Tinting windows has become a popular venture as the car industry moves beyond efficiency i.e. safety, speed, durability etc. towards looks.
As with most things that become popular though, there came a time when regulators had to step in lest the public at large would become endangered. This is true in most countries as it is in the United States.
The only difference from majority of the nations and US is that this branch of law is left unto the states to define. Here is how the Iowa equation fits in. the state’s first law in this light was passed in 1983 making it one of the earliest places countrywide to involve itself in this effort.
There have since been modifications and amendments from the provisions as they were though this should not worry you since the picture presented in this article is mindful of the same.
The specific discussed include the major divisions of tinting law i.e. window tint darkness and reflection, the exemptions there too as well as a couple of important provisions say relating to enforcement.
The essay ends by sharing about practical ideas which I believe will come in handy when the time comes for you to decide whether you are going to indeed proceed with tinting your car.
You will notice in my analysis too, that every now and then I compare a given law with to its equivalent in other states.
This I hope will help you understand how restrictive or otherwise such regulations are generally speaking. And finally, I have endeavored to adopt simple language in an effort not to bore you with legal jargons.
You thus do not have to have gone to law school for you to understand the substance that I am setting off to elaborate on.
Iowa Window Tinting Darkness Laws
Window tinting darkness is the most famous of the ranches of tinting law. That is to say, that when most people are told about tinting, it is the first thing that comes to their minds.
The way tinting darkness executes its task is through blockage of light from reaching the occupants of a vehicle by a dark film that would be placed over a car’s window.
It is important to realize however, that tint of this nature does not block the same amount of light. To understand this, we need to look more closely at the quantities in which window tint darkness is measured i.e. Visible Light Transmission, also VLT.
VLT is calculated in percentage reflecting the amounts of light coming towards a car’s windows. The higher the VLT figures, the more the lighting coming through to the car.
This means that if one car has its windows at 90% VLT, and another at 40%, then the windows of the first car would be allowing in more amounts of light than the second vehicle. Legislators thus, stipulate the requirements of how dark what tint is to be when by switching to the VLT language.
In so doing, they usually follow two major factors with the first one being the kind of car that one is looking at. This especially entails the purpose of such a vehicle or its structure. To give you a common illustration, let us look at law enforcement vehicles. It is not unusual to find that states allow them to use VLT lighting that falls way below what is allowed for the rest of the cars.
Often, the justification goes back to the fact that police officers will as part of their job get involved with disingenuous actors. It is thus helpful when their privacy is protect in these cases.
Moreover, there are relatively few of these cars when mapped on the general populace so they are not hard to track thereby limiting the possibility of abuse of this special allowance.
The other notion to understand goes back to the positions of the windows on a vehicle. Because these play different roles, it would be absurd to expect that the same VLT will be asked of them.
Consider the windshield for instance, law makers usually insist that it has very high VLT percentages. This is because it is through the said window that drivers interface with the road ahead.
Note however, that it is not always the case that both of these factors are followed. In the case of Iowa thus, only the latter is considered. It does not matter therefore the kind of vehicle that one is looking at. Let us then turn to the specifics;
- Windshield: a minimum of 70% VLT must be used. This is a rather liberal take as most states only allow tinting only within the top 4-6 inches of this window.
- Front side windows: a minimum of 70% VLT must be used.
- Backside windows: there is no restrictions on the VLT levels to be used. This means that one can opt for as low as 0% VLT.
- Rear window: there is no restrictions on the VLT levels to be used. This means that one can opt for as low as 0% VLT.
Iowa Window Tinting Reflection Laws
Window tinting reflection is the less famous of the two branches of tinting i.e. it does not occur to people immediately when one talks of tinting.
This by no means is to be construed as meaning that tinting reflection does not work well though. If at all, it actually beats tinting darkness in some respects. I would thus encourage you to inquire from a professional first whenever you have a car to tint rather than take for granted the fact that tint darkness should always be the option to go with.
Rather than block light coming its way like tinting darkness does however, window tinting reflection deflects away the said rays to somewhere else instead. Understanding this helps in appreciating the model of measurement that is followed here too.
It is captured in percentages as well with the difference in this case being that we are looking at how much proportion of light is reflected.
The higher the percentage reflection, the more light is being reflected. Legislators will always want to keep the reflection percentages as low as possible.
If you will look closely, you will realize that it is vital that there is legislation for window tinting reflection more than is the case under tinting darkness.
This is because in the latter category, car owners are bound to directly face the repercussions of poor tinting practices e.g. when distortion in viewing has them knocking objects on the road.
With tint reflection though, it is innocent third parties to be affected i.e. the folks who will see the light being reflected from the outside of the car. As a result, drivers have no immediate direct incentive to act prudently.
When it comes to the determinants of what legislators follow in regards to what standard is to be followed under tinting reflection, the two discussed under tinting darkness are the same that are considered i.e. the positions of the windows on a car and then the kind of work that one is looking at. Again, it is not always the case that both of them are followed in all the states. In the case of Iowa, only the positions of the windows are considered as we will now proceed to see.
