The Insurance Institute has been looking into research regarding the beams that light the way for drivers.
Automakers are continually looking for new ways to be able to earn better safety ratings so they can stand above the competition with their awards, and among the considerations they may make to help keep auto insurance rates down for drivers in the near future may be in the headlights they install.
According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, it is coming up with a headlight rating program.
Auto insurance companies and consumers alike are continually looking to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (I.I.H.S.) for its endorsements when it comes to the safety options and technologies that are built into vehicles,. That organization is now coming up with headlight stand-alone ratings program and it expects that it will have its first series of results available at some point in 2016. This according to the chief research officer for the I.I.H.S., David Zuby.
Should this go well, auto insurance companies may soon be considering safety ratings based on headlights.
Zuby explained that assessing the headlight performance will soon become a required component of the process undergone by vehicles that want to try to obtain the Top Safety Pick+, the highest safety rating from the I.I.H.S. Zuby said this will likely be the case as soon as 2017.
Among the many technologies that have been making their way to the market for headlights on new vehicles is what is known as adaptive headlights. It is this tech that is expected to be among the most influential in the new assessments by this group which is funded by insurance companies. Adaptive headlights are a kind of tech that combines the data from several sources – including steering sensors, cameras and electric motors – in order to be able to send beams of light around road bends and corners. The goal is to be able to offer greater visibility along a driver’s actual route as opposed to merely what is directly in front of the vehicle.
What auto insurance companies are hoping is that this technology will help to make driving safer in the dark and in inclement weather. That said, the ratings from the I.I.H.S. will help to confirm that the headlights are doing what they should be for safety’s sake.