IIHS: Midsize car headlights need to be better

NEW YORK (FOX 5 NEWS) - If you're having trouble seeing behind the wheel at night it turns out it could be your headlights and not your eyes. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety tested the headlights on 31 midsize cars.

The institute is an independent, nonprofit scientific organization. Out of the 31 cars tested, only one earned a "good" rating: the Toyota Prius V. An 'acceptable rating' went to the Honda Accord 4-door with basic halogen lights. But some of the poorest performing headlights were on the Cadillac ATS, Kia Optima and the Mercedes-Benz C-class. The worst rating went to the BMW 3 series with halogen lights.

David Zuby of the IIHS says that good headlights that help drivers see well far down the road could prevent a lot of crashes.

Robert Sinclair Jr. with AAA Northeast says nearly half of all crashes happen at night. And Sinclair says that if your car model did poorly in the testing, you can't do anything to fix your headlights or make them better.