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Report: Most small SUVs have lousy headlights

Posted at 12:55 AM, Jul 13, 2016
and last updated 2016-07-13 04:31:32-04
A report issued Tuesday declares that headlights on most small SUVs aren’t bright enough.
 
The info comes from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, a highly-regarded independent auto safety testing agency.
 
The IIHS found that overall, about two-thirds of the headlights on 21 small crossover SUV models tested rated poor, according to USA Today, while the rest were marginal or acceptable.
 
None of the vehicles tested were rated as good.
 
Acceptable headlights included ones on the Hyundai Tucson, Honda CR-V and the 2017 Ford Escape. Things looked dimmest for Honda's smallest SUV, the 2016 HR-V, which tested the worst.
 
"The illumination provided by HR-V's halogen low beams and high beams is inadequate," IIHS wrote.
 
Meanwhile, the best results were in the Mazda CX-3 Grand Touring, which features LED headlights that can aim themselves in the direction of travel. That vehicle, however, provided ample illumination in right turns and fell short in left turns.
 
 It has an optional feature that switches the high beams on and off, taking into account oncoming traffic.
 
While all headlights must meet government standards, those tests are usually laboratory ones rather than real-world scenarios, the agency said.