An Overview of Colorado’s Regulations on Tinting
Window tinting in Colorado is governed by specific laws that dictate how much light can be absorbed by the various windows on your vehicle. These regulations are designed to protect both motorists and law enforcement officials, since severely tinted windows make it difficult to see who is inside your vehicle.
When driving in Colorado, the tint on your vehicle cannot allow less than 27% of the available light to come through the window. For the tint on the windshield, there is a limit on how much can emerge from the top. You can only have five inches of tinted space on the windshield, and once you go beyond that , you will be in violation of the law. That limit on the windshield makes it easy for the tint to be noticed, which will also get you noticed by the police.
For your back or rear windows, the law does not limit how much tint can be applied, and you can even have mirrors applied, but the mirror cannot have a "total" open reflected light transmittance of 20%. There are those, however, that believe so much tint applied to the back of a vehicle makes the vehicle less safe because other drivers cannot see any indications that there is someone inside, what they might be doing, how fast they are driving, or if the vehicle may pose a threat. Officer safety is a common concern over tinted windows.
Legal Window Tint and its Advantageous Effects
Legal window tint in Colorado offers numerous advantages while still adhering to the state’s regulations. One of the most recognizable benefits is heat reduction. Window tint blocks a significant amount of solar heat, which can help keep your car cooler on hot days. This not only makes driving more comfortable, but also reduces the reliance on air conditioning, potentially leading to lower fuel consumption over time.
Moreover, one of the unseen threats that window tint can protect you against is harmful ultraviolet (UV) radiation. These harmful rays are linked to a variety of health issues, including skin cancer and premature skin aging. While all vehicles in Colorado are automatically tinted from the manufacturer, legal window tint takes this protection to another level, blocking a vast majority of UV rays that would otherwise penetrate the glass.
Adding window tint to your vehicle also increases your privacy. While Colorado law does not allow for complete opacity, the legal tint levels allow for a substantial reduction in visibility from the outside. This added privacy can make you feel safer and more secure in your own vehicle.
Window tint also adds to the longevity and safety of your windows. The tint can hold shattered glass in place, protecting you from flying shards that might occur in an accident. This feature can protect you and your family from cuts and other injuries from broken glass.
Lastly, legal window tint can enhance the look of your vehicle. A property that has uniform tint looks far more aesthetically pleasing than a vehicle with a few dark squares blocking out sunlight. A tinted vehicle will also stand out as different than the rest of the vehicles on the road.
The Penalties for Illegal Tinting
While the enforcement of illegal window tint laws in Colorado might be uncommon in some areas, the cost of an illegal tint fine can be significant. In fact, some local cops are known to set up sting operations to catch people driving illegally tinted vehicles and slap them with hefty fines. One of the most notorious sting operation events in Denver resulted in more than 50 fines issued in one location over the course of about one week.
To make matters worse, some police organizations carry what’s known as a tint meter in their cruisers. These tint meters are used as something of a black-and-white analysis…if it can’t read through the floral print at all, then it’s an illegal tint.
In Colorado, fines for illegal window tint can vary by county. If you are wondering what those fines might be in your area, it might be a good idea to google any local ordinances for guidance.
How to Select a Legal Tint
When considering how to comply with Colorado’s window tinting laws, car owners will want to be sure that the product they select is fully compliant with all regulations. Colorado law states that all tinted windows must allow more than 27% of light in (or have a VLT of less than 27%). For windshields, only the top 4 inches of the tinted area can allow less than 27% of light in. From a legal perspective, the really important factor – for both passenger vehicles and SUVs – is that the film has a VLT greater than 27%.
In addition to ensuring that the tint selected has a VLT greater than 27%, Colorado car owners may want to consider choosing window tint that is professionally installed . Professional installation means that the window tint will be cut to the vehicle’s exact specifications. This reduces potential problems that can arise from having tinted windows caused by mistakes made during the installation process.
For car owners who choose to install their tinted windows without professional assistance, it is important to know that incorrect installation can result in the windows not being legal, and therefore subject to fines. More importantly, however, incorrect installation can result in windows that need to be replaced because the adhesive materials become damaged by water.
Exemptions and Unique Cases
As with any law, there are exceptions that can be made to window tinting requirements in Colorado. Even the strictest of requirements crumbles under a few well-placed exemptions.
Medical exemptions are one such exception. The law allows a presiding physician to prescribe darker tint, even on front windows and the windshield. This is done primarily for medical reasons. In essence, a letter from your physician could allow you to keep darker tint on your vehicle windows than normally permitted by law.
Some additional clarifications might be required if the opacity of the tint is over 27 percent. In such a case, a copy of the window tint includes a prescription from a physician as well as documentation of the individual’s eye condition (if applicable) may be necessary.
Finally, there’s an exception for commercial vehicles, which are defined by the Secretary of State in Colorado as follows:
"…a vehicle operated by a company within the scope of its business including but not limited to motor vehicles used to transport persons, foodstuffs or construction equipment, and commercial mobile radio service vehicles."
Note that these commercial vehicles are still subject to the standard 27 percent tint under Colorado law. Medical exemptions are still allowed.
What’s New on Tinting Regulations
In recent years, there have been several alterations to the state’s tinting laws. In 2013, Colorado passed a new law that removed the requirement for eye tests for darker tint testing at the time of vehicle registration. Prior to accepting the window tint, a law enforcement officer would conduct an eye test on the installer with a simple test: if the dots are visible, the tint passes. This test would be performed with the tint on a different window. Many felt this requirement was an overreach, as the law was not meant to test the installer but to test the tint on the specific window of the vehicle. The new law applied only to the windshield, as the darker tint would create too much glare while driving, potentially resulting in an accident . While this change made obtaining legal tint easier, unintended consequences still affected vehicle owners using shops that did not specialize in window tinting.
In 2017, those unintended patches were addressed as the state put forth HB 17-1128, which removes the exemption for tinting any window except the windshield. The law specifically places its focus on the tint on the front two side windows and the windshield itself, allowing law enforcement officers to receive training on how to test these types of tint. While this change will hopefully make the inspection process more seamless, it is still the fault of the driver if the tint does not pass, whether it passes or fails due to an error on behalf of the law officer. Because of this new change, the tint test card must now be clearly and legibly written out in the front two side windows of the vehicle, rather than the previous three.