The 2016 Honda HR-V is selling well, but performs poorly in new headlight testing from IIHS.

The next safety frontier has been breached: headlights. If you drive a small sport-utility vehicle, odds are yours aren’t good enough based on recent testing by one of the nation’s leading automotive safety organizations.

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety claims that an overwhelming number of small SUVs have inadequate headlights. The organization said that just four of the 21 vehicles tested achieved a rating of “acceptable.” None of the SUVs received a rating of “good.”

While the government has a minimum standard for headlights – and all of the entrants meet the government mandate – IIHS claims the testing methodology employed by the government doesn’t provide accurate results.

“Manufacturers aren’t paying enough attention to the actual on-road performance of this basic equipment,” says IIHS Senior Research Engineer Matthew Brumbelow. “We’re optimistic that improvements will come quickly now that we’ve given automakers something to strive for.”

Not surprisingly, vehicle price and headlight performance were not related, as is often the case. The best performer was the Mazda CX-3 Grand Touring edition. They are curve-adaptive LED lights with optional high beam assist. The low beams perform well on both right curves and fairly well on the straightaway and sharp left curve; however, they provide inadequate light on the gradual left curve. The high beams perform well on most approaches.

The worst? The Honda HR-V. IIHS officials said the lights were ineffective in low-beam and high-beam operation on all four types of curves and on straightaways tested by the IIHS.

The 2016 Ford Escape gets a new grille and revised tail, and an "acceptable" rating for its headlights.

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“All Honda and Acura models meet or exceed U.S. government standards for headlight performance, but the new, rigorous headlight testing done by the IIHS will present a new challenge to all automakers seeking to earn the institute’s evolving top rating in 2017,” Honda’s Chris Martin told USA Today.

The other three rated acceptable: the Ford Escape, Hyundai Tucson and Honda CR-V. None of the three are curve-adaptive, and only the Escape has high-beam assist. Still, all of them provide fair or good illumination in most scenarios.

However, it’s not simply a matter of buying one of the four SUVs mentioned and a driver is all set. It’s a matter getting the right combination. The 21 vehicles tested had 47 different lighting combinations, according to IIHS.

For example, the Tucson’s acceptable headlight combination is available on the SUV’s Limited version, but the headlights on other trim levels of the Tucson earn a poor rating. Even the Limited, when equipped with curve-adaptive headlights, earns a poor rating because of excessive glare.

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Seventeen of the rated SUV headlight combinations have unacceptable glare. They include all types of lights — halogen, HID and LED — and none of the headlight types is more likely than the others to have excessive glare. Three of the 17 fell short of an acceptable rating on the basis of glare alone, IIHS noted.

“Glare issues are usually a result of poorly aimed headlights,” Brumbelow noted. “SUV headlights are mounted higher than car headlights, so they generally should be aimed lower. Instead, many of them are aimed higher than the car headlights we’ve tested so far.”

The vehicles receiving “marginal” ratings included: BMW X1, Mazda CX-5, Mitsubishi Outlander, Toyota RAV4 and Volkswagen Tiguan.

The “poor” group included: Audi Q3, Buick Encore, Chevrolet Trax, Fiat 500X, Honda HR-V, Jeep Patriot, Jeep Renegade, Jeep Wrangler, Mitsubishi Outlander Sport, Nissan Rogue, Subaru Forester and 2017 Kia Sportage.

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The group has already tested midsize cars and plans to move on to pickup trucks next. For 2017, vehicles will need good or acceptable headlights in order to qualify for the Institute’s highest award, Top Safety Pick+.