Kia Optima MOT reliability

Kia Optimas passed their MOT first time 79% of the time across 10,954 tests in 2025. 9,761 are still licensed in Great Britain.

First-time pass rate

79%

MOTs analysed

10,954

Still licensed (GB)

9,761

Body type

Sedan

Pass rate by year of first registration

Older cars fail more often, so compare a car with others of the same age. Years with very few MOTs can show extreme pass rates, even 0% or 100%, so give more weight to years with more tests.

In detail:

First registered

2017 diesel

2,977 MOTs

Passed first time 80%. Typical mileage 81,998 (most between 65,484 and 102,931).

2017: 100% → 2018: 92% → 2019: 90% → 2020: 89% → 2021: 83% → 2022: 83% → 2023: 81% → 2024: 80% → 2025: 80%

Most common failures

Brake pads: less than 1.5 mm thick (3.9%)
Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm (2.8%)
Condition: has ply or cords exposed (1.9%)
Condition: has a cut in excess of the requirements deep enough to reach the ply or cords (1.5%)
Anti-lock braking system: warning lamp indicates an ABS fault (1.4%)

2017 hybrid

237 MOTs

Passed first time 84%. Typical mileage 93,893 (most between 65,544 and 134,904).

2017: 100% → 2018: 100% → 2019: 95% → 2020: 95% → 2021: 87% → 2022: 88% → 2023: 88% → 2024: 87% → 2025: 84%

Most common failures

Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm (3.0%)
Condition: has ply or cords exposed (2.1%)
Brake pads: less than 1.5 mm thick (2.1%)
Rbt (sp): efficiency below requirements (1.3%)
Service brake performance: efficiency below requirements (1.3%)

2017 hybrid electric (clean)

2 MOTs

These figures come from only 2 MOT tests. With so few cars, a single pass or fail changes the percentages a lot, so treat them as a rough guide rather than a true average.

Passed first time 100%. Typical mileage 134,230 (most between 130,637 and 137,822).

2024: 100% → 2025: 100%

Most common failures

2017 petrol

2 MOTs

These figures come from only 2 MOT tests. With so few cars, a single pass or fail changes the percentages a lot, so treat them as a rough guide rather than a true average.

Passed first time 100%. Typical mileage 71,384 (most between 66,981 and 75,786).

2020: 50% → 2021: 75% → 2022: 75% → 2023: 50% → 2024: 75% → 2025: 100%

Most common failures

Where 2017 Optimas fail

Brakes

8.0%

Wheels & tyres

7.3%

Visibility & wipers

3.1%

Lights & electrics

2.6%

Suspension & axles

1.2%

Exhaust, emissions & leaks

1.0%

Steering

0.9%

Seat belts & other equipment

0.8%

Looking at a particular car?

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Based on 2025 initial MOT tests in DVSA's anonymised MOT dataset (cars and light vans). Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Model details: Vehicle data by VehiclesDB.