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Anyone Worried about the Lighting Quality? LED Lights Getting "Poor" IIHS rating

JASmith

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So I was just watching a review of the Kia Sorento, and found out that even though the base headlights are LED reflectors, just like the Maverick, they are rated "Poor" by the IIHS: https://www.iihs.org/ratings/vehicle/kia/sorento-4-door-suv/2021

The LED Projectors on the other hand are rated "Good", and as seen below have much better performance.

LED Reflectors:
Ford Maverick Anyone Worried about the Lighting Quality?  LED Lights Getting "Poor" IIHS rating Capture2.JPG

LED Projectors:
Ford Maverick Anyone Worried about the Lighting Quality?  LED Lights Getting "Poor" IIHS rating Capture.JPG


Thoughts? And ideas when we might see IIHS ratings for the Maverick?
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Jasperw229

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5 lux sounds like a very small amount.
I would have expected to test like 50. Anything you are lighting up needs to bounce back to the driver to be helpful. I guess I'm not very familiar with the scale.
Edit 1:
Looking at the Ford escape that has led reflectors, the test says it got an A rating, but it's yellow?
Maybe someone with more experience looking at this site can chime in
Edit 2:
A stands for acceptable apparently
 
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BDennis

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Thoughts?
I'm not concerned. I had a car that IIHS rated the halogen multi-reflector headlights as "poor", and I only had an issue on dark moonless nights in the sticks. I honestly had no complaints.

Had that been a more frequent trip for me, I would've just installed some Rigid Industries D2 lights in the bumper. I had one pair on my chase truck. On the same street in the sticks, I could see up to the treetops, down to the ditches, and forward to the horizon line.

Now my old Toyota truck had the sealed beam headlights. Those freakin' sucked.
 

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JASmith

JASmith

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I'm not concerned. I had a car that IIHS rated the halogen multi-reflector headlights as "poor", and I only had an issue on dark moonless nights in the sticks. I honestly had no complaints.

Had that been a more frequent trip for me, I would've just installed some Rigid Industries D2 lights in the bumper. I had one pair on my chase truck. On the same street in the sticks, I could see up to the treetops, down to the ditches, and forward to the horizon line.

Now my old Toyota truck had the sealed beam headlights. Those freakin' sucked.
That's true, you could probably rig up a lightbar to work w/ highbeams, although technically they aren't street legal.

My worry is that I've had vehicles that were rated "Poor" lowest rating before, and it wasn't a big deal as they were truly bad HOWEVER I was able to just replace the low wattage halogen bulb with the best HID kit I could find in the factory projectors and all was well. But with factory LEDs, if they aren't good, you really can't upgrade them other than to replace the entire unit.

Oh well, I'll bump this when I see the IIHS has rated them, and if they are as bad as the ones on the Kia, then maybe Alfarex will offer an upgrade. For other Fords they offer a new NOVA series that seems crazy good.
 

JamesHenry

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A lot of vehicles struggle with the IIHS headlight test if I recall correctly. My Type R had LED reflector headlights and they kicked ass - at least at short and medium length. My biggest issue with LED based lights is that they don't seem to pack the same punch as HID and even halogen based headlights and its easy to "outrun the light".

The best vehicle I've owned when it came to headlights was a 2005 Honda CR-V, and that vehicle was reflector halogen based. The headlights in my Honda Fit are atrocious, borderline comically bad.

I really hope the headlights don't suck. If they do, I'll equipped PIAA RF-Series LED light bar to compliment the headlights.
 

STARCOMMTREY1

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Does no one remember trucks from the 90s? Come on
 

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... So I was just watching a review of the Kia Sorento ...
What does this prove? Anyone can screw something up... It's application that matters, not technology. I've had halogen headlights as bright as the Escape's LEDs, once you discount all that useless blue light they give off. Snow squalls are a real test.
Ford Maverick Anyone Worried about the Lighting Quality?  LED Lights Getting "Poor" IIHS rating Snow Squall W128 SE_sm


I wish they'd tested fog lights; my Escape's are aimed too close to see.
 
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JASmith

JASmith

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What does this prove? Anyone can screw something up...
It proves that headlights can be really crappy, even if they are modern LED. In the past, LED headlights were upgrades on the base model cheaper incandescent, and outperformed them greatly. Its typical that base model headlights are poor while upgraded ones are rated good by IIHS, same with the Subaru Crosstrek my nephew has where the difference in headlight output between the trims is really massive. However, in the case of the Maverick there is no difference light output wise between a XL and Lariat headlight and so the reflector LED headlights might be as bad as base reflector LED headlights on other brands.

We don't know if it will be, but its definitely a question mark and cause of my concern.
 
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... the reflector LED headlights might be as bad as base reflector LED headlights on other brands.
Or they could be as good as the halogens on the C-Max, unlikely as that is.

Proving the well-known is a waste of time. Too bad you never had sealed beams.
 
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JASmith

JASmith

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Or they could be as good as the halogens on the C-Max, unlikely as that is.
Good point, I'll wait until the IIHS has had time to test the headlights.

If they need to be replaced with aftermarket units, since a bulb upgrade is not possible, that could affect what trim I'd buy and what the total cost would be. After all, the cooler looking headlights on a Lariat may be moot if I'm going to toss them anyway.

I'm a stickler for good headlights since I get to work before 6AM every day where its still pretty dark and some areas w/ no street lights, and I've always had to upgrade the headlights on our vehicles that the IIHS rated poorly.
 

asel3121

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Just keep your brights on all the time, even during the day. You'll be fine.
 
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JASmith

JASmith

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Hmm, headlights look pretty decent:
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