New Hampshire Bans Windshield Tint and Sets 70 Percent on Front Sides

The section is built as four separate prohibitions on the windshield. Paragraph I reaches the seller and the inspector, paragraph II the installer, and paragraph III the driver. Because paragraph II is written against installing film on a vehicle registered in this state, buying the work out of state does not cure it: paragraph III still makes driving the vehicle on any way unlawful. Paragraph V then carves out the only windshield tint New Hampshire permits without a permit, a strip not wider than 6 inches located at the very top of the windshield, and that strip must itself pass at least 35 percent light transmittance.

The side and rear figures sit in the second half of paragraph III. Windows to the left and right of the driver must not be below 70 percent light transmittance. Rear windows must not be below 35 percent. The exception for multipurpose passenger vehicles as defined in 49 C.F.R. section 571.3 and for pickup trucks lets their after market rear tint go to whatever percentage 49 C.F.R. section 571.205 allows for pre-market tinted rear windows, which is why the same film can be lawful on a truck and unlawful on a sedan. Wherever after market tinting is applied to windows to the rear of the driver, outside rear view mirrors are required on both the left and right side of the vehicle. RSA 266:58-a was last amended by 2024, 48:1, effective September 12, 2024.

A second statute repeats the windshield ban from the rules of the road. RSA 265:95, III bars driving with any nontransparent material on or adjacent to the front windshield, side wings, or side or rear windows that obstructs the driver's clear view, and adds expressly that no person shall drive with after market tinting on the windshield as prohibited under RSA 266:58-a. RSA 265:95, IV attaches a $75 fine.

The medical route is RSA 266:61-a, IX, cross-referenced by RSA 266:58-a, III-a. The commissioner may waive RSA 266:58-a for a person who for bona fide medical reasons requires after market tinting on the windshield or on the windows to the left and right of the driver, and the waiver may only authorize film with light transmittance of not less than 35 percent. Since 2025, 129:1, effective August 23, 2025, the medical certification may come from a provider licensed in New Hampshire or from a licensed provider affiliated with the United States Department of Veterans Affairs regardless of the state of licensure. RSA 266:61-a, II requires a decision within 20 days, IV requires written reasons for a denial and gives an appeal under RSA 541, V requires the permit to be kept in the vehicle, and VII caps the waiver at 2 years, or 4 years where a physician documents a lasting medical necessity. Saf-C 2503.03 names the application, Form DSMV 603 (Rev. 9/2025), and the Division of Motor Vehicles takes it dated within six months, with photocopies of the registrations, for up to two vehicles, at no fee.

Who actually checks is where New Hampshire has just changed. This was a state that metered tint at the annual inspection: Saf-C 3217.06(a) still directs that a vehicle be rejected if it has any aftermarket tinting on the windshield, or aftermarket tinting on the windows to the left or right of the driver below 70 percent light transmittance without a Saf-C 2500 medical waiver, or rear tint below 35 percent, and the station equipment rules still require a meter capable of measuring all aftermarket tinted windows if the station inspects vehicles with tinted glass. That rule was readopted by document #14382 effective 9-20-25 and does not expire until 9-20-35.

The statute underneath it is gone. RSA 266:1, 266:1-a, 266:1-b and RSA 266:2 through 266:6 and 266:8 are each printed in the Revised Statutes as "Repealed by 2025, 141:253, eff. Jan. 31, 2026," leaving only RSA 266:7 on school buses. Two cross-references were left dangling: RSA 21-P:14, V(a) still directs the commissioner of safety to adopt rules on motor vehicle inspection "as authorized by RSA 266:1, I," and RSA 261:41-a, II still exempts an agricultural or industrial utility vehicle "from inspection under RSA 266:1."

Then the repeal was overtaken. A federal district court preliminarily enjoined it on January 27, 2026 and the Department of Safety pushed inspection deadlines to April 10, 2026; the Executive Council refused to extend the programme vendor's contract on February 4, 2026; and on February 13, 2026 the Department of Justice and Department of Safety announced the programme suspended until further notice, with stations no longer authorized to issue stickers.

One allowance exists only in the rules. Saf-C 3217.06(b) authorizes aftermarket perforated window film and wraps provided there is a clear view from the interior to the exterior, light transmittance is not less than 35 percent measured from the interior to the exterior, the film or wrap is not installed on the windshield or on the windows left and right of the driver, and, where it is installed to the rear of the driver, outside rear view mirrors are fitted on both sides.

A breach of RSA 266:58-a is a violation under paragraph VI, and RSA 262:41, the general penalty for Title XXI, sets the fine at $50 plus penalty assessment for a first offence and $100 plus penalty assessment for a subsequent offence committed in the same calendar year. Driving with after market windshield tint is separately reachable under RSA 265:95, III, which carries a fixed $75 fine under RSA 265:95, IV. The sale and the installation are independent offences under paragraphs I and II, so the shop that applies the film and the driver who uses it are each exposed.

Failing to fit outside rear view mirrors on both sides after tinting windows behind the driver breaches the mirror sentence in paragraph III. A permit holder must keep the RSA 266:61-a waiver permit in the vehicle while the tinted glass is in use, and RSA 266:61-a, VI allows the commissioner to attach conditions noted on the permit itself. A denied waiver must be explained in writing and can be appealed under RSA 541. Because the inspection sections were repealed effective January 31, 2026 and the programme stands suspended under the Department of Safety's February 13, 2026 guidance, a tint violation now surfaces at a traffic stop rather than at a rejection slip.