SEAT Altea MOT pass rates & common failures

Every completed first-attempt MOT on a SEAT Altea in Great Britain in 2025 — 12,318 tests. Figures cover every Altea first-tested in 2025, all trims grouped. How the Altea ages, what it fails on, and what mileage is normal, computed directly from the official DVSA record of every test.

Pass rate 2025
59.1%
13.2 points below the class-4 average (72.3%); unadjusted for age — the age-matched comparison is below
Tests analysed
12,318
first tests, 2025
Arrived with a dangerous fault
10.3%
of Altea first tests; national 7.3%

How many SEAT Altea cars are still on the road?

At the end of 2025, DVLA's register held 14,392 SEAT Altea cars that were taxed or on SORN: 12,024 taxed and 2,368 on SORN (Statutory Off Road Notification — kept, but declared off the road by the keeper). The MOT figures above count tests; these count cars, across the whole United Kingdom, cars only. SEAT Altea vans, where they exist, are counted by DVLA as goods vehicles and are not in these figures.

Still taxed, end of 2025
12,024
83.5% of the 14,392 Altea cars taxed or on SORN; 81 model variants grouped
On SORN, end of 2025
2,368
declared off the road by their keepers — 16.5% of that total

How the numbers are moving

The number of taxed Altea cars peaked at 31,439 at the end of 2014 and has since fallen by 19,415 (61.8%) to 12,024 at the end of 2025. Cars on SORN went from 148 at the end of 2014 to 2,368 at the end of 2025, up 1500.0%. A car leaves the taxed count when it is scrapped, exported or declared off the road; the year-end counts do not say which.

Taxed Altea cars, year by year

Cars of this model taxed and on the road at the end of each year, 2014–2025.

010k20k30k40k2014201620182020202220242025Year (count at the end of the year)Taxed Altea cars, year 2014: 31kTaxed Altea cars, year 2015: 31kTaxed Altea cars, year 2016: 31kTaxed Altea cars, year 2017: 29kTaxed Altea cars, year 2018: 28kTaxed Altea cars, year 2019: 26kTaxed Altea cars, year 2020: 24kTaxed Altea cars, year 2021: 21kTaxed Altea cars, year 2022: 19kTaxed Altea cars, year 2023: 17kTaxed Altea cars, year 2024: 14kTaxed Altea cars, year 2025: 12k12k
View this chart as a table
YearTaxed Altea cars
201431,439
201531,262
201630,615
201729,270
201827,793
201925,812
202023,793
202121,450
202219,176
202316,804
202414,292
202512,024

Altea cars on SORN, year by year

Cars of this model declared off the road at the end of each year, 2014–2025. Its own scale — SORN counts are a fraction of the taxed count.

05001k2k2k2k2014201620182020202220242025Year (count at the end of the year)Altea cars on SORN, year 2014: 148Altea cars on SORN, year 2015: 284Altea cars on SORN, year 2016: 463Altea cars on SORN, year 2017: 748Altea cars on SORN, year 2018: 970Altea cars on SORN, year 2019: 1kAltea cars on SORN, year 2020: 2kAltea cars on SORN, year 2021: 2kAltea cars on SORN, year 2022: 2kAltea cars on SORN, year 2023: 2kAltea cars on SORN, year 2024: 2kAltea cars on SORN, year 2025: 2k2k
View this chart as a table
YearAltea cars on SORN
2014148
2015284
2016463
2017748
2018970
20191,326
20201,620
20211,733
20221,801
20232,000
20242,226
20252,368

Which model years survive

Taxed Altea cars at the end of 2025 by year of manufacture, and each year's share of the 12,024 taxed in all. Every build year holding at least 1% has its own row; the rest share one. A build year's count depends on how many were sold that year as well as how many have lasted.

Year of manufacture Taxed, end of 2025Share of taxed Altea cars
20154904.1%
20147906.6%
20131,45112.1%
20121,60313.3%
20111,24910.4%
20101,1879.9%
20091,26210.5%
20081,34611.2%
20071,41711.8%
20067326.1%
20053633.0%
20041341.1%

Population source: Department for Transport / DVLA vehicle licensing statistics, table VEH0124, updated 15 July 2026; counts of the cars on DVLA's register that were taxed or on SORN at the end of each year shown, United Kingdom, cars only, excluding cars recorded with no model name. SortedCars groups DVLA's model name ALTEA under this model. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. SortedCars is not affiliated with, or endorsed by, DVLA or the Department for Transport.

How the Altea ages

First-time pass rate by vehicle age, Altea vs all cars, 2025.

