qashqai 92.7%
- BMW 118 92.7%
- MINI Countryman 92.7%
- Toyota C-Hr Gr 92.7%
- MINI John COOPER Works 92.7%
- BMW 128TI 92.7%
Closest pass rates among 2021 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 2021 Kia Rio 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 3,636 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 | 1,402 | 38.30% | 19.76% | +18.54 |
| Brakes | 769 | 21.00% | 20.89% | +0.11 |
| Visibility | 497 | 13.60% | 4.97% | +8.63 |
| Non-component advisories | 377 | 10.30% | 4.18% | +6.12 |
| Steering | 226 | 6.20% | 2.57% | +3.63 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 214 | 5.80% | 12.21% | −6.41 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 48 | 1.30% | 5.52% | −4.22 |
| Suspension | 39 | 1.10% | 20.98% | −19.88 |
| Identification of the vehicle | 34 | 0.90% | 1.76% | −0.86 |
| Road Wheels | 30 | 0.80% | 0.75% | +0.05 |
The exact failure items, in the tester's words
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wipers blade defective Visibility | Minor | 2.1% | £8–22 |
| Wipers does not clear the windscreen effectively Visibility | Major | 1.9% | £8–22 |
| Wipers does not clear the windscreen effectively Visibility | Rectified | 1.3% | £8–22 |
| Has a cut in excess of the requirements deep enough to reach the ply or cords Tyres | Major | 1.2% | £45–95 |
| Brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick Brakes | Major | 1.1% | £18–45 |
| Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view Visibility | Minor | 1.1% | £80–200 |
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Major | 0.57% | £45–95 |
| Has ply or cords exposed Tyres | Major | 0.52% | £45–95 |
| Has a bulge, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres | Major | 0.46% | £45–95 |
| Washers not working Visibility | Major | 0.38% | £5–15 |
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 | 7.7% | £45–95 |
| Has a tear, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres | Advisory | 7.2% | £45–95 |
| Brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick Brakes | Advisory | 6.0% | £18–45 |
| Track rod end ball joint has excessive play Steering | Advisory | 3.0% | £18–45 |
| Brake discs in such a condition that it is seriously weakened Brakes | Advisory | 2.0% | £45–110 |
| Has a cut in excess of the requirements deep enough to reach the ply or cords Tyres | Advisory | 1.9% | £45–95 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 4,553 | 94.8% | 17,571 mi |
| 30-60k | 1,724 | 88.7% | 39,931 mi |
| 60-90k | 212 | 79.7% | 70,404 mi |
| 90-120k | 19 | 84.2% | 98,669 mi |
| 120k+ | 2 | 100.0% | 158,269 mi |
Source: 6,510 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.
2021 Rio MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2021 Kia Rio?
92.7% of the 6,510 2021 Kia Rio tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 91.2% for cars first used in 2021. First-attempt pass rate: 92.1%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2021 Kia Rio?
The three most recorded items are wipers blade defective (2.14%), wipers does not clear the windscreen effectively (1.90%), wipers does not clear the windscreen effectively (1.26%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2021 Kia Rio MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 94.8% of the time, falling to 100.0% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2021 Kia Rio in this dataset had covered 22,234 mi.
Which fuel type is most reliable for a 2021 Kia Rio?
Petrol: 93.1% pass rate across 5,017 tests. Hybrid: 91.3% pass rate across 1,493 tests. Shares are of the tests on this vehicle that recorded each fuel type.
Does the season affect the 2021 Kia Rio MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 93.2% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 92.3%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.