71.6%
Kia Sorento
Kia Sorento MOT pass rate and common problems
The Kia Sorento passed 71.6% of its initial MOT tests in 2025, 0.7 percentage points below the 72.3% UK average. The item testers recorded most often was track rod end ball joint has excessive play.
Checking a specific car? Its own results, advisories and recorded mileages are in a free MOT history check.
How the Sorento compares
Initial MOT tests in 2025, retests excluded. A car that failed and was repaired at the test station counts as a fail.
75.2%
Kia average
72.3%
UK average, all cars
The Sorento runs 3.7 points behind the Kia average. It is 9th of the 16 Kia models in the data. The average Sorento arrived at its test 10 years old with 80,648 miles recorded.
A pass rate records whether cars met the roadworthiness standard on test day. It is not a reliability score, and part of any gap reflects how old the tested cars were.
Sorento MOT pass rate by age
The same 2025 tests split by the car's age at test.
Kia Sorento cars aged 3 to 5 years passed 84.8% of MOT tests. For cars aged 11 years and over that fell to 57.4%, a drop of 27.3 percentage points.
| Age at test | Tests | Pass rate | vs UK average |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3 to 5 years | 6,130 | 84.8% | 12.5 pts above |
| 6 to 10 years | 15,329 | 76% | 3.7 pts above |
| 11 years and over | 12,998 | 57.4% | 14.9 pts below |
That is a steep decline with age, so the headline rate flatters older examples. The UK average of 72.3% covers cars of every age, so compare like with like.
Where Sorento failures cluster
Every failure item recorded on Kia Sorento cars in 2025, grouped into the DVSA's test areas.
Suspension and lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment together account for 42.5% of recorded failure items. These are recorded failures across the model, not faults every car has.
The 10 most common Sorento MOT failures
Specific items recorded on Kia Sorento cars that failed their 2025 MOT, as a share of all recorded failure items.
Together these 10 items make up 37.7% of everything testers recorded against failed Kia Sorento cars. The rest is spread across many smaller items, and one failed test often records several at once.
What to look at on a Sorento
The recorded failures above, grouped by area, biggest first.
1
Suspension
Recorded most often: ball joint excessively worn, pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn and linkage ball joints ball joint excessively worn. 11.7% of failure items.
2
Tyres
Recorded most often: tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm, condition has a cut in excess of the requirements deep enough to reach the ply or cords and condition has ply or cords exposed. 9.5% of failure items.
3
Steering
Recorded most often: track rod end ball joint has excessive play. 4.9% of failure items.
4
Brakes
Recorded most often: brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick. 4.9% of failure items.
The car's own MOT history matters more than any model average. A free MOT history check shows whether a specific Sorento has failed on these items before, or had them noted as advisories. Buying one? See the used Kia Sorento buying guide.
Already found one?
Check its finance, write-off, theft, mileage and keeper history with a £15 vehicle history report.
Kia Sorento MOT FAQs
What is the Kia Sorento MOT pass rate?
71.6% of Kia Sorento cars passed their initial MOT first time in 2025, from 36,418 tests. That is 0.7 percentage points below the 72.3% average for all cars, and ranks 322nd of 575 models.
What does a Kia Sorento most commonly fail its MOT on?
The item testers recorded most often on Kia Sorento cars failing their 2025 MOT was track rod end ball joint has excessive play, on 4.9% of failure items. Next were brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick (4.9%) and ball joint excessively worn (4.6%).
Which area causes the most Kia Sorento MOT failures?
Across every recorded failure item, the largest area was suspension at 22.3%, followed by lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment at 20.2%.
Do older Kia Sorento cars fail their MOT more often?
Kia Sorento cars aged 3 to 5 years passed 84.8% of MOT tests in 2025, against 57.4% for cars aged 11 years and over.
Does this mean every Kia Sorento has these problems?
No. These are the items testers recorded across every Kia Sorento that failed in 2025. They show where the model most often needs attention, not the condition of any individual car.
How do I see a specific Kia Sorento's MOT history?
Enter its registration on the free Carpeep MOT history check to see that car's own test results, failures, advisories and recorded mileages.
MOT figures are aggregated from the DVSA MOT Anonymised data set for 2025: class 4 initial tests, retests excluded, with failure items from failed tests (advisories and minor defects excluded), licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. MOT results describe roadworthiness at test, not mechanical reliability.