SEAT AlteaAll cars
50%60%70%80%90%100%3579111315171920Vehicle age (years)SEAT Altea, vehicle age 11: 68.3%SEAT Altea, vehicle age 12: 63.3%SEAT Altea, vehicle age 13: 64.8%SEAT Altea, vehicle age 14: 60.8%SEAT Altea, vehicle age 15: 60.6%SEAT Altea, vehicle age 16: 53.7%SEAT Altea, vehicle age 17: 54.7%SEAT Altea, vehicle age 18: 54%SEAT Altea, vehicle age 19: 55.1%All cars, vehicle age 3: 88.5%All cars, vehicle age 4: 87.2%All cars, vehicle age 5: 86%All cars, vehicle age 6: 83.5%All cars, vehicle age 7: 80.9%All cars, vehicle age 8: 78.2%All cars, vehicle age 9: 74.9%All cars, vehicle age 10: 71.9%All cars, vehicle age 11: 68.6%All cars, vehicle age 12: 65.8%All cars, vehicle age 13: 63.5%All cars, vehicle age 14: 61.2%All cars, vehicle age 15: 59.3%All cars, vehicle age 16: 58.3%All cars, vehicle age 17: 57.2%All cars, vehicle age 18: 57.4%All cars, vehicle age 19: 57%All cars, vehicle age 20: 57.6%All cars 57.6%SEAT Altea 55.1%
View this chart as a table
Age (years)Altea testsAltea pass rateAll cars
1177468.3%68.6%
121,39063.3%65.8%
131,49064.8%63.5%
141,22360.8%61.2%
151,16760.6%59.3%
161,34553.7%58.3%
171,49354.7%57.2%
181,58654.0%57.4%
1983055.1%57.0%

Better or worse than the average car?

The Altea's pass rate minus the all-cars pass rate at each age, in percentage points. Bars above zero: the Altea beats the average car of that age. Below zero: it trails.

Altea aheadAltea behind
-6-3+0+3+6Age 11: -0.3 points vs the average car11Age 12: -2.5 points vs the average carAge 13: +1.3 points vs the average car13Age 14: -0.4 points vs the average carAge 15: +1.3 points vs the average car15Age 16: -4.6 points vs the average carAge 17: -2.5 points vs the average car17Age 18: -3.4 points vs the average carAge 19: -1.9 points vs the average car19Vehicle age (years)
View this chart as a table
Age (years)Gap (points)
11-0.3
12-2.5
13+1.3
14-0.4
15+1.3
16-4.6
17-2.5
18-3.4
19-1.9

The Altea fleet on the road, by age

How many took a first MOT in 2025 at each age — the shape of the Altea fleet still in use.

05001k1k2kAge 11: 77411Age 12: 1kAge 13: 1k13Age 14: 1kAge 15: 1k15Age 16: 1kAge 17: 1k17Age 18: 1kAge 19: 83019Vehicle age (years)
View this chart as a table
Age (years)First tests
11774
121,390
131,490
141,223
151,167
161,345
171,493
181,586
19830

What an Altea fails on

Where the failure items land when an Altea fails or needs a fix at test, 2025. Use it as a pre-purchase checklist: these are the areas to look at first.

Suspension24.1%
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment23.7%
Brakes16.5%
Tyres10.0%
Body, chassis, structure8.6%
Noise, emissions and leaks6.3%
Visibility5.6%
Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems2.4%

Share of all failure items, 2025 — the 8 biggest categories shown (97.2% of the items); smaller categories are not listed.

The advisories to watch

Where testers most often write "keep an eye on this" for a Altea, 2025 — the faults in the post.

Suspension: 33.1% of advisories33.1%Tyres: 25.2% of advisories25.2%Brakes: 21.5% of advisories21.5%Body, chassis, structure: 5.0% of advisoriesNoise, emissions and leaks: 4.2% of advisoriesLamps, reflectors and electrical equipment: 3.4% of advisories
SuspensionTyresBrakesBody, chassis, structureNoise, emissions and leaksLamps, reflectors and electrical equipment
View this chart as a table
CategoryShare of advisories
Suspension33.1%
Tyres25.2%
Brakes21.5%
Body, chassis, structure5.0%
Noise, emissions and leaks4.2%
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment3.4%

Petrol, diesel or hybrid Altea?

First-time pass rate for the two most-tested Altea fuel types, 2025, against the all-cars average. Fleet ages differ by fuel — newer fleets help the electrified bars.

50%60%70%80%90%100%all cars 72.3%Diesel: 59.6% of 10,497 tests59.6%Diesel10,497 testsPetrol: 56.3% of 1,820 tests56.3%Petrol1,820 tests
View this chart as a table
FuelTestsPass rate
Diesel10,49759.6%
Petrol1,82056.3%

What mileage is normal for an Altea?

