Utah Window Tint: 35% Front Sides, 70% Windshield, and a Rule That Still Says 43%

The statute is Utah Code Section 41-6a-1635, last amended by Chapter 205 of the 2025 General Session and effective 7 May 2025. Subsection (1) sets four prohibitions plus a catch-all. The windshield must allow at least 70% light transmittance. A front side window must allow at least 35%, and the statute itself grants the tolerance: no more than a 5% variance observed by a peace officer metering the light transmittance. No windshield or window may be composed of, covered by or treated with material presenting a metallic or mirrored appearance. No sign, poster or other nontransparent material may sit on the windshield or side windows, except a certificate or paper the law requires to be displayed there, or a vehicle identification number displayed or etched under department rules made under Section 41-6a-1601. And no debris, frost or other substance may materially obstruct the operator's view.

What Utah does not restrict is as important. Subsection (3)(c) permits nontransparent materials on the rear windows including rear side windows located behind the operator, so Utah sets no percentage at all behind the driver. The trade for that is Subsection (5): a vehicle with tinting or nontransparent material on any window must carry rear-view mirrors mounted on both the left and the right side to give the driver a view of the highway to the rear.

Utah's statute also contains no medical exemption. Several states let a physician's certification authorise darker glass; Section 41-6a-1635 has no such provision, and the only route to a lawful departure is Section 41-6a-1602, the general permit to operate a vehicle in violation of equipment regulations, or Subsection (4), which deems a window compliant if it meets the federal statutes and regulations for motor vehicle window composition, covering, light transmittance and treatment.

On enforcement, Utah is a metering state with almost no inspection lane behind it. Section 53-8-205, effective 1 January 2025, requires a safety inspection only for a salvage vehicle at initial registration, an off-highway vehicle first registered as a street-legal all-terrain vehicle, a novel vehicle first registered as a street-legal novel vehicle, a commercial vehicle annually, a vehicle operated by a ground transportation service provider annually, and annually for a motor vehicle with three or more axles or pulling a trailer, a combination unit, a bus or van for hire, and a taxicab. An ordinary passenger car in Utah never sees an inspection lane, so tint enforcement is roadside metering under Section 41-6a-1635(1)(b) and nothing else.

For the vehicles that are still inspected, the inspection instrument does carry a transmittance figure, and it disagrees with the statute. Utah Admin. Code R714-160, Equipment Standards for Passenger Vehicle and Light Truck Safety Inspections, made by the Department of Public Safety, Highway Patrol under Sections 53-8-204 and 41-6a-1601, requires the inspector to inspect window tint with a tint meter and record the readings on the certificate. R714-160-15(1)(c)(i)(E) rejects a windshield allowing less than 70% light transmittance, matching the statute. But R714-160-15(5)(b)(ii)(A) rejects any tinting or non-transparent material on the windows immediately left or right of the driver's seat that allows less than 43% light transmittance, and R714-160-15(5)(d)(i) applies the same 43% figure to wind deflectors on those windows. The statute said 43% until S.B. 149 of the 2022 General Session, Chapter 183, replaced it with 35%. The rule's Date of Last Change is 6 December 2018, so it was never conformed. Both instruments are official and neither has been withdrawn; the rule is the narrower of the two, and it binds only where an inspection is actually required under Section 53-8-205.

A violation of Section 41-6a-1635 is an infraction under Subsection (9), which Section 76-3-301(1)(e) caps at $750 before surcharges. Subsection (7) extends liability up the chain: a person may not have for sale, sell, offer for sale, install, cover or treat a windshield or window in violation of the section, so an installer commits the same infraction as the driver. Subsection (8) puts manufacturers, distributors, dealers, importers and repair businesses subject to the federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards under the federal tinting standards regardless. The 2025 amendment added a real protection at Subsection (10): a peace officer may not request that the Motor Vehicle Division or the Driver License Division revoke or suspend an individual's vehicle registration or driver licence for a violation, or multiple violations, of Subsection (1)(a) or (1)(b).

That removes the escalation path some states use for repeat tint citations, and it applies only to the windshield and front side window transmittance paragraphs, not to the mirrored-finish or obstruction paragraphs. Where a safety inspection is required, R714-160-15 directs the inspector to issue a rejection inspection certificate rather than a citation, which blocks the registration transaction that the inspection supports.