New York Window Tint: 70 Percent Light Transmittance, Checked at Annual Inspection

The threshold is a single figure applied to four separate pieces of glass. Section 375(12-a)(b)(1) bars operating a vehicle whose front windshield is composed of, covered by or treated with any material below 70 percent light transmittance, with one carve-out: such materials may be limited to the uppermost six inches of the windshield, which is the standard sun strip or eyebrow. Subparagraph (2) applies the same 70 percent figure to the sidewings and side windows on either side forward of or adjacent to the operator's seat. Subparagraph (4) applies it to the rear window, but with a real escape hatch: a rear window may fall below 70 percent if the vehicle is equipped with side mirrors on both sides so adjusted that the driver has a clear and full view of the road and condition of traffic behind.

Rear side windows are where New York is narrower than drivers expect. Subparagraph (3) reaches a vehicle only if it is classified as a station wagon, sedan, hardtop, coupe, hatchback or convertible, and any rear side window on such a vehicle must meet 70 percent. That is a closed list of six body styles written into the statute. A body style outside the list is not described by subparagraph (3), which is why the rear glass rule is argued so often over vans, pickups and multipurpose vehicles while the same film on a sedan's rear doors is plainly caught.

Paragraph (c) is the only route to legally darker front glass. It exempts a person required for medical reasons to be shielded from the direct rays of the sun, and any person operating a vehicle belonging to that person or in which that person is an habitual passenger, from subparagraphs (1) and (2) only. The rear window and rear side window rules are not exempted. The exemption is not self-executing: the Commissioner must have granted it and notice of the exemption must be affixed to the vehicle as the Commissioner directs. The application must carry a physician's or nurse practitioner's statement giving the reason for the exemption, the name of the individual with the medically necessary condition, the specific condition involved, and the minimum level of light transmission required. The Commissioner may only authorize an exemption where the certified condition appears on a list of medical conditions prepared by the Commissioner of Health under Public Health Law section 206(16). Once granted, DMV records it and distributes a sufficiently noticeable sticker to be attached to any window shielded or altered under the exemption.

The inspection tie-in is the enforcement mechanism most states do not have. Veh. & Traf. Law section 301(c)(1)(a) sets out what a New York safety inspection covers, and the list runs through brakes, steering mechanism, wheel alignment, lights, odometer, tire pressure, seat safety belts, shoulder harness safety belts, and then "any window which is composed of, covered by or treated with any material which has a light transmittance of less than seventy percent pursuant to section three hundred seventy-five of this title". Tint is therefore a line item at every annual inspection in New York, not merely something a trooper might notice at the roadside.

Failing that check reaches the registration, not just the wallet. Under section 306(a) the Commissioner shall suspend or prohibit the renewal of the registration of any motor vehicle for which a certificate of inspection has not been obtained. Under section 306(b) no motor vehicle may be operated or parked on New York public highways without a certificate of inspection displayed, and that violation draws a fine of not less than $50 nor more than $100 for a first offense, and not less than $50 nor more than $200 or up to fifteen days imprisonment for each subsequent offense, reduced to a $25 to $50 range if the vehicle bears a certificate that was valid within the last sixty days.

Two smaller provisions matter in practice. Paragraph (d) lets the Commissioner test any window for a person who has been charged under the subdivision, and where the window is found in conformity a small label attesting to the conformity is affixed to the tested window, so the proof travels on the glass. Paragraph (e) grandfathers a 1991 or earlier model year vehicle whose windows conformed to the subdivision as it existed on December 31, 1991; every 1992 and later vehicle answers the current text. Separately, paragraph (a) forbids any sign or other nontransparent material, other than a certificate or paper required to be displayed by law, upon the front windshield or the sidewings or side windows forward of or adjacent to the operator's seat, and paragraph (ff) carves out exactly one exception to that: a funeral sign no larger than eight and one half by fourteen inches in any window of a vehicle in a burial or funeral procession, provided it does not prevent a clear and full view of the road and traffic behind.

& Traf. Law section 375 and penalised through section 375(32)(a), which sets a fine not exceeding $150 or imprisonment not exceeding thirty days, or both, for a violation of any provision of the section other than those relating to adequate brakes. Enforcement runs on two tracks. Police enforce at the roadside, and section 375(4) requires the operator of every motor vehicle to permit any police officer or other person exercising police powers to inspect the vehicle's equipment and make such tests as may be necessary to determine compliance.

DMV enforces through the licensed inspection station, because section 301(c)(1)(a) puts sub-70 percent windows on the safety inspection list. Paragraph (e) of subdivision 12-a also reaches the trade rather than only the driver: on and after January 1, 1992 no person may manufacture, sell, offer for sale, equip or operate a motor vehicle in New York in violation of the subdivision, so an installer is exposed alongside the customer. If you are charged, section 375(12-a)(d) lets you ask the Commissioner to test the window, and a window found in conformity receives a label attesting to it.

The heavier consequence is usually administrative rather than criminal: a rejected vehicle cannot obtain a sticker, and section 306(a) directs the Commissioner to suspend or prohibit renewal of the registration where the certificate of inspection has not been obtained, so the film has to come off before the vehicle can be kept on the road lawfully.