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Scott McDonald and Associates PLLC

Is your vehicle window tint so dark it's illegal in Washington?

The recent trend in tricking out your ride has been to black out everything on the car, icluidng tinting the windows very dark. Sunnyside Washington police are cracking down on dark window tinting of vehicles. Police say the dark vehicle window tint posesses a danger to officers. They cannot see in the vehicle often times to tell whether a gun is being pointed at them or not.

How much window tint is too much in Washington? According to Washington law:
  • window tint may not reflect more than 35% of the light hitiing it, and 
  • must allow at least 24% of the ambient light to pass through.  
Say what, in english please! This mean that police need to be able to see in the vehicle. If it's too dark to see in then it's illegal.

Here's some tint that is legal:

2010 Dodge Challenger window tint

2010 Dodge Challenger window tint

Window tint meters have developed and been purchased help police enforce the Washington law. Enforcement of the Washington window tint law in the past was nearly no existant because of difficulties in measuring the tint. Officers used to use a card with colors on it and they were to match up the window to the nearst color which would designated the tint percentage. Can you say a little too subjective!  

The fine for excessive window tint in Washington is $124.00.