Texas Window Tint: 25 Percent Light in Front, No Limit Behind the Driver

Section 547.613 of the Transportation Code is written backwards from what drivers expect. Subsection (a) makes it a misdemeanor both to operate a vehicle carrying an object or material on the windshield or a side or rear window that obstructs or reduces the operator's clear view, and, separately, for anyone including an installer or manufacturer to place transparent material that alters the color or reduces light transmission on those surfaces. Every legal tint job in Texas is therefore an exception, listed in subsection (b), rather than a permission.

The windshield exception is the tightest. A sunscreening device on a windshield is lawful only if, in combination with the windshield, it has a light transmission of 25 percent or more and a luminous reflectance of 25 percent or less, is not red, blue or amber, and does not extend downward beyond the AS-1 line or more than five inches from the top of the windshield, whichever is closer to the top. That last clause matters on vehicles where the AS-1 marking sits low: the five-inch measure wins whenever it is the higher of the two.

The front side windows carry the same pair of numbers and none of the extras. A wing vent or a window to the left or right of the operator is exempt if the device in combination with the glass has a light transmission of 25 percent or more and a luminous reflectance of 25 percent or less. There is no color restriction on the side glass and no strip limit, but the reflectance ceiling still rules out mirrored film even when the film passes the transmission test.

Behind the driver Texas simply stops regulating. Subsection (b)(2-a) exempts a side window that is to the rear of the vehicle operator, with no percentage attached, and (b)(10) repeats the exemption for a multipurpose vehicle. A rear window is exempt under (b)(3) whenever the vehicle is equipped with an outside mirror on each side that reflects to the operator a view of the highway for at least 200 feet from the rear. Limousine-grade film on the back half of a Texas car is lawful once the car carries two outside mirrors.

Several categories escape the section entirely. Factory-tinted or pretinted glass installed by the vehicle manufacturer, and replacement glass meeting the manufacturer's specifications, are exempt under (b)(13), so the darker rear glass on many SUVs is not a violation. A vehicle not registered in Texas is exempt under (b)(12). A vehicle used regularly to transport passengers for a fee and licensed by a local authority is exempt under (b)(14), a law enforcement vehicle under (b)(15), and a commercial motor vehicle as defined by Section 644.001 under (b)(16).

Measurement is not a hair trigger. Section 547.613(d) lets the department treat a window as exempt where light transmission or luminous reflectance varies by no more than three percent from the standard, and Section 547.613(c) puts the burden on the manufacturer to certify to the department that its sunscreening device meets the transmission and reflectance figures in combination with a window.

The label people call the Texas tint sticker is the installer's duty, not the driver's. Section 547.609 requires a legible label carrying the department's required light transmission and luminous reflectance information, stating that the device's transmission is consistent with Section 547.613(b)(1) or (2), permanently installed between the material and the surface it is applied to. Section 547.613(a-1) then makes it a misdemeanor punishable by a fine not to exceed $1,000 for a business that applies film and does not install that label. Nothing in the section requires the state to issue a windshield decal.

The medical route is a courtroom defense rather than a permit. Section 547.613(e) provides that it is a defense to prosecution under subsection (a) that the defendant or a passenger in the vehicle at the time of the violation is required for a medical reason to be shielded from direct rays of the sun. There is no application, no DPS exemption card and no pre-clearance step, and because it is a defense it is raised after the citation, not before.

401 applies: not less than $1 or more than $200 on conviction, before court costs. 004(c) gives a Texas driver a repair-and-dismiss route that many states do not: a court may dismiss a Chapter 547 equipment charge if the defendant remedies the defect before the first court appearance and pays a reimbursement fee not to exceed $10, though subsection (d) withholds that route for commercial motor vehicles. 613(a-1), a misdemeanor punishable by a fine not to exceed $1,000, and the medical defense in subsection (e) protects the driver, not the installer.

Enforcement is by peace officers at the roadside. , Ch. B. 510, so there is no longer a yearly test that would flag a dark front window. 201.