North Dakota Window Tint: 70 Percent Windshield, 35 Percent Front Sides, Unlimited Behind the Driver

The statute measures the film and the glass together. Section 39-21-39(4) speaks of the object, material or tinting in conjunction with the windshield, or in conjunction with a window other than the windshield, on which it is displayed, affixed or applied. That is a net reading, not a film rating, so factory glass that already blocks light counts against the seventy or thirty-five percent figure rather than being treated as a free baseline.

The windshield gets two rules that work together. Under subsection 4 anything on the windshield must leave seventy percent light transmittance. Under subsection 5 that requirement does not apply to nonreflective sunscreening or window tinting material above the AS-1 line, or within the top five inches, that is 12.7 centimeters, of the windshield. North Dakota gives the AS-1 line and the five-inch measurement as alternatives, so a vehicle whose glass carries no AS-1 marking still has a usable strip. Note the exemption is written for sunscreening or tinting material only. It does not reach an object, and it does not reach reflective film.

Behind the driver the rule is unusually generous. The last sentence of subsection 4 says the subsection does not apply to windows behind the operator if the motor vehicle is equipped with outside mirrors on both sides which meet the requirements of section 39-21-38. Section 39-21-38 requires a mirror located so as to reflect to the driver a view of the highway for at least two hundred feet, that is 60.96 meters, to the rear. So a North Dakota vehicle with a driver-side and a passenger-side mirror of that quality faces no transmittance limit at all on its rear side windows or its back glass. A vehicle without a passenger-side mirror is held to thirty-five percent everywhere except the windshield.

What the section does not contain is as important as what it does. There is no reflectivity cap, no restriction on tint color, no medical exemption, no certificate or sticker requirement, no registered installer scheme and no delegation letting the department set tint rules by regulation. A driver looking for a North Dakota medical waiver will not find one, because the Legislative Assembly has not written it.

Enforcement is roadside, and the structural proof is in the code itself. Chapter 39-21.1, Random Motor Vehicle Maintenance, was repealed by S.L. 1981, chapter 401, section 1, and nothing replaced it, so there is no periodic inspection lane in North Dakota at which tint could be metered. One inspection instrument does still reach the tint rule, and it catches a narrow class of vehicle. Section 39-05-20.2(2) lets the owner of a vehicle carrying a salvage certificate of title obtain a regular title after reconstruction by filing an application, the salvage title, a certificate of inspection in the form the department requires and a five dollar fee. Section 39-05-20.2(3) then says the certificate of inspection must be completed by a business registered with the secretary of state and in good standing that offers motor vehicle repair to the public, that the business may not be the one that reconstructed the vehicle, and that the certificate must state the vehicle is in compliance with the requirements of chapter 39-21. Chapter 39-21 includes section 39-21-39, so a rebuilt salvage vehicle is the one North Dakota vehicle whose tint is attested before a title issues. Everyone else meets the rule only when an officer stops them.

Subsection 1 of the same section is a separate offense and it is not about darkness. It bars driving with any sign, poster or other nontransparent material on the front windshield, side wings, or side or rear windows which obstructs the driver's clear view of the highway or any intersecting highway. A parking placard, a large decal or a suction-mounted device can violate subsection 1 even where no transmittance figure is at issue.

Section 39-21-46(1) makes it unlawful to drive, or for an owner to knowingly permit to be driven, a vehicle the actor knows is equipped in violation of chapter 39-21, so an illegal tint charge carries a knowledge element. 1-06(2). 1-10(2) suspends the licence once the record reaches twelve points, for seven days at twelve and a further seven days for each point above eleven. 1-03 let a driver either admit and pay the statutory fee or request an administrative hearing, with appeal rights from that hearing.