Oregon Window Tint: 35 Percent Total Light Transmittance, Measured Through the Glass

ORS 815.221(2) sets three separate numbers, and drivers routinely confuse the first with the third. The film must have a light transmittance of 50 percent or more and a light reflectance of 13 percent or less, and the total light transmittance through the window with the film applied must be 35 percent or more. That last figure is net: it counts the factory glass as well as the film. A product sold as "35 percent" is describing the film alone, and applying it to ordinary side glass will not leave 35 percent coming through the finished assembly. Oregon shares this net method with Washington, and it is why a film that passes in a state with a film-only standard can fail an Oregon meter reading.

The windshield is treated separately and narrowly. ORS 815.221(3) allows a strip of darker film across the top six inches and then says flatly that tinting material may not be applied to any other portion of the windshield. There is no percentage the rest of the windshield can meet. The ban is absolute, and Oregon measures the strip in inches from the top rather than keying it to the manufacturer's AS-1 line.

The largest carve-out is for multipurpose passenger vehicles. ORS 815.221(4) allows any lower transmittance on every window behind the driver of an MPV, but attaches two conditions: the vehicle must be equipped with rearview mirrors on each side, and the tinted windows must meet the requirements for AS-3 glazing material established by federal regulation. The subsection supplies its own definition, a motor vehicle designed to carry 10 or fewer persons and constructed either on a truck chassis or with special features for occasional off-road operation. That reaches most pickups, vans and body-on-frame SUVs, and it does not reach an ordinary sedan. ORS 815.221(7) adds that there are no light transmittance requirements at all for glazing applied to AS-3 type windows.

A medical exemption exists and it is broader than in many states. Under ORS 815.221(5) the side and rear windows of a vehicle registered to a person, or to that person's legal guardian, may carry darker film if the person or another person in the same household has a physical condition requiring it. The proof may be an affidavit, a prescription or a letter on the practitioner's letterhead, signed by a validly licensed physician or optometrist. Oregon accepts an optometrist as well as a physician, and it extends the exemption to a household member rather than only the registered owner. ORS 815.221(6) requires the document to be kept in the vehicle and shown to a police officer who asks about the tint.

Several materials are banned outright by ORS 815.221(8) no matter how much light they pass: mirror finish products; red, gold, yellow, amber or black material; and any tinting material in liquid preapplication form that is brushed or sprayed on. The installer also owes you paperwork. ORS 815.221(9) requires whoever installs the film to give the customer a certificate stating the installer's name and address, the film's light transmittance, the film's light reflectance, and that the total light transmittance through each window is not less than 35 percent. ORS 815.221(10) says that certificate is kept in the motor vehicle and shown to a police officer who inquires about the tint, so it functions as your roadside proof.

Enforcement is roadside because Oregon has no recurring safety lane at all. ORS 815.015 lets the Department of Transportation inspect any vehicle at any time to determine compliance with the equipment provisions, but nothing requires a periodic check. The only repeating test most Oregon drivers face is the DEQ pollution control certification, and ORS 815.300(2) confines that to vehicles registered inside the metropolitan service district boundary that includes the City of Portland or inside a boundary designated by the Environmental Quality Commission under ORS 468A.390, which is the Medford area. That test looks at the pollution control system, not at glazing. On the rules side, OAR 735-104-0000 adopts Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 205 for glazing materials and carries no percentage, and OAR 735-122-0000 on inspection, testing and repairs carries none either. Every tint figure in Oregon comes from the statute.

222 creates two offenses. 221 does not authorize to be tinted, which catches the installer as well as a do-it-yourself owner. Subsection (2) reaches the person who operates a vehicle registered or required to be registered in Oregon with non-conforming film on it. 020. Oregon then builds in two escape routes. 222(4) a court may dismiss the operating citation or reduce the fine if you establish that the windows were modified after the citation was issued, and the statute names the proof it will look at: a receipt from a business for removing nonconforming tint or installing conforming tint, a written statement by a law enforcement officer that the tint was modified, or any other evidence of removal.

222(5) the court may do the same if you establish that at the time of the citation you or another person in your household had a physical condition requiring a lower light transmittance, using the same affidavit, prescription or practitioner letter. 220, a Class D traffic violation with a $115 presumptive fine.