See the detailed but easy-to-understand diagrams here:
https://www.iihs.org/ratings/vehicle/kia/sportage-4-door-suv/2022#headlights
https://www.iihs.org/ratings/vehicle/kia/sportage-4-door-suv/2023#headlights
https://www.iihs.org/ratings/vehicle/kia/sportage-4-door-suv/2024#headlights

Learn more about the test criteria, equipment and test method evolution here: https://www.iihs.org/ratings/about-our-tests#headlight-evaluation-2016-present

“Understanding the ratings: How much better are good headlights?

Vehicles with good-rated headlights have 19 percent fewer nighttime single-vehicle crashes than vehicles with poor-rated headlights. Acceptable and marginal headlights are associated with reductions of about 15 and 10 percent. These numbers are based on a 2021 analysis of police-reported crashes.”

The simple Halogen projectors & LED reflectors generally perform worse enough to earn the pathetic “Poor” rating, while the LED projectors earn the “Acceptable” rating. Some cars such as BMWs earn the “Good” rating, they are also using the LED projector tech.

Wonder how much our pathetic rickshaw headlights would perform — which have a single tungsten filament bulb in a fresnel refractor lens housing (a technology even older than crystal halogens).

IIHS has a specific page discussing headlights and their critical role in road safety https://www.iihs.org/topics/headlights.

LED projector headlights should be the baseline for all new vehicles now, with “LED matrix headlights” and “LED adaptive matrix headlights” being offered on the upper trims. Honda Atlas is doing such with their Civic and BR-V, however none of the City trims offer anything other than halogen reflectors.

China is leading in this paradigm of road safety with practically none of the products available with conventional halogen reflector crystal lamps, however most of their low-trim products have halogen projectors, which are better for low glare into the oncoming drivers’ and pedestrians’ eyes however do not illuminate the road as good as LED bulbs.

In Pakistan the automakers have created market segmentation where Hilux Revo comes with LED projector headlights but the low-trim Hilux E comes with conventional halogen reflectors. Same distinction with Swift GL and GLX. Same within Toyota Corolla lower trims and Grande. It seems like road safety is like a child’s play for these assemblers and they’d rather sell safety as a marketing tool.

Remember no matter how good the brakes are, unless the driver can see properly they’ll never know there’s an obstacle in the path and would never reach for the brake pedal.

An old CSPK article educating about headlights https://carspiritpk.com/reflector-vs-projector-headlamps/