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Kia Carens, Buying guide, MOT record, UK numbers and recalls

12,309 Kia Carenses are licensed in the UK. In 2025 they passed 63% of initial MOT tests, 9.3 points below the 72.3% UK average.

Looking at a specific Carens? Check its finance, write-off, stolen, mileage and keeper history. £15, no account needed.

Kia Carens at the MOT

63% of 13,721 initial tests passed in 2025, ranking the Carens 461st of 575 models. Kia Carenses aged 6 to 10 years passed 68.2% of MOT tests in 2025; for examples aged 11 years and over that fell to 54.2%.

First-time pass rate, 2025

Share of initial tests passed, retests excluded.

  • Kia Carens63%
  • All Kia modelsThe Carens is 12.2 pts behind75.2%
  • All cars72.3%

Pass rate by age at test

Kia Carens tests in 2025.

  • 6 to 10 years8,560 tests68.2%
  • 11 years and over5,123 tests54.2%

Where Carenses fail

Share of all failure items recorded on Kia Carens tests in 2025.

  • Brakes24.5%
  • Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment23.4%
  • Suspension18%
  • Tyres12.4%
  • Visibility6.8%

The items testers recorded most often were stop lamp not working (6.8%), brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick (5.9%) and rbt (sp) efficiency below requirements (4.4%).

The MOT page lists every common Carens MOT failure. For one car's own results and advisories, run a free MOT history check.

Full Kia Carens MOT record

What to look at on a viewing

The Carens's most common failure areas, and what a tester checks in each.

  1. Brakes

    Make sure the pedal feels firm, the car stops in a straight line, the handbrake holds on a slope and no brake warning light is showing.24.5% of Carens failure items

  2. 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.23.4% of Carens failure items

  3. Suspension

    Listen for knocks over bumps, check the car sits level, and look for leaking shock absorbers and split rubber gaiters.18% of Carens failure items

Kia Carenses in the UK

12,309 were licensed at the end of June 2026. The number licensed has fallen 47% since the end of 2014.

Change since 2014
−47%from 23,196 licensed
Typical year of first use
2015half of those licensed at the end of 2025 were first used in 2015 or earlier
First registered in 2025
3against 2,378 in 2015
Declared off the road
1,85613% of those registered, under SORN

Licensed Kia Carenses since 2014

Licensed at each year end and in the latest quarter.

Show the figures
DateLicensed
End of 201423,196
End of 201523,762
End of 201623,675
End of 201723,087
End of 201822,464
End of 201920,656
End of 202019,152
End of 202117,726
End of 202216,351
End of 202315,108
End of 202413,984
End of 202512,813
End of June 202612,309

How old they are

Licensed Kia Carenses by year of first use.

  • Licensed at the end of 2025
  • First registered that year

A further 95 were first used before 2005.

Show the figures
First usedLicensed, end 2025First registered that year
20198593
20181,5611,720
20171,7611,946
20161,7201,934
20152,0252,378
20142,008
20131,253
201273
2011241
2010241
2009715
2008571
2007215
2006141
200573

2,025 Carenses first used in 2015 were still licensed at the end of 2025, roughly 85% of the 2,378 first registered that year.

Carens engines and fuel

1.7 litre engines made up 63% of Kia Carens MOT tests in 2025, followed by 2.0 litre at 18%. Diesel accounts for 77% of licensed Carenses and petrol for 23%.

Engine size at MOT, 2025

Share of 13,720 initial MOT tests in 2025.

  • 1.7 litre62.9%
  • 2.0 litre18.4%
  • 1.6 litre17.9%

Fuel type, licensed Carenses

DfT licensing statistics, June 2026.

FuelLicensedShare
Petrol2,82323%
Diesel9,48277%
Gas4<0.1%

Kia Carens recalls

2 DVSA safety recalls launched from 2010 to July 2026 name the Kia Carens. Each covers vehicles built in a set period, so a recall does not mean every Carens is affected.

  1. Dec 2024 R/2024/465

    Kia HECU Fuse Replacement

    Carenses built Sep 2009 to Jul 2018 · 160,314 vehicles across the whole recall

    Defect and remedy
    Defect
    The HECU hydraulic electronic control unit of affected vehicles equipped with Anti-lock Brake Systems ABS and Electronic Stability Control ESC could leak internally and cause an electrical short over time. In extreme cases the HECU could overheat with a possible risk of an under bonnet fire.
    Remedy
    The recall will replace the fuses in the junction box with a lower rated version.

  2. Jun 2013 R/2013/055

    Brake lights may malfunction

    Carenses built Mar 2008 to Nov 2009 · 40,769 vehicles across the whole recall

    Defect and remedy
    Defect
    The vehicles brake lights may intermittently malfunction due to carbonisation of the contacts within the brake light switch. This can also affect other systems on the vehicle including: ESC cruise control gear selection (autoboxes) engine check lamp.
    Remedy
    Recall vehicles likely to be affected to replace the brake light switch.
How to check a specific Carens for recalls

Other Kia models

The most-tested Kia models in 2025, against the Carens's 63% MOT pass rate.

All 16 Kia models

Kia Carens FAQs

How many Kia Carenses are there in the UK?

12,309 Kia Carenses were licensed in the UK at the end of June 2026, with a further 1,856 declared off the road (SORN), according to DfT vehicle licensing statistics.

Is the Kia Carens 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 63% first-time pass rate for the Kia Carens across 13,721 tests in 2025, below the 72.3% average for all cars.

Has the Kia Carens had any recalls?

2 DVSA safety recalls launched from 2010 to July 2026 name the Kia Carens. The most recent was published in December 2024. 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 Kia Carens?

On the car itself, start with the areas it most often fails on: brakes, lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment and suspension. 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 Kia Carens'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 Carens?

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 Kia history check. To confirm a car's identity, see the Kia 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), which also gives the engine sizes. 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.