Seat Altea MOT failures and reliability

In 2023 the Seat Altea took 15,425 MOT tests in Britain and passed 59% of them first time, below the national average of 71% for all cars. The figures below come from the DVSA's record of every test, so they show what testers actually found on these cars rather than what owners report.

MOT tests in 2023: 15,425
First-time pass rate: 59%
All cars: 71%

What the Altea fails on

Share of tests with at least one failure in each area, against the figure for all cars.

Suspension16.9% (all cars 9.0%)
Lights and electrics16.1% (all cars 11.3%)
Brakes12.1% (all cars 6.8%)
Tyres8.2% (all cars 6.4%)
Body and structure8.1% (all cars 3.5%)
Exhaust and emissions6.1% (all cars 3.1%)
Visibility5.3% (all cars 4.8%)
Seat belts and airbags3.2% (all cars 1.0%)

Most common failure items

Share of tests on which each item was recorded.

Coil spring: fractured or broken 7.0%
Joints: constant velocity boot split or insecure, no longer prevents the ingress of dirt 4.4%
Stop lamp: not working 4.2%
Position lamp: not working 3.9%
Service brake performance: excessively binding 3.6%
Tread depth: tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm 3.3%
Linkage ball joint dust cover: ball joint dust cover no longer prevents the ingress of dirt 3.2%
Headlamp aim: projected beam image is obviously incorrect 3.2%

Most common advisories

Tread depth: worn close to legal limit/worn on edge 24.6%
Brake discs: worn, pitted or scored, but not seriously weakened 13.6%
Tyres, condition: slightly damaged/cracking or perishing 8.5%
Brake pads: wearing thin 8.2%
Shock absorbers: has light misting of oil 7.5%
Service brake performance: binding but not excessively 6.6%
Coil spring: corroded 6.5%
Engine oil leaks: leak, but not excessive 6.2%

Pass rate by year of registration

Older cars fail more often whatever the model, so compare a car with others of the same age.

First registered	Tests	Pass rate
2004	334	51%
2005	791	52%
2006	1,540	51%
2007	2,410	55%
2008	1,986	54%
2009	1,670	56%
2010	1,373	57%
2011	1,284	63%
2012	1,597	66%
2013	1,267	70%
2014	707	72%
2015	465	74%

Typical mileage by age

Average odometer reading at the MOT, by the car's age in years at the test.

Age at test	Average mileage
8 years	66,526 miles
9 years	74,075 miles
10 years	83,523 miles
11 years	92,434 miles
12 years	98,802 miles
13 years	105,003 miles
14 years	111,681 miles
15 years	118,206 miles
16 years	120,277 miles
17 years	119,859 miles
18 years	126,780 miles
19 years	127,204 miles

Check a particular Altea

Model figures tell you what to look out for. To see one car's own MOT history, mileage and tax, enter its registration.

Other Seat models

Source: Department for Transport, Anonymised MOT tests and results, 2023, cars and light vans, normal tests only. Pass rates are first-time passes; a pass after repair at the test station counts as a fail. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.