Although the latest pickup trucks come with amazing equipment and features, most of them have poor headlights. According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS)“Drivers of late-model pickup trucks are likely to find themselves squinting into the darkness or temporarily blinding other drivers.”
Headlights are one of the most important parts of any car, especially during the night, since they help us see the road. It is most dangerous to drive at dusk, dawn or night and this is why it is necessary to have good headlights. As the IIHS ratings registered, there are wide disparities among pickups when it comes to lighting up the road.
Eleven models were assessed in total, four of which were small and seven large trucks. Headlights for all four small models received poor ratings, whereas the rest got poor, marginal, good or acceptable.
The top trim 2017 Honda Ridgeline (RTL-E and Black Edition models) is the only pick-up truck to have good headlights. The other Ridgeline trims have poor ones.
On the contrary, the 2016 Chevrolet Colorado has the worst headlights with very poor visibility. Just for comparison, the Colorado low beams illuminated to only 123 feet, whereas the Ridgeline LED low beams lightened to 358 feet, which is a significant difference.
The IIHS senior research engineer, Matthew Brumbelow said: “These latest ratings follow the same disappointing pattern as the other groups. As vehicle safety has improved in recent years, this important equipment has been overlooked.”
The institute tested low and high beams, as well as the glare from low beams for the drivers who are coming to your direction. They set five different scenarios in order to evaluate everything properly. Moreover, the high-beam assist was also taken into consideration. This means that the car automatically switches to high-beam if there is no-one else on the road.
This headlight testing program was launched this year. The reason for this is that government standards allow huge variation regarding the illumination. It is a good thing the IIHS started with this testing, considering that they proved that most of the cars have poor headlights. Hopefully, carmakers will not neglect this important aspect in the future.
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