By Daniel Stern—DVN General Editor
IIHS, the US-based Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, have just released their second round of headlamp assessments, this time for “crossovers” and compact SUVs. It’s second verse, same as the first: most tested vehicles got a “poor” headlamp rating, a few got “acceptable”, and…that’s it! No vehicle got headlamp ratings better than just “acceptable”. IIHS researcher Matthew Brumbelow, discussing the new round of results, says “Important safety equipment shouldn’t be an afterthought, but based on our tests, that appears to be how a lot of automakers are treating headlights.”
Here’s a breakdown of how various models scored. All are 2016 models unless noted; a model name appearing on two lists means different scores for different available headlamp systems:
Acceptable: Ford Escape 2017, Honda CR-V, Hyundai Tucson, Mazda CX-3
Marginal: BMW X1, Toyota RAV4, Mazda CX-5, VW Tiguan, Mitsubishi Outlander
Poor: Audi Q3; Jeep Renegade, Patriot, Wrangler; Buick Encore, Chevrolet Trax, Fiat 500X, Mitsubishi Outlander, Honda HR-V, Nissan Rogue, Subaru Forester, Kia Sportage 2017.