Window tint laws in Pennsylvania (2026)

The rules, window by window

Windshield

No person may drive a motor vehicle with any sun screening device or other material that does not permit a person to see or view the inside of the vehicle through the windshield (75 Pa.C.S. 4524(e)(1)). The inspection regulation prohibits front sun screening but allows transparent material along the top edge of the windshield if it does not encroach on the AS-1 portion defined by FMVSS 205 and is not more than 3 inches from the top (67 Pa. Code 175.263).

The standard in the law's own words

75 Pa.C.S. 4524(e)(1): no sun screening device or other material that does not permit a person to see or view the inside of the vehicle through the windshield, side wing, or side window.

Reflectivity

No numeric reflectance limit is stated in 75 Pa.C.S. 4524 or 67 Pa. Code Subchapter O as read; mirrored films would fail the see-inside standard of 4524(e).

Medical exemption

PennDOT issues certificates of exemption for medical reasons: a vehicle owned by a person afflicted with a condition for which the Department, in consultation with the Medical Advisory Board, has determined prohibited sun screening is justified. The application requires a medical certification of need from a licensed physician or optometrist; the exemption is granted only for colorless (UV-filtering) material, the certificate must be carried in the vehicle, and it becomes void on sale or transfer (75 Pa.C.S. 4524(e)(2); 67 Pa. Code 175.265).

Enforcement

Pennsylvania is a state where the statute (75 Pa.C.S. 4524(e)) states only the qualitative see-inside standard, and the numeric standards sit in the vehicle inspection regulations: 67 Pa. Code 175.67(d) with Table X (acceptable light transmittance levels for vehicle glazing, applied with a plus or minus 3 percent accuracy) and 67 Pa. Code ch. 175 Subchapter O (Vehicle Sun Screening Devices, ss. 175.261-175.265). Police measure with light transmittance meters against the 70 percent level. Exemptions also cover manufacturer-installed tint, hearses, ambulances, and government vehicles.

Notes

RESOLVED with direct read of Table X in full. The 70 percent figures recorded here are the 1998-and-newer passenger-car row of Table X (67 Pa. Code 175.67, 'Acceptable Light Transmittance Levels for Vehicle Glazing', all figures subject to 3 percent accuracy, i.e. plus or minus 3 percent): windshield 70%, front side windows/wings 70%, rear side windows/wings 70%, rear window 70%. Table X was located and read in full in this pass directly from the 1996 Pennsylvania Bulletin final rulemaking (26 Pa.B. 4639, September 28, 1996), which is the instrument that both adopted 175.67(d)(4)'s reference to Table X and printed the table itself; the pacodeandbulletin.gov live regulation page still does not render Table X as extractable text, so the rulemaking document (an official state-government publication of record, not a secondary aggregator) is the primary source used to read the table's actual cell values. Two nuances not previously captured now recorded: (1) pre-1998-model-year passenger cars have a different rear-window rule -- no numeric transmittance floor, but the sun-screening material must carry a permanent label stating 'Complies with VESC-20'; (2) trucks and multi-purpose passenger vehicles (SUVs/vans/pickups), medium/heavy trucks and buses, and 'all other vehicles' all carry 'No Requirement' for rear side windows and the rear window under Table X (windshield and front side windows/wings remain 70% for every vehicle type) -- this is why factory-tinted rear glass on SUVs/trucks is legal in Pennsylvania. The record here uses the 1998-and-newer passenger-car row (uniform 70% on all four glazing positions) as the representative figure; a wrapper/installer working on a truck, van, or SUV should treat rear side/rear window as unrestricted per the table above. 67 Pa. Code 175.263 also allows the rear window to be treated by the vehicle owner with a sun screening device, and limits louvered materials to reducing driver visibility by no more than 50 percent on a horizontal plane.