How often does the Kia Niro fail its MOT?

8.0% of 29,589 first-time tests in 2024 were failures, against 12.0% for all electric cars.

What does the Kia Niro most often fail on?

Tyres, 64.0% of failing defects. The single most common defect was: Tyre tread depth not in accordance with the requirements.

Kia · Fully electric · 29,589 inspections in 2024 · Rank 25 of 81DVSA MOT analysis

Tyres are 64% of everything that fails a Kia Niro

29,589 inspections in a single year make the NIRO the best-documented electric car. Tyres cause 64.0% of its failures; tyres take 2.7× the share they take on petrol and diesel cars of the same age.

FIGURE 1 // WHERE IT WEARSKia Niro

Top three failure systems, annotated from 2,367 failed first-time tests. Arrows point to where the defect is found on the car.

First-time test findings

The three-year vs five-year picture

AT THREE YEARS OLD8.2%

NIRO failure rate. Petrol cars of the same age fail 8.2%.

AT FIVE YEARS OLD11.9%

NIRO failure rate, against 10.7% for petrol.

At three years old the Kia Niro fails 8.2% of the time, under the 8.2% of a petrol car the same age. By 5 years that reaches 11.9%. Tyres cause 64.0% of its failures.

FIGURE 2 // TYRE SECTION851 certificates in 2024

The tyre that wears from the inside

Tyres take 64.0% of the defects that fail this car, 2.7× the share seen on petrol and diesel cars of the same age. The most common item in that group is "Tyre tread depth not in accordance with the requirements", recorded 851 times in 2024.

SECTION // TYRES CONCENTRATIONYear 4 crossover

Where the curve bends

The crossover with petrol happens around year 4. From there the NIRO's failure rate climbs faster than the petrol fleet, and the defect list explains why.

DEFECT CONCENTRATION IN FAILED TESTS:

NIRO tyres share64.0%

Petrol and diesel average23.7%

The single most common item on a NIRO certificate is "Tyre tread depth not in accordance with the requirements", recorded 851 times.

Source: DVSA MOT defect items, 2024 test year.

Buyer's protocolPre-purchase checklist

What to check

Check tyre age and tread across the full width, inner edge included. Electric cars wear tyres faster; a cheap mismatched set on a used car tells you how it was run. Trivial to fix, but a car advertised with worn wipers and a fresh failure certificate tells you how it was maintained. Check the washers reach the screen. It fails the test and it is a thirty-second check. Ask for the full MOT history by registration on the free DVSA service: advisories are next year's failures.

3 inspection points:

✓ Tyre inner-edge wear and age

✓ Wipers and washers

✓ Washer reach

FIGURE 3 // FAILURE RATE BY AGEvs petrol, diesel and all electric cars

Points hidden where fewer than 50 cars of that age were tested. Dashed lines are the same-age petrol and diesel fleets.

Data sheet

Inspections: 29,589
Passed: 26,266
Failed: 2,367
Passed after repair: 956
Failure rate: 8.0% (all EV 12.0%)
Average age: 3.4 years
Best year: 3 yrs · 8.2%
Worst year: 5 yrs · 11.9%
Top cause: Tyres 64.0%

TABLE 1 // WHAT FAILS, BY SYSTEMshare of failing defects

System	Share	vs petrol/diesel
Tyres	64.0%	2.7× more
Suspension	0.9%	15.1× less
Brakes	5.0%	3.7× less
Visibility	15.3%	1.3× more
Lighting	11.7%	1.4× less
Steering	0.7%	4.4× less
Body	0.6%	6.8× less

TABLE 2 // TOP DEFECTS ON THE CERTIFICATE

Tyre tread depth not in accordance with the requirements851
A tyre seriously damaged778
A tyre cords visible or damaged775
Wiper blade missing or obviously not clearing the windscreen360
Windscreen washers not working or not providing sufficient fluid to clear the windscreen95
Wiper blade defective82

Wording as printed by the tester, from the DVSA inspection manual.

Where it holds up

Suspension fail less often than on petrol and diesel cars (0.9% of defects vs 13.6%)
Brakes fail less often than on petrol and diesel cars (5.0% of defects vs 18.7%)
Lighting fail less often than on petrol and diesel cars (11.7% of defects vs 16.5%)
Steering fail less often than on petrol and diesel cars (0.7% of defects vs 3.1%)

Where it fails

Tyres take a bigger share of failures than on petrol and diesel cars of the same age (64.0% vs 23.7%)

VERSIONS SEEN IN THE TESTSas recorded

NIRO 4 + EV8,443
NIRO 2 EV8,166
NIRO 3 EV5,826
NIRO 4 EV5,749
NIRO1,390
NIRO EV8
NIRO HORIZON EV3
NIRO EV 22

OWNER REPORTS // MATCHED TO RECORDED DEFECTS0 read · 0 matched

No owner discussion has been matched to this car's recorded defects yet. Reports are re-collected every quarter; the figures on this page do not depend on them.

Summaries written by us, never quotes; every entry links to its source. Owner reports have no denominator and never feed the failure rate.

SIMILAR CARS IN THE DATAclosest rate and age, other brands

Tesla Model Y8.0% fail · 1,766 tests Hyundai Kona8.1% fail · 15,479 tests Porsche Taycan8.5% fail · 6,264 tests Smart EQ8.3% fail · 2,590 tests

OTHER KIA ELECTRIC CARS

Kia EV65.2% fail first time Kia Soul9.9% fail first time

Three things the data shows

29,589 inspections in 2024 make this one of the best-documented electric cars in the data.
Tyres take 2.7× the share of failures they take on petrol and diesel cars of the same age.
Failure rate rises from 8.2% at 3 years to 11.9% at 5: a gentle ageing curve.

LIMITS // WHAT THE INSPECTION DOES NOT TELL YOU

No battery health, no motor, no charging performance. The test covers brakes, suspension, steering, tyres, lights, visibility and structure. A car with a badly degraded battery passes as long as it stops and steers. Read this page as evidence about the chassis, not the powertrain. Cars are tested from their third year, so the newest model years are missing; every figure carries its sample size for that reason. Full methodology.