The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety grades every new vehicle on two systems drivers rarely notice: how far its headlights reach at night and how persistently its seat belt reminder chimes. Only about half of tested vehicles earn a Good headlight rating, and a properly loud, long chime is rarer still. Here are ten vehicles that fell short on one of those two measures.
1. Chevrolet Silverado 1500 (2025, WT and Custom trims): Dimmest Headlights On Sale
IIHS rated the 2025 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 Poor for headlights on both the WT and Custom trims it tested, the lowest of the agency’s four grades, after finding low beams reach only 47.8 to 50.1 meters along the straightaway’s left edge in the IIHS rating page.
That distance falls well short of what a Good-rated pickup delivers at the same speed, a gap that matters most on unlit rural roads where the best-selling truck in America spends much of its working life after dark.
2. Nissan Frontier (2025): Poor In Every Direction
The 2025 Nissan Frontier earned a Poor headlight rating on every trim IIHS tested, with both low and high beams judged inadequate on the straightaway and on all four curve measurements, a clean sweep of failing marks the agency rarely hands a single vehicle.
Curves are where headlight aim usually falls apart first, so a truck that struggles there as well as on a straight road leaves little margin for a driver meeting oncoming traffic on a dark two-lane highway.
3. Toyota 4Runner (2025, SR5 and TRD Off-Road trims): Higher Trims Fixed What Base Missed
IIHS gave the base SR5 and TRD Off-Road trims of the 2025 Toyota 4Runner a Poor headlight rating for excessive glare, its lowest possible grade, while the same SUV’s higher trims scored Acceptable using a different headlight package on the same body-on-frame platform.
The difference shows how much a single options box can change a vehicle’s real-world safety, since buyers cross-shopping trim levels on the showroom floor rarely learn which headlight hardware ships with which package, or that choosing the wrong one can mean glare bright enough to bother oncoming traffic every night.
4. Cadillac Lyriq (2025): Glare More Than Triple The Limit
Every trim of the 2025 Cadillac Lyriq earned a Poor headlight rating after its low beams exceeded IIHS’s glare threshold by more than 220 percent on the straightaway, one of the largest overages the agency recorded in this test cycle for any electric SUV on sale today.
That much excess glare is enough to temporarily blind oncoming drivers, turning a feature meant to help the Lyriq’s own driver see the road into a hazard for everyone approaching from the other direction, particularly on unlit two-lane roads where headlight aim matters most.
5. BMW i4 (2025): Two Headlight Setups, Two Failing Grades
IIHS rated one headlight setup on the 2025 BMW i4 Marginal and another Poor, finding high beams inadequate on both sides of the straightaway regardless of which setup a buyer chose, and separately marked the electric sedan’s seat belt reminder Marginal as well.
Stacking a weak headlight grade on top of a lukewarm belt reminder means the i4 misses on two of the everyday systems that do the most to prevent a crash from happening in the first place, even though its crash-test structure performs well.
6. Honda Ridgeline (2025): High Beams Fail Straight And Curved Roads
Every trim of the 2025 Honda Ridgeline earned a Marginal headlight rating, with high beams rated inadequate on both sides of the straightaway and on two of the four curves IIHS measures, a pattern that repeated regardless of trim level or options.
A Marginal grade beats the Poor rating several rivals on this list collected, but it still means the Ridgeline’s high beams cannot be counted on to light a curve the way a Good-rated pickup’s beams reliably do after dark.
7. Jeep Gladiator (2026): Locked Out Of Every Award Tier
IIHS split the 2026 Jeep Gladiator’s headlight grade between Marginal and Poor depending on trim and separately rated its seat belt reminder Marginal too, a combination that kept the off-road pickup out of every 2025 award category IIHS hands out.
Missing both benchmarks at once is unusual even among trucks, since most pickups on this list stumbled on just one system rather than failing headlights and the belt reminder together, leaving the Gladiator with no path to an award this cycle.
8. Tesla Cybertruck (2025): Top Safety Pick+ With A Weak Chime
The 2025 Tesla Cybertruck qualified for a Top Safety Pick+ award on the strength of its crash-test results and headlight scores, yet IIHS still rated its seat belt reminder system only Marginal, the one weak link in an otherwise strong report card.
The mismatch shows a top overall score can still hide a weaker system underneath, since the reminder meant to nag an unbuckled driver into compliance does not chime as persistently or as loudly as IIHS wants from a Good-rated system.
9. Audi A5 (2025): Award Winner With A Quiet Reminder
IIHS handed the 2025 Audi A5 a Top Safety Pick+ award overall while separately rating its seat belt reminder system only Marginal, the same soft spot that shows up on several other award-winning vehicles further down this list.
A Marginal reminder typically means shorter duration or quieter chimes than IIHS wants from a Good-rated system, which matters most on short trips where an unbuckled driver might otherwise never hear a warning persistent enough to register, a caveat easy to miss behind the headline award.
10. BMW X3 (2025): Top Safety Pick, Weak Belt Chime
The 2025 BMW X3 earned an overall Top Safety Pick honor from IIHS, yet the agency rated its seat belt reminder system only Marginal, the same category several other honorees on this list stumbled on despite strong crash-test performance elsewhere.
IIHS added seat belt reminder strength to its award criteria specifically because a chime that is too soft or too brief lets an unbuckled front-seat occupant tune it out entirely within the first few minutes of a drive, undercutting a safety net most buyers assume just works.
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