IIHS Rates 2016 Prius Headlights as "Poor"

Doesn't make much sense to me. I find the lights are pretty good, and no flashers either.

 

If you look at the 2017 Prius on the IIHS site, they are rated Poor for models built before August 2016, and Acceptable for those built Aug 2016 and later. I wonder what changed. (Maybe they fixed the headlight trajectory?)

I'd be curious if any of the Prius/Toyota insiders had insights?

 

Great, now i need to try to get my 2016 Nd GT miata back. It had great headlights...they even turned 10 degrees during a turn.

 

Weird - based on the charts the lights of the Prius do not reach *their* optimal level. At the same time many report here from the US that they get flashed back because they are blinding oncoming drivers (which would mean the means are high and can go further).
I never got flashed back with regular lights or headlights on. Just a couple of times when the Auto high beam didn't recognize properly the scene and turned back to normal light.
Sounds fishy to me. And did they test the LEDs or the Halogen ones (I know the Gen4 can also come with Halogens)?

 

Did they have them switched on ?
Maybe they tested the DRLs

 

It looks like Toyota reduced the glare.

 

My 2016 Prius Two Eco was manufactured in April 2016 and my low beams get flashed fairly regularly which is very annoying because then I have to momentarily flash my high beams to let them know I don't have my high beams on. Glad they fixed the problem but what about the rest of us driving cars manufactured prior to August 2016?

 

Somebody might need to check the parts list. Perhaps the reflectors or lenses are different. They may only provide the new ones, though.

 

I read on the IIHS site, they tweak the way is calculating the glare.

Go to the IIHS site in the status report section.

 

On the graphic showing straight ahead illumination, it looks like the optimal distance and observed distance for low beams is shorter for the top "bar".

At first I thought the top bar represented the left headlight and the bottom bar represented the right headlight, but now I am confused.

Can anyone let me know what those two middle bars represent? Surely both lights are designed to illuminate the road ahead equally, right?

 

I believe top bar is turning left & bottom bar is turning right. Apparently a car gets credit for auto high beams. If the high beam is adequate for turns, the low beam test is ignored if it is inadequate.

 

I think you are correct on that, but I was wondering about the perfectly straight bar in the middle. The one that is "double thick" and has a top half and a bottom half.

 

Quote: On the straightaway, the second measurement is taken at a point corresponding to the left edge of a two-lane road
From
Headlight evaluation
I would assume the lower part is the driving and & the upper part is the other lane on a two lane road.

 

You know, at first I thought I was getting flashed a lot, but I have concluded after careful observations that it's NOT getting flashed by high beams, but rather that the Prius sits so low to the ground that when an oncoming car goes over some uneven road bumps, it changes the intensity of light hitting your eyes, and it LOOKS like they are flashing you, because your eyes are near-level with their headlights in some cases. I flashed my brights at a couple of those people I thought were flashing me, and they flashed their brights back at me to say they didn't have theirs on

 

I made a 40 mile trip yesterday just after the sun went down. This was my first time driving my car at this time of day. I don't go out much at night. I assume my lights went on when the cabin instrumentation cluster dimmed. I did get blinked a couple of times from oncoming cars. I tried to flip back but my brights wouldn't come on until it got darker. Once it was dark enough to use the brights, the auto dimming worked great and I didn't get any flashing from oncoming traffic after that.

 

I find the low beams good but was surprised that the high beams weren't brighter like a dual wattage halogen. Seems high beam is just a moving shutter. I can hear it when I flick the beams back and forth. High beam just isn't bright enough. My single headlight on my motorcycle is better

No flashes from anyone yet.