Michigan Bans Front Side Window Film Below the Top 4 Inches

Drivers arriving from a state with a percentage rule are usually looking for a Michigan number that does not exist. A full-text search of the Michigan Compiled Laws returns no hits at all for "light transmittance" or "window tint", and MCL 257.709 never states a percentage except the 35% reflectance cap. The Michigan question is not how dark the film is but where on the vehicle it sits.

Section 709(1)(a) reaches a sign, poster, nontransparent material, window application, reflective film or nonreflective film placed upon or in the front windshield, the side windows immediately adjacent to the driver or front passenger, and the sidewings adjacent to and forward of those seats. The prohibition runs to the applied material, so lightly tinted glass installed by the manufacturer is a different question from a shop-applied film, but any aftermarket film on the driver's or front passenger's window is unlawful in Michigan no matter how light it is. The single allowance is the top strip: tinted film may run along the top edge of the windshield and of those front side windows and sidewings, provided the material does not extend more than 4 inches from the top of the windshield or lower than the shade band, whichever of those two lines is closer to the top. The shade band is the factory-darkened band already fused into the top of most windshields, so on a vehicle with a deep shade band the legal strip is shorter than 4 inches rather than longer.

Everything to the rear of the driver is treated the opposite way. Section 709(3)(b) lifts the section entirely for nonreflective smoked or tinted glass, nonreflective film, a perforated window screen or other decorative window application on the rear window or a side window behind the driver, which is why limousine-grade rear tint is ordinary and lawful on Michigan roads. Section 709(3)(a) does the same for draperies, louvers and other special window treatments back there, but only if the vehicle carries two outside rearview mirrors, one on each side, adjusted so the driver has a clear view of the highway behind. Section 709(2) imposes the same two-mirror condition on any vehicle whose rear-window visibility is obstructed. The limit that does bite is section 709(1)(b): a rear window or rear side window composed of, covered by or treated with a material creating a total solar reflectance of 35% or more in the visible light range is prohibited, and the statute names silver and gold reflective film as examples. Chrome and mirror finishes therefore fail in Michigan even where black film of the same darkness passes.

Two exemptions sit in subsection (3). A vehicle registered in another state, territory or commonwealth of the United States, or in another country or province, falls outside the section entirely under 709(3)(d), so an Ohio-plated or Ontario-plated car is judged by its home rules while it is here. A medical exemption under 709(3)(e) covers a special window treatment or application determined necessary by a physician or optometrist to protect a light-sensitive or photosensitive person, and it works only if the owner or operator has in possession a letter signed by that physician or optometrist stating that the treatment is a medical necessity. The statute defines physician by reference to sections 17001 and 17501 of the public health code, MCL 333.17001 and 333.17501, and optometrist by reference to MCL 333.17401, and it still bars any treatment that interferes with or obstructs the driver's clear vision of the highway or an intersecting highway.

Michigan runs no periodic safety inspection for ordinary passenger vehicles, so nothing catches illegal tint on a schedule. MCL 257.715a requires annual Michigan State Police inspection only of a school bus, bus or other motor vehicle with a manufacturer's rated seating capacity of 12 or more that is owned, leased or used by a nonpublic school, religious organization, nonprofit youth organization, nonprofit rehabilitation facility or senior citizen center. For every other vehicle the check is roadside, and MCL 257.715(2) also authorizes the director of the state police to set up temporary vehicle check lanes at locations throughout the state, with a county, city, village or township department permitted to run one inside its limits only with the director's express authorization and under a designated representative's supervision.

683(6) makes a violation of sections 683 to 711 with respect to equipment a civil infraction rather than a misdemeanor. 00, plus court costs. 715(1) lets a uniformed officer order the driver to have the defect repaired immediately. 907(9): where a person has received a civil infraction citation for defective safety equipment under section 683, the court must waive the civil fine, costs and assessments on receipt of certification by a law enforcement agency that the repair was made before the appearance date on the citation. Stripping the film and obtaining that certification before the court date therefore removes the money, but only if it happens before that date.