Tinted windows on cars have been around since the 1940s and 50s. However, window tinting really made it into the automobile style and privacy offerings in the 1970s. Window tinting continues to be a popular vehicle feature, installed in both factory and aftermarket cars and trucks.
Here in California, there are strict guidelines around window tinting on the front windshield and both driver and passenger side windows. These laws ensure drivers can make eye contact with fellow drivers at intersections and elsewhere, promoting driving safety.
For example:
The first penalty for tinted windows is a $25 “fix-it ticket.” However, fees steeply increase with repeat offenses.
If you purchase a new car or truck from a dealer, you won’t have to worry, as they cannot sell vehicles with illegal tinting. If, however, you purchase a used car with tinted windows, it’s worth visiting a professional window tinting shop or your local police department to ensure the tinting grades are road legal.
While tinting is certainly stylish and lends a sleek look to most cars and trucks, there are other benefits to using window tinting on your car.
UV radiation is a leading cause of benign and cancerous skin lesions. Reducing the number of UV rays that penetrate the skin is your first line of defense. However, those who drive regularly, especially those who make a living while driving, receive concentrated doses of UV rays through their car and truck windows and windshields.
According to skincancer.org:
Up to 50 percent of UVA radiation can penetrate this glass and reach your exposed skin. In the U.S., melanoma and nonmelanoma skin cancers are more common on the left side, since drivers are most directly exposed through a window on their left side, and drivers are more common than passengers.
Excess exposure to UV rays also increases a person’s risk of certain eye conditions, including surfer’s eye, macular degeneration, and more rapid development of cataracts. High-quality window tinting blocks most of these harmful light rays, providing current and future health benefits. In conversation with tow truck drivers, roadside assistance professionals, and others who spend hours behind the wheel during daylight hours, there’s no doubt window tinting has slowed down the rate of cancer spots on our left arms and the left sides of our faces.
The sun’s glare is debilitating while driving, especially when drivers are directly facing the sun or it’s streaming through the driver’s side window. Reduced sun glare is one of the reasons California DMV allows legal tinting darkness on the top four inches of a windshield. Tinting on the driver and passenger side windows also diminishes sun glare when driving north or south.
If you’ve ever sat on the side of the car where the sun shines in, you know exactly how hot it can get without any sun protection. Those same UV waves of radiation that pass through glass heat the car’s interior. Tinting your car's or truck's windows lower interior temperatures, reducing the air conditioning demands.
UV rays and hot/cold fluctuations negatively affect interior upholstery and other furnishings. Window tinting blocks the sun’s rays and mediates temperature fluctuations. This means upholstery, leather, and wood trim are less likely to:
Also, on sunny days, the combination of upper-windshield window tinting and fold-out, reflective sunshades while parked prevent seats and steering wheels that are too hot to touch when you return to the vehicle.
As noted by a recent post in sfgate.com, “Smash-and-grab car robberies, with a thief breaking a window to steal a suitcase or purse left in the vehicle, are common in San Francisco. It's not unusual to see the windows of multiple cars, parked in a row along an SF street, all broken.” And with increasing frequency, thieves don ski masks and break into cars with drivers or passengers inside.
Shatterproof window tinting is a wise investment. While the window still smashes, the tinted film holds the shards together. This creates a shock value for thieves who expect to reach in quickly, take what they see, and go. Those additional seconds can save your belongings because thieves need to be quick or are more likely to get caught.
As mentioned above, smash-and-grab thugs typically grab what they can see. Locking any valuables or belongings in the trunk of your car is the first line of defense. Tinted windows are a second one, blocking passersby's views of what’s inside. Without being able to see what’s there, thieves are less likely to take the risk.
Similarly, breastfeeding moms, workers who have to change between jobs, or anyone requiring a little privacy benefit from the right window tinting darkness in rear windows.
Safety and security are a priority for the team at J&T Towing in Fairfield. We’re here to lend a hand - or a tow - 24 hours a day, seven days a week, should you find yourself stranded along a Bay Area roadside.
