Does Your Pickup Have Poor Headlights?
If you’re driving a late-model pickup, watch out: according to information from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), Ruckersville, Va., your vehicle’s headlights might not be up to snuff.
For small pickups, all four evaluated come with poor factory-installed headlights. Large pickups aren’t much better, with the institute giving poor marks to 3 out of 7, even on higher trim levels. Only the Honda Ridgeline offers good headlights for all trim levels.
“These latest ratings follow the same disappointing pattern as [cars and small SUVs],” says Matthew Brumbelow, an IIHS senior research engineer. “As vehicle safety has improved in recent years, this important equipment has been overlooked.”
For the IIHS tests, engineers took a look at the distance covered by light projected from both high- and low-beam lights. Straightaways, sharp curves and gradual curves were examined, and the tests accounted for glare coming from oncoming traffic’s low beams as well.
For the 11 trucks evaluated, engineers looked at 23 possible headlight combinations. Fourteen combinations were found to have excessive glare, which led to low ratings.
One highlight worth noting are the headlights available on the Honda Ridgeline’s RTL-E and Black Edition trim levels. These headlights use LEDs to create good visibility in most cases, with inadequate visibility only when taking gradual left curves. The vehicle also includes a feature called “high-beam assist,” which automatically switches on high beams if no other vehicles are present.
GMC Sierras earned acceptable ratings on with the highest trim option. Lower trims were marginal or poor.
Nissan Titans were marginal on all tests, while the Ram 1500 ranged from marginal to poor, depending on the trim level.
Near the bottom was the Ford F-150. For low beams, neither the base-level halogen lights nor the optional LED lights could provide adequate visibility. In addition, the LED light option produced excessive glare. The high beams on both options were also inadequate.
The worst all-around headlights were found on the Chevy Colorado. The IIHS found that the low beams on the base trim level illuminated only 123 feet on a straightaway. By contrast, the Ridgeline’s LED low beams illuminated 358 feet.
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