tinting questions

[steckels98]

What are the laws in PA regarding the tinting of car windows and tail lights?

[mcsap]

There was a recent case in which an officer lost a PA Superior Court case because the common charge section is vaguely worded and the case was tossed. How dark is " so dark you can't see into the car ? "

HOWEVER...

4107 , b2 allows us to use Chapter 67 which is our doorway into PennDot equipment regulations. This specific regulation points to Table X which CLEARLY defines by way of a percentage what windows you can or cant tint and on what vehicles yo ucan or can't do so.

1. The easy one first. You cannot impair or impede the transmission of light from any lamp on any vehicle in PA. NO smoked or tinted headlight, tail light or turn signal covers. Even during the day when you don't normally ( what if it rains ?) use your headlights.

2. Depends on the type of car you have.

1998 and later cars cannot have ANY aftermarket tint on them PERIOD.

The faactory tint is just above the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard ( FMVSS 205) limit of 70% VLT ( visible light transmittance). By adding ANY grade of tint , it will take you below the 70% number and is not legal.

1997 and OLDER CARS can have a special tint on the REAR window ONLY but it must be " VESC-20 " compliant and have the decals on it to prove it.

SUV's , vans , trucks etc are considered multi-purpose passenger vehicles and cannot have ANY tint on the front two windows. Any other window ( not the windshield) can be painted black if you want. The driver needs to be able to see clearly out and others see clearly in the front two windows but due to the FMVSS 205 law, their is no reg for the other windows.

You see a LOT of SUV's tinted this way frmo the factory. You will NEVER , EVER see front windows tinted FROM THE FACTORY because it is against federal law for the manufacturers to do so. If it is added by the dealer, that is different than the factory but still not legal in PA.

Different states have different tint laws. Florida and Arizona are pretty liberal.

It may seem like " discrimination " that SUV's can have more tint than cars but PA modeled its regs after the Federal Laws that MANUFACTURERS are bound to obey.

[steckels98]

thank you for very for your time and information