59.1%
SEAT Altea
SEAT Altea MOT pass rate and common problems
The SEAT Altea passed 59.1% of its initial MOT tests in 2025, 13.2 percentage points below the 72.3% UK average. The item testers recorded most often was coil spring fractured or broken.
Checking a specific car? Its own results, advisories and recorded mileages are in a free MOT history check.
How the Altea compares
Initial MOT tests in 2025, retests excluded. A car that failed and was repaired at the test station counts as a fail.
74%
SEAT average
72.3%
UK average, all cars
The Altea runs 14.8 points behind the SEAT average. It is 10th of the 11 SEAT models in the data. The average Altea arrived at its test 15.1 years old with 111,434 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.
Altea MOT pass rate by age
The same 2025 tests split by the car's age at test.
SEAT Altea cars aged 6 to 10 years passed 68.9% of MOT tests. For cars aged 11 years and over that fell to 58.4%, a drop of 10.6 percentage points.
| Age at test | Tests | Pass rate | vs UK average |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3 to 5 years (small sample) | 1 | 100% | 27.7 pts above |
| 6 to 10 years | 888 | 68.9% | 3.4 pts below |
| 11 years and over | 11,429 | 58.4% | 13.9 pts below |
That is a typical decline as cars age. The UK average of 72.3% covers cars of every age, so compare like with like.
Where Altea failures cluster
Every failure item recorded on SEAT Altea cars in 2025, grouped into the DVSA's test areas.
Suspension and lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment together account for 47.7% of recorded failure items. These are recorded failures across the model, not faults every car has.
The 10 most common Altea MOT failures
Specific items recorded on SEAT Altea cars that failed their 2025 MOT, as a share of all recorded failure items.
Together these 10 items make up 38.5% of everything testers recorded against failed SEAT Altea cars. The rest is spread across many smaller items, and one failed test often records several at once.
What to look at on a Altea
The recorded failures above, grouped by area, biggest first.
1
Suspension
Recorded most often: coil spring fractured or broken, linkage ball joint dust cover ball joint dust cover no longer prevents the ingress of dirt and ball joint dust cover no longer prevents the ingress of dirt. 12.9% of failure items.
2
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment
Recorded most often: headlamp aim projected beam image is obviously incorrect, stop lamp not working and position lamp not working. 11.3% of failure items.
3
Tyres
Recorded most often: tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm and condition has ply or cords exposed. 6.8% of failure items.
4
Body, chassis, structure
Recorded most often: joints constant velocity boot split or insecure, no longer prevents the ingress of dirt. 4.6% of failure items.
The car's own MOT history matters more than any model average. A free MOT history check shows whether a specific Altea has failed on these items before, or had them noted as advisories. Buying one? See the used SEAT Altea buying guide.
Already found one?
Check its finance, write-off, theft, mileage and keeper history with a £15 vehicle history report.
SEAT Altea MOT FAQs
What is the SEAT Altea MOT pass rate?
59.1% of SEAT Altea cars passed their initial MOT first time in 2025, from 12,318 tests. That is 13.2 percentage points below the 72.3% average for all cars, and ranks 500th of 575 models.
What does a SEAT Altea most commonly fail its MOT on?
The item testers recorded most often on SEAT Altea cars failing their 2025 MOT was coil spring fractured or broken, on 6.2% of failure items. Next were joints constant velocity boot split or insecure, no longer prevents the ingress of dirt (4.6%) and headlamp aim projected beam image is obviously incorrect (4%).
Which area causes the most SEAT Altea MOT failures?
Across every recorded failure item, the largest area was suspension at 24.1%, followed by lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment at 23.6%.
Do older SEAT Altea cars fail their MOT more often?
SEAT Altea cars aged 6 to 10 years passed 68.9% of MOT tests in 2025, against 58.4% for cars aged 11 years and over.
Does this mean every SEAT Altea has these problems?
No. These are the items testers recorded across every SEAT Altea 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 SEAT Altea'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.