Illinois Window Tint Limits: 35% or 50% VLT Beside the Driver

The windshield rule in 625 ILCS 5/12-503(a) is a flat measurement, not a manufacturer's AS-1 line. A nonreflective tinted film may be applied along the uppermost portion of the windshield only if it does not extend more than 6 inches down from the top. Everything else on the front glass, signs, posters, window applications, reflective material and nonreflective material alike, is prohibited outright. Subsection (h) carves out only the stickers and certificates that State or local authorities require to be displayed on the glass, such as a municipal vehicle sticker or an emissions certificate.

The front side windows are where Illinois differs from most states, because the permitted darkness beside the driver depends on what is behind the driver. Subsection (a-5) starts from a flat prohibition on any window treatment or tinting on the windows immediately adjacent to each side of the driver, then restores three routes back. Under (a-5)(1), if no window to the rear of the driver's seat is treated to allow less than 30% light transmittance, a nonreflective film of at least 50% may go on the front sides. Under (a-5)(2), if no window to the rear of the driver's seat is treated below 35%, a nonreflective film of at least 35% may go on the front sides. Under (a-5)(4), where the manufacturer originally installed nonreflective smoked or tinted glass behind the driver's seat, a nonreflective tint of at least 50% is allowed beside the driver. Each of the three carries the same 5% variance to be observed by the law enforcement official metering the light transmittance, so a film reading 31% on a meter is inside the 35% option.

Nothing in section 12-503 sets a minimum light transmittance for the rear side windows or the back glass themselves. Their darkness matters only because it determines which of the front side options a car qualifies for. Where no window treatment has been applied beside the driver at all, subsection (b) additionally permits a perforated window screen or other decorative window application on windows to the rear of the driver's seat, and subsection (b-5) then requires the vehicle to carry a side mirror on each side conforming to 625 ILCS 5/12-502.

Illinois also regulates the shop, not just the driver. Subsection (a-10) makes it an offense to install or repair any material prohibited on the windshield by subsection (a), with an express carve-out for removing or altering film to bring a car back into compliance. Subsection (g-7) goes further: an installer may fit medical window treatment only on a vehicle that already displays the distinctive plates or plate sticker issued under 625 ILCS 5/3-412(k), and the plate or sticker must be on the car at the time of installation. The installer must obtain a copy of the physician's certified statement before installing and keep it in permanent records.

The medical exemption in subsection (g) lifts both (a) and (a-5). It reaches a person afflicted with a disease requiring shielding from direct sunlight, and the statute names systemic or discoid lupus erythematosus, disseminated superficial actinic porokeratosis, light sensitivity as a result of a traumatic brain injury, and albinism as examples rather than as a closed list. It also covers a vehicle used to transport such a person who lives at the same address as the registered owner. The certification must come from a physician licensed to practice medicine in Illinois, must be carried in the vehicle at all times, must state the date of issuance and the physician's and patient's names and addresses, must be renewed every 4 years, and a copy must go to the Secretary of State, who may forward notice to law enforcement agencies. No exemption from (a-5) is granted for a condition where sunglasses or other eye protective devices give adequate protection.

Two limits are worth knowing before an out-of-state car is retinted. Subsection (f)(2) provides that (a), (a-5), (b) and (b-5) do not apply to motor vehicles properly registered in another jurisdiction, so an Indiana or Missouri plate is not measured against the Illinois numbers. And subsection (m) makes the section a limitation on home rule power under Article VII, Section 6(i) of the Illinois Constitution, so Chicago and other home rule units may not regulate tint inconsistently with the State rule.

Enforcement is roadside. Illinois requires a safety test and certificate of safety under 625 ILCS 5/13-101 only from owners of second division vehicles, medical transport vehicles, tow trucks, salvage vehicles, driver-education vehicles, taxis driven under a school bus driver permit and small contract carriers. An ordinary passenger car is a first division vehicle under 625 ILCS 5/1-146, designed to carry not more than 10 persons, and never goes through a periodic State safety test. The one recurring test many Illinois drivers do face, the biennial emissions inspection run by the Illinois EPA under 625 ILCS 5/13C-15 in Cook, DuPage and Lake counties and parts of Kane, Kendall, Madison, McHenry, Monroe, Will and St. Clair, reads the on-board diagnostic system, not the glass. That leaves the meter at the traffic stop as the enforcement point, and unlike the windshield-obstruction rule in subsection (c-5), the tint subsections carry no clause barring a stop based solely on a suspected violation.

A first violation of subsection (a), (a-3), (a-5), (a-10), (b), (b-5) or (g-7) is a petty offense carrying a fine of no less than $50 and no more than $500. A second or subsequent violation of the same subsections is treated as a Class C misdemeanor, with the fine set no less than $100 and no more than $500. On any conviction under (a), (a-5), (b) or (b-5), 625 ILCS 5/12-503(j) directs the court to order the person to alter the nonconforming windows into compliance, so paying the fine does not end the matter.

State and local police enforce the section at the roadside using a meter, and the 5% variance in subsection (a-5) is written for that measurement. Subsection (k) forecloses a buyer's cause of action against a dealer or manufacturer who sold a car with a noncompliant window, except where the dealer let a driver take a car off the lot with obstructing material on the glass in breach of subsection (a-3).