Ford F150, Ram 1500, Chevrolet Silverado All Fail Ridiculous Headlight Test

The Insurance Institute of Highway Safety (IIHS) has become one of the leaders in offering various vehicle ratings for the consumer market and one of their newest studies focuses on the function of the headlights in new models. As part of this study, the group looked at the 2016-2017 Ford F150, the 2016 Ram 1500, the 2016-2017 GMC Sierra, the 2016-2017 Chevrolet Silverado, the 2016-2017 Toyota Tundra, the 2017 Honda Ridgeline, the 2017 Nissan Titan, the 2016 Chevrolet Colorado, the 2016 GMC Canyon, the 2016 Nissan Frontier and the 2016-2017 Toyota Tacoma…and most of them failed the test.

Keep in mind that the F150, the GM trucks (Silverado and Sierra) and the Ram are the three most popular vehicles in the US in terms of annual sales. When you add in the Toyota Tundra, the Nissan Titan, the Honda Ridgeline, the Chevrolet Colorado, the GMC Sierra, the Nissan Frontier and the Toyota Tacoma, this group accounts for more units sold annually than any other individual segment, yet the IIHS believes that all of their headlights aren’t very good.

IIHS Testing of Large Trucks
Among the half ton trucks, the IIHS tested the 2016-2017 Ford F150, the 2016 Ram 1500, the 2016-2017 GMC Sierra, the 2016-2017 Chevrolet Silverado, the 2016-2017 Toyota Tundra, the 2017 Nissan Titan and the 2017 Honda Ridgeline (even though the Ridgeline is not a half ton truck).

The Ridgeline received the highest score of “good” in two of the trimlines, but the other five trimlines all received the “poor” score – although the new unibody Honda still received an overall score of “good”.

The 2016-2017 GMC Sierra received an overall score of “acceptable”, although three trimlines scored “poor”, one trimline scored “marginal” and three trimlines scored “acceptable”.

The 2017 Nissan Titan and the 2016 Ram 1500 both received an overall score of “marginal”, with all of the Titan trimlines being rated as “marginal” while seven Ram trimlines scored “marginal” and four scored “poor”.

Finally, the 2016-2017 Chevrolet Silverado, the 2016-2017 Ford F150 and the 2016-2017 Toyota Tundra all scored an overall rating of “poor”. Every trimline from those three very popular pickups all scored a “poor” rating.

So, the only truck to score a “good” rating is a midsized, unibody pickup while every single full size truck tested failed.

IIHS Testing of Smaller Trucks
In addition to the half-ton trucks and the midsized Ridgeline, the IIHS also tested the four popular midsized trucks, including the 2016 Chevrolet Colorado, the 2016 GMC Canyon, the 2016 Nissan Titan and the 2016-2017 Toyota Tacoma.

Every trimline of all of those trucks failed the IIHS.

A Questionable Test
It should be pointed out that the IIHS is nothing more than a company who comes up with their own tests and ratings systems, as some people seem to think that they are a government agency. In most cases, a 3rd part study like the crash test results from the IIHS are a great tool for consumers, but in the case of their headlight tests, I have to wonder what value they offer to anyone.

It would be one thing if a handful of trucks did well and the rest struggled, as it would show that some trucks need to catch up to the competitors, but in this test, even the “highest scoring” truck still received a “poor” score in most of its forms. In fact, the IIHS states that if headlights offer too much glare to other cars on the road, they cannot score higher than “marginal”, which I find to be absolutely absurd.

When the best vehicle in a test fails most of the portions of the test, that test isn’t doing a good job of rating the current industry.