Pennsylvania Window Tint: 70% Light Transmittance, Checked at Annual Inspection

The operative statute is short. Section 4524(e)(1) of the Vehicle Code makes it an offense to drive a motor vehicle with a sun screening device or other material that blocks a view of the vehicle's interior through the windshield, side wing or side window. Nothing in the statute names a percentage. The number comes from PennDOT, which defines "material which does not permit a person to see or view the inside of the vehicle" in 67 Pa. Code § 175.2 as material reducing light transmittance below 70 percent, or below whatever percentage FMVSS No. 205 allowed when the vehicle was built.

Table X of Chapter 175 sets out the acceptable levels and assumes a three percent accuracy band. Passenger cars of model year 1998 and newer must hold 70 percent at the windshield, the front side windows and wings, the rear side windows and wings, and the rear window. Pre-1998 passenger cars carry the same 70 percent figures on the first three positions, and the rear window instead has to meet VESC-20, evidenced by a label installed permanently between the film and the glass showing the manufacturer's name or registration number and the words "Complies with VESC-20". Trucks, multipurpose passenger vehicles, medium and heavy trucks and buses need 70 percent only on the windshield and front side windows, with no requirement behind the driver. That distinction is why an SUV registered as a multipurpose passenger vehicle can legally carry dark rear glass in Pennsylvania while a sedan of the same year cannot.

A windshield strip is allowed but narrowly. Under 67 Pa. Code § 175.263(a) a product along the top edge of the windshield is permitted only if it is transparent, does not encroach on the AS-1 portion of the glass as defined by FMVSS No. 205, and extends no more than three inches down from the top. Anything applied to a window under a sun screening exemption triggers 67 Pa. Code § 175.264, which requires outside rearview mirrors on both the driver and passenger sides with a minimum reflective surface of 19.5 square inches each, unless the film sits only above the AS-1 line.

Two exemption routes exist, both administered by PennDOT under 67 Pa. Code § 175.265. The first is a grandfather clause for a vehicle registered in Pennsylvania as of September 8, 1984 and already carrying the prohibited film before September 9, 1984. The second is medical. A certificate of exemption for medical reasons is issued only after the applicant's physical condition is certified to the Department by a licensed physician or optometrist and the Department, in consultation with its Medical Advisory Board, agrees the exemption is justified, and it authorizes only colorless sun screening material that filters ultraviolet light. The certificate must be carried in the vehicle, displayed on a police officer's request, and handed to the inspection station when the car is submitted for inspection. Selling the car voids it: § 4524(e)(5) makes the seller strip the material and give the buyer a notarized statement naming the seller, the vehicle identification number, year and model, and the business entity and process used to remove the film.

Pennsylvania's own courts have held that the two standards do not merge. The Notes of Decisions printed under 67 Pa. Code § 175.67 record Commonwealth v. Brubaker, 5 A.3d 261, 265-66 (Pa. Super. 2010), holding that the regulation's 70 percent light transmittance requirement cannot be read into § 4524(e)(1), because the statute asks only whether a person can see through the window and does not reference the regulation. In practice that means a roadside stop is judged by whether an officer can see into the car, while the 70 percent meter reading is what the annual inspection applies.

§ 6502(a), which makes any Vehicle Code violation a summary offense and sets a $25 fine where no other penalty is provided, before costs and surcharges. § 4107(a) makes it unlawful to sell, install or replace any item of vehicle equipment that does not comply with the Vehicle Code or Department regulations, with a civil penalty of up to $100 for each violation and a ceiling of $10,000 for a related series. The heavier practical consequence is the inspection. § 4702(a), the inspection includes a glazing check under 67 Pa.

80(a)(2), and 67 Pa. 67(d)(4) prohibits a non-compliant sun screening device outright. § 4703(h)(1) carrying a fine of up to $25 for a passenger vehicle, rising to $100 to $500 plus an out-of-service order for a motor carrier vehicle, bus or school bus.