- Front side windows: if reflection is to be used, it should not be excessive. It is not clear what the term “excessive” means though.
- Backside windows: if reflection is to be used, it should not be excessive. It is not clear what the term “excessive” means though.
Other Iowa Window Tinting Laws
With the window tinting darkness and tinting reflection details covered, you can pat yourself since that is what forms the bedrock of window tinting laws anywhere not least Iowa.
That said, there are a couple more provisions which if left out would have you still miss out on some of the most important nuances of tint law in the said state.
Of course I do not intend at all to discuss every law there is for that is unnecessary.
- Restriction on colors. Iowa does not prohibit the usage of any colors when tinting car windows. This has got to be the most lenient tint color provision you will find anywhere in the US. First, there are states that out rightly ban certain colors e.g. red, amber, and yellow. The rationale in these cases usually is the fact that these share are more shouting and therefore more likely to cause all manner of distortions.
Even the governments that do not ban any colors however, often rely of tough restrictions under tinting reflection. As we have seen already though, it is unclear that Iowa’s provisions in the same bracket can be said to achieve this result.
- Side mirrors: on average, states that allow for 0% VLT tinting possibilities in regards to rear windows will ask that drivers that opt for the same go ahead to install one side mirror on each side of the car mandatorily. There are those (states) that will place this requirement in cases that are not total darkness tinting too.
Surprisingly, Iowa does not ask for the side mirrors even though it is certainly possible for one to tint their rear window to pitch darkness. This way, this state breaks away from the wide held notion of needing to replace the interface with the road objects behind the car that would have otherwise been provided to the driver by the rear window. This being the case, I would nonetheless encourage you to have side mirrors if your rear window is tinted too dark if you care about your safety.
- Certificates and Stickers: Iowa does not ask that manufacturers issue certificates. In the language of the tinting industry, certificates refer to documentation that is issued by manufacturers to drivers affirming the fact that the tint used conforms to the standard asked by the applicable laws. These come in handy in instances of accountability. When pulled over for having illegal tint, a driver can present a certificate to law enforcement in order to show that they were misled.
Stickers serve pretty much the same role as certificates with the major difference being that stickers are portable i.e. they can be attached on the car windows so as an owner you do not have to worry about carrying paperwork around. Again, Iowa does not mandate that these are issued.
Regardless of the law, I would encourage drivers to always secure themselves one of these two documents in order to avoid unnecessary inconvenience while on the road.
- Medical exemption: it is now widely acknowledged that there are individuals for whom heeding to the general standards as spelt out under reflection or VLT percentages would be detrimental to because of their health conditions. Often, these are persons battling with eye defects and skin issues among others. In Iowa however, this does not apply.
The only persons that are allowed special consideration under these grounds would be those that would have obtained clearance prior to July 2012 i.e. the month and year when medical exemptions were scrapped from the law.
The good news is that there are ways in which you can still conform to the laws in question while attending to your health too if at all you fall in this category of affected people. Examples are wearing sunscreen and clothes that cover the whole of your body (for folks with skin issues) and putting on sunglasses (for those with eye complications).
Others
Now that we have explored what the law expects of you, we can now look at a couple of things outside legislation which I trust will come in handy when it comes to making the decision of whether to go on and tint your vehicle or not.
To be more particular, we will look here at the advantages and disadvantages of the endeavor. The first two points explore unique advantages and then the last a cost that you ought to keep in mind.
- Health benefits: while most people mistaken health benefits as only for folks that are already battling health complications, window tinting is good for perfectly healthy people too. By reducing the UV light rays that come through the windows for instance, tinting reduces the likelihood that occupants of the car in question will suffer from skin cancer.
- Upholstery wearing: UV rays do not only have an effect on humans alone but the inside of the vehicle too. Too much exposure will lead to wear and tear of the upholstery as well as the fading of the coloring. This means that you are not going to be comfortable, later on proud when in your car. Other unseen consequences caused by this reality include undervaluing if you decide to sell off your vehicle.
- Distortions: tinting if it is especially too much can interfere with the driver’s view thereby raising the likelihood accidents for example. The situation can get worse in particular periods e.g. snowy weather, times of the night etc. Be sure to consult with your professional thus, so as to mitigate for these adverse outcomes.
Iowa State Info
Formerly colonized by the French, Iowa is presently located in the Midwestern region of the United States of America also usually referred to playfully as the “American heartland.”
The state has had a history of involvement with agriculture as the major economic activity though things became more sophisticated in the second half of the 20th century with processing, information technology, manufacturing, and finance coming into the equation.
Other fields to emerge in Iowa ever since are green energy and biotechnology.
The state occupies about 145,000 km sq land and its capital is Des Moines. Other cities include; Okoboji, Waterloo, Ames, Decorah, Cedar Falls, and Mystic.