Pass rate
98.4%
Above average — 3.6 pts ahead of the 94.8% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 365 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £33–£81
2023 Kia Sorento MOT pass rate
- 2023
- 6 trims combined
- typical 24,738 mi
Most common fault
Tyres
50.0% 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 →
3.3 pts down across model years — 8.1% in 2004, 4.8% in 2022.
Which year to buy
- Best 2024 99.1% pass
- Avoid 2004 65.6% pass
Across the 22 years on record, a spread of 33.5 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 98.3%
- Typical mileage
- 25k mi
The 2023 Kia Sorento MOT pass rate is 98.4% of its MOT tests — 3.6 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. Tyres is the biggest single reason it fails, at 50.0% of what testers record.
Check your postcode
MOT pass rates are national — type your postcode to see how Kia Sorento does in your corner of the country.
Expert verdict
Tyres: 2.5× the national share
Tyres make up 50.0% of everything recorded on the 2023 Kia Sorento, against 19.8% nationally — 30.2 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.
- Beats its own age and mileage. Once you allow for how old and how far these cars have been driven, the expected pass rate is 94.8% and this one manages 98.4% — 3.6 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict.
- When it fails, it costs. Only 21% 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 Sorento? Get an email when these numbers change .
Every Kia Sorento first registered in 2023 is combined here — 6 trim and body variants in total — so the sample is as large as the DVSA data allows.
How does the 2023 Kia Sorento compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 94.8%, so this figure is 3.6 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 98.3%. The median 2023 Kia Sorento in this dataset had covered 24,738 mi.
The most common fuel recorded here is Hybrid — 92% of tests, with a 98.5% pass rate. Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 97.6% of the time, April–September 99.3%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Headlamp aim too high", noted on 1.64% of tests.
- 365 recorded tests behind this page.
- 98.4% overall pass rate, 98.3% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the Kia Sorento, the average is 79.2% — best year 2024 (99.1%), worst 2004 (65.6%).
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
- 365
- Typical mileage (median)
- 24,738 mi
- Make and model
- Kia Sorento
- Updated
- 2026-11-05
Source: DVSA anonymised MOT test data (2023–2025), OGL v3.0.
Top part to budget for
Headlight Alignment
Typically a garage job — get quotes before committing.
Does mileage affect the Sorento MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 90% so small gaps stay visible.
Fuel type and reliability
Pass rate by fuel type. Hybrid is the most common here (92% of tests).
Regional pass rates for the Sorento
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| London | 154 | 98.1% |
| South East | 138 | 99.3% |
| East of England | 27 | 92.6% |
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 2023 Sorento
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 2023 Sorento
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 1.6% of tests
“headlamp aim too high”
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 tyre tread 0.6% of tests
“tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm”
Check all four tyres cold, including the inner shoulder where wear hides — 1.6mm across the central three-quarters is the legal limit, and most testers fail at 1.6mm without argument.
-
Check the wipers and washers 0.6% of tests
“washers provides insufficient washer liquid”
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 2023 Sorento through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £33–£81 — and 21% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £33–£81
- 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
- 80%
- Repairs that still cost under £30
- 21%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 365 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 Sorento, side by side
22 model years on record, from 2003 to 2024. Across them the pass rate runs from 65.6% to 99.1% — a spread of 33.5 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2003 69.2% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2004 65.6% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2005 68.0% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2006 68.2% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2007 69.9% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2008 69.2% track rod end ball joint has…
- 2009 71.2% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2010 72.7% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2011 73.3% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2012 73.3% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2013 75.3% track rod end ball joint has…
- 2014 77.7% track rod end ball joint has…
- 2015 81.7% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2016 83.2% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2017 85.6% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2018 87.5% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2019 88.6% has a cut in excess of the…
- 2020 89.8% has a cut in excess of the…
- 2021 90.6% wipers does not clear the…
- 2022 92.0% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2023 98.4%headlamp aim too high
- 2024 99.1% wipers blade defective
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 2023 Kia Sorento 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 2023 cars with a similar record
- Levc Tx 97.0%
- Mercedes-Benz Eqe 96.5%
- Ford Puma 96.5%
- Toyota Corolla 95.7%
- Polestar Polestar 94.6%
- Tesla Model Y 92.9%
Closest pass rates among 2023 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 2023 Kia Sorento 10 failure items · 6 advisories · 7 inspection categories · mileage brackets · all of it in the page, none of it above the fold
Every inspection category
Shares of the 96 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 | 48 | 50.00% | 19.76% | +30.24 |
| Non-component advisories | 14 | 14.60% | 4.18% | +10.42 |
| Suspension | 12 | 12.50% | 20.98% | −8.48 |
| Visibility | 8 | 8.30% | 4.97% | +3.33 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 7 | 7.30% | 12.21% | −4.91 |
| Brakes | 5 | 5.20% | 20.89% | −15.69 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 2 | 2.10% | 5.52% | −3.42 |
The exact failure items, in the tester's words
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Headlamp aim too high Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Rectified | 1.6% | £30–80 |
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Major | 0.55% | £45–95 |
| Washers provides insufficient washer liquid Visibility | Rectified | 0.55% | £5–15 |
| Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view Visibility | Minor | 0.55% | £80–200 |
| Wipers blade defective Visibility | Minor | 0.55% | £8–22 |
| Ball joint excessively worn Suspension | Rectified | 0.27% | £18–45 |
| Brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick Brakes | Rectified | 0.27% | £18–45 |
| Decelerometer (sp) efficiency below requirements Brakes | Major | 0.27% | £45–110 |
| Has a cut in excess of the requirements deep enough to reach the ply or cords Tyres | Major | 0.27% | £45–95 |
| Has ply or cords exposed Tyres | Major | 0.27% | £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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Advisory | 7.4% | £45–95 |
| Shock absorbers has a serious fluid leak Suspension | Advisory | 2.5% | £30–75 |
| Non-component advisories Nail in tyre Non-component advisories | Advisory | 1.9% | £45–95 |
| Has a cut in excess of the requirements deep enough to reach the ply or cords Tyres | Advisory | 1.6% | £45–95 |
| Has a tear, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres | Advisory | 1.6% | £45–95 |
| Non-component advisories Child Seat fitted not allowing full inspection of adult belt Non-component advisories | Advisory | 1.4% | £20–80 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 234 | 98.3% | 17,499 mi |
| 30-60k | 101 | 98.0% | 39,970 mi |
| 60-90k | 23 | 100.0% | 71,518 mi |
| 90-120k | 6 | 100.0% | 97,470 mi |
| 120k+ | 1 | 100.0% | 125,537 mi |
Source: 365 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.
2023 Sorento MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2023 Kia Sorento?
98.4% of the 365 2023 Kia Sorento tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 94.8% for cars first used in 2023. First-attempt pass rate: 98.3%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2023 Kia Sorento?
The three most recorded items are headlamp aim too high (1.64%), tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm (0.55%), washers provides insufficient washer liquid (0.55%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2023 Kia Sorento MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 98.3% of the time, falling to 100.0% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2023 Kia Sorento in this dataset had covered 24,738 mi.
Which fuel type is most reliable for a 2023 Kia Sorento?
Hybrid: 98.5% pass rate across 335 tests. Diesel: 96.6% pass rate across 29 tests. Shares are of the tests on this vehicle that recorded each fuel type.
Does the season affect the 2023 Kia Sorento MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 97.6% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 99.3%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.