Headlights are important for a variety of reasons, but the biggest of them is so that you don’t hit things. While all cars, SUVs, and trucks have headlights, how well they work may be another story. These are the three pickup trucks with the worst headlights you can buy in 2022.

Half of all deadly car accidents happen at night

Half of all fatal crashes occur in the dark, according to the IIHS, and more than a quarter of those crashes happen on unlit roads. As you might imagine, headlights come in handy on unlit roads, unless you have night vision (and you don’t, unless you’re Iron Man).

Just the fact that a vehicle has headlights doesn’t mean that they’re any good. Headlights have to be bright enough and even point in the right direction to be optimal. Curve-adaptive headlights are fantastic, and help headlights illuminate the path in front of them even around turns and bends in the road. 

To make matters more complicated, there’s no consistency surrounding the rules about headlights. That means headlights can vary from poor to good (with marginal and adequate in between). Headlight ratings can keep an otherwise safe vehicle from receiving a Top Safety Pick or Top Safety Pick+ award. 

Because of that, many car manufacturers are making their headlights stronger. Yet these three pickup trucks with the worst headlights might as well not have any at all. Let’s take a look at what they are. 

The 2022 Nissan Titan is one of the pickup trucks with the worst headlights

According to the IIHS, not one but two Nissan Titan pickup trucks have poor headlights. Both the crew cab and the extended cab 2022 Nissan Titan have a poor rating. If you’re thinking that a poor rating sounds like the worst one a truck could get, you’re right. That’s why it’s especially disappointing that the only headlights available on either of these Nissan trucks gets a poor rating.

The Nissan Titan has halogen reflector light bulbs that aren’t curve adaptive. The IIHS says that visability around curves was inadequate and the low beams created excessive glare.

The 2022 GMC Sierra 100 Limited is a large pickup with poor headlights

The IIHS doesn’t love the 2022 GMC Sierra 1500 Limited’s headlights. It tested all four variations on the new Sierra’s headlights and rated them all poor. As with the Nissan Titan, the GMC Sierra 1500’s low beams created glare. In addition, visibility was poor around curves.

The high beams don’t fare any better. Even on a straight away visibility on the right hand side of the road was fair and inadequate on the left hand side of the road. The only positive is that high beam assist does help out some of the low beams shortcomings.

The 2022 Chevy Silverado 1500 1500 LTD isn’t any better

The 2022 Chevy Silverado 1500 LTD isn’t any better than the 2022 Nissan Titan or 2022 GMC Sierra 1500 Limited as far as headlights go. The IIHS tested five versions of the Silverado’s headlights and found them to be poor. Visibility on the straightaway with the SIlverado was good with the low beams and good on the right side with the high beams but fair on the left side. In addition, the low beams create glare.

If you want a pickup truck with good headlights, you can consider most of the other large pickups. Just make sure you pay attention to the headlights on the trim level you buy – it could save your life.