Cupra Born, Buying guide, MOT record, UK numbers and recalls
31,456 Cupra Borns are licensed in the UK. In 2025 they passed 90.6% of initial MOT tests, 18.3 points above the 72.3% UK average.
Looking at a specific Born? Check its finance, write-off, stolen, mileage and keeper history. £15, no account needed.
Cupra Born at the MOT
90.6% of 4,645 initial tests passed in 2025, ranking the Born 32nd of 575 models.
First-time pass rate, 2025
Share of initial tests passed, retests excluded.
Where Borns fail
Share of all failure items recorded on Cupra Born tests in 2025.
The items testers recorded most often were condition has ply or cords exposed (31.3%), condition has a cut in excess of the requirements deep enough to reach the ply or cords (18.4%) and tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm (12.3%).
The MOT page lists every common Born MOT failure. For one car's own results and advisories, run a free MOT history check.
What to look at on a viewing
The Born's most common failure areas, and what a tester checks in each.
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Tyres
Check tread depth across the full width of every tyre (the legal minimum is 1.6mm), and look for cuts, bulges and uneven wear.67.4% of Born failure items
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Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment
Walk round with every light on: headlights, brake lights, indicators, fog lights and the number plate lamp. Check no warning lights stay on after starting.14.8% of Born failure items
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Visibility
Check the windscreen for chips or cracks in the driver's view, and that the wipers and washers clear it properly.7.5% of Born failure items
Cupra Borns in the UK
31,456 were licensed at the end of June 2026, the 2nd most of any Cupra. The number licensed has grown 175% since the end of 2023.
- Change since 2023
- +175%from 11,437 licensed
- Typical year of first use
- 2024half of those licensed at the end of 2025 were first used in 2024 or earlier
- First registered in 2025
- 8,525
- Declared off the road
- 940.3% of those registered, under SORN
Licensed Cupra Borns since 2022
Licensed at each year end and in the latest quarter.
Show the figures
| Date | Licensed |
|---|---|
| End of 2022 | 4,597 |
| End of 2023 | 11,437 |
| End of 2024 | 18,972 |
| End of 2025 | 26,894 |
| End of June 2026 | 31,456 |
How old they are
Licensed Cupra Borns by year of first use.
- Licensed at the end of 2025
- First registered that year
Show the figures
| First used | Licensed, end 2025 | First registered that year |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 8,426 | 8,525 |
| 2024 | 7,588 | 7,823 |
| 2023 | 6,754 | 6,978 |
| 2022 | 4,125 | 4,644 |
Cupra Born recalls
2 DVSA safety recalls launched from 2010 to July 2026 name the Cupra Born. Each covers vehicles built in a set period, so a recall does not mean every Born is affected.
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Apr 2026 R/2026/153
Battery check
Defect and remedy
- Defect
- Certain vehicles manufactured during a limited production period a high-voltage battery module may not meet quality standards. This may result in significantly reduced autonomy a yellow warning light coming on or a thermal overload inside the high-voltage battery. A thermal overload of this kind may cause a fire in the vehicle
- Remedy
- A battery check is carried out on the vehicles. If the check identifies high-voltage battery modules which may be faulty the identified modules must be replaced.
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Feb 2026 R/2026/040
High-voltage modules replacement
Defect and remedy
- Defect
- On affected vehicles it's possible a faulty module has been installed in the high-voltage battery which may cause either a loss of range a yellow warning lamp to light up or a risk of the battery overheating leading to a fire.
- Remedy
- Check and replace the affected battery modules.
Other Cupra models
The most-tested Cupra models in 2025, against the Born's 90.6% MOT pass rate.
Cupra Born FAQs
How many Cupra Borns are there in the UK?
31,456 Cupra Borns were licensed in the UK at the end of June 2026, with a further 94 declared off the road (SORN), according to DfT vehicle licensing statistics.
Is the Cupra Born reliable?
MOT data does not measure reliability. It records whether a car met the roadworthiness standard on the day of its test. What it does show is a 90.6% first-time pass rate for the Cupra Born across 4,645 tests in 2025, above the 72.3% average for all cars.
Has the Cupra Born had any recalls?
2 DVSA safety recalls launched from 2010 to July 2026 name the Cupra Born. The most recent was published in April 2026. A recall applies to vehicles built in a set period, so check a specific car on the GOV.UK vehicle recall checker.
What should I check before buying a used Cupra Born?
On the car itself, start with the areas it most often fails on: tyres, lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment and visibility. Then check the individual car's own records. Outstanding finance, insurance write-offs and police stolen markers are not part of the MOT record, so they take a history check.
How do I check a Cupra Born's history?
Enter the registration of the specific car. A Carpeep car history check reports outstanding finance, write-off category, stolen markers, mileage history, previous keepers, MOT and tax status, import and export markers and scrapped status in one £15 report.
Already found a Born?
Check its finance, write-off, theft, mileage and keeper history with a £15 vehicle history report.
Across the 1,389 vehicles of every make Carpeep has checked since November 2025, 19% had outstanding finance recorded and 13% an insurance write-off. More on the Cupra history check. To confirm a car's identity, see the Cupra VIN check.
- Outstanding finance
- Write-off records
- Stolen markers
- Mileage history
- Previous keepers
MOT figures are aggregated from the DVSA MOT Anonymised data set for 2025 (class 4 initial tests, retests excluded). Licensed, SORN, fuel and registration figures are from the Department for Transport vehicle licensing statistics (VEH0120, VEH0124, VEH0160). Recalls are from the DVSA vehicle recalls data, with recalls launched up to July 2026. Government data is used under the Open Government Licence v3.0. MOT results describe roadworthiness at test, not mechanical reliability. History-check findings are anonymous counts from reports bought on Carpeep, each vehicle counted once, and are published only where at least 100 vehicles returned an answer.