Mileage recorded at test by vehicle age, 2025. The line is the typical (median) Altea; the shaded band holds the middle half. A car far outside the band, in either direction, is worth questions the recorded history can answer.

Typical Altea (median)
0k25k50k75k100k125k150k175k1113151719Vehicle age (years)Age 11: typical 81,250 miles (middle half 66,250–103,750)Age 12: typical 91,250 miles (middle half 73,750–113,750)Age 13: typical 101,250 miles (middle half 78,750–123,750)Age 14: typical 106,250 miles (middle half 86,250–128,750)Age 15: typical 111,250 miles (middle half 88,750–133,750)Age 16: typical 118,750 miles (middle half 93,750–143,750)Age 17: typical 123,750 miles (middle half 98,750–143,750)Age 18: typical 123,750 miles (middle half 98,750–151,250)Age 19: typical 121,250 miles (middle half 96,250–146,250)121k mi

Mileage values are midpoints of 2,500-mile bands.

View this chart as a table
Age (years)Lower quarterTypical (median)Upper quarter
1166,25081,250103,750
1273,75091,250113,750
1378,750101,250123,750
1486,250106,250128,750
1588,750111,250133,750
1693,750118,750143,750
1798,750123,750143,750
1898,750123,750151,250
1996,250121,250146,250

What fails at each age

The Altea's failure mix by age band, 2025 — each band's top categories at their true share of that band's failure items; the pale remainder is everything else. How the mix shifts with age is the point of the chart.

SuspensionLamps, reflectors and electrical equipmentBrakesTyresBody, chassis, structureEverything else
View this chart as a table
Age bandCategoryShare of the band's failure items
10-13 yrsSuspension29.6%
10-13 yrsLamps, reflectors and electrical equipment22.1%
10-13 yrsBrakes16.8%
10-13 yrsTyres14.8%
10-13 yrsBody, chassis, structure5.1%
10-13 yrsEverything else11.6%
14+ yrsSuspension25.4%
14+ yrsBrakes18.3%
14+ yrsLamps, reflectors and electrical equipment18.0%
14+ yrsBody, chassis, structure10.4%
14+ yrsTyres9.4%
14+ yrsEverything else18.5%

More vehicles we've checked

How these figures are computed. Every number on this page is calculated by SortedCars from the DVSA anonymised MOT results dataset (every MOT test in Great Britain — 2025 for single-year figures; trend figures state their span, currently 2023–2025). Where a figure comes from a sample or uses banded values (mileage is banded to 2,500 miles), the page says so beside the figure. Test class 4 only, first tests only — retests are excluded. Class 4 is the car MOT class and also covers car-derived vans, pickups and motorhomes tested to the same standard; where this page says "cars" it means class 4. Pass rate = passes ÷ (passes + failures + pass-after-rectification): a vehicle that failed and was fixed during the visit counts as a fail. Pass rates describe fleets, not individual machines: they reflect how cars were driven, maintained and used as well as how they were built, and beyond recorded mileage none of that is in the data. A well-kept example of a model with a weak average can still pass; a neglected example of a strong one can still fail. No figure is shown for any group with fewer than 500 tests. Alias spellings of a make in the DVSA file are counted under one make name, and all trims and variants of a model are grouped under one model name, using SortedCars' grouping tables. The taxed and SORN counts on this page are the one exception: they are not computed from MOT records but taken from the Department for Transport's vehicle licensing statistics (DfT/DVLA table VEH0124, updated 15 July 2026, Open Government Licence v3.0), which count the cars on DVLA's register that were taxed or on SORN at the end of each year shown, UK-wide, cars only. They describe a model as a whole, grouped under SortedCars' model names, and say nothing about any one car. “Dangerous” is DVSA's statutory defect category (in force since May 2018): a defect posing an immediate risk to road safety — driving the vehicle before repair is an offence. What these figures are for. These statistics are general information about groups of vehicles. They are not advice, a valuation or a recommendation to buy, avoid or price any particular vehicle, and no decision about one car should rest on them alone — check the car itself and its own records. We take care over the calculations, but we cannot guarantee they are complete, current or free of error, and we accept no liability for loss arising from reliance on them. This does not limit any liability that cannot lawfully be limited — see our Terms & Conditions. If you believe any figure on this page is inaccurate, contact us. SortedCars is not affiliated with, or endorsed by, the DVSA or DVLA. DVSA publishes the raw test records; the statistics on this page are SortedCars' own calculations from them. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.