How Far Down Can a Windshield Tint Strip Go?

It depends on which of six kinds of rule your state wrote, and the difference is bigger than the usual "AS-1 line or 4 to 6 inches" summary suggests. New York, Illinois and Oregon allow the top 6 inches, Colorado 4. Texas and Ohio allow 5 inches or the AS-1 line, whichever is closer to the top, while North Carolina allows whichever is longer. California and Arizona do not measure from the top of the glass at all: the bottom of the strip must stay at least 29 inches above the driver's seat. Virginia and Minnesota allow no aftermarket strip.

How far down a strip may go, statute by statute

This table is built from the text of each code section, not from the tint charts that circulate. Where your state is not listed, its rule was not read here; start from the state rules index and read your own code.

Maryland appears in its statute only through the medical waiver: Transportation 22-406(i) says nothing in that subsection allows tinting "below the AS1 line or below 5 inches from the top of the windshield". Even a physician's certificate does not buy you a deeper strip there.

"Whichever is closer" and "whichever is longer" are opposite rules

The charts that list a state as "AS-1 line or 5 inches" are hiding the most important word in the statute. Texas and Ohio say the strip may not go below the AS-1 line or 5 inches, "whichever is closer to the top". North Carolina uses the same two references and says "whichever measurement is longer". One picks the shallower limit, the other the deeper.

The difference only shows when the AS-1 mark sits more than 5 inches down. Take a windshield whose AS-1 marks sit 6 1/2 inches below the top edge:

• Texas or Ohio. The limit is 5 inches. A strip cut to the AS-1 line is 1 1/2 inches too deep.
• North Carolina. The limit is 6 1/2 inches, the AS-1 line. The same strip is legal.
• Washington. Both conditions apply at once ("does not extend into the AS-1 portion" and not "more than six inches from the top"), so the limit is 6 inches.

If the AS-1 mark sits 4 inches down, Texas, Ohio and Washington all stop at 4 inches, while North Carolina still allows 5. A strip installer working from a chart that says "AS-1 or 5 inches" can be wrong in either direction depending on which state the car is registered in. The marking itself, and why it is a manufacturer convention rather than a federal tint boundary, is covered in what the AS-1 line is.

California and Arizona measure from the seat, not the glass

California Vehicle Code 26708(c) allows material on "the topmost portion of the windshield" only if "the bottom edge of the material is at least 29 inches above the undepressed driver's seat when measured from a point five inches in front of the bottom of the backrest with the driver's seat in its rearmost and lowermost position with the vehicle on a level surface." Arizona's ARS 28-959.01 uses the same words and the same 29 inches. Neither mentions the AS-1 line or a depth from the top.

That makes the legal strip a property of the car, not a number you can look up: how much glass sits more than 29 inches above that seat point depends on the seat and the windshield of that vehicle. The only way to know is to measure:

1. Park on level ground. The statute specifies a level surface.
2. Move the driver's seat fully back and fully down. Rearmost and lowermost, as the text says.
3. Find the reference point. Measure 5 inches forward from the bottom of the backrest along the seat cushion, without pressing the cushion down.
4. Measure 29 inches straight up from that point and mark the glass at that height. A level and a straightedge against the windshield make this a two person job.
5. Keep the bottom edge of the strip at or above that mark. Anything below it is outside the exception.

California adds that the material must not be red or amber, must carry no opaque lettering, and must not reflect sunlight or headlight glare into other drivers' eyes "to any greater extent than the windshield without the material". A mirrored strip fails that test however high it sits.

The fixed depth states, and where the inch count starts

New York, Illinois and Oregon allow 6 inches and Colorado 4, with no reference to the AS-1 line. They differ in what may go in the strip. Oregon lets material of any darkness into the top six inches and forbids it everywhere else on the windshield. Colorado expressly allows "nontransparent" material in its 4 inches. Illinois allows only "nonreflective tinted film". New York's rule is written as a transmittance limit: below the uppermost six inches, nothing on the windshield may have "a light transmittance of less than seventy percent".

None of the texts read for this page defines where "the top of the windshield" is. The cautious reading is the top edge of the glass itself, which on most cars sits under the trim or the black ceramic band. Measured from there, part of your 5 or 6 inches is used up before the visible glass starts, so a strip measured from the bottom of the black band sits deeper than one measured from the glass edge.

The factory shade band is a different thing from a film strip

A factory shade band is pigment inside the interlayer of the laminate, installed and certified with the glass. A tint strip is film applied to the inside surface afterward. Most of these statutes regulate the second. Minnesota says so outright: its ban on windshield material that reduces light transmittance does not apply to glazing that has "not been modified since the original installation" and that conforms to FMVSS 205, nor to "original replacement windows and windshields". Virginia allows windshield film only "to replace the sunshield in the uppermost area as installed by the manufacturer".

Michigan is the one state here that uses the band as a measuring stick: film may go 4 inches down or to the shade band, whichever is closer to the top. If your factory band ends 3 inches down, so does your legal strip. How bands are made, how deep they run and why they must match on a replacement are in the factory shade band compared with a film strip.

Clear UV film below the strip is a separate question

Several of these statutes deal with clear film on the rest of the windshield in the same breath. North Carolina allows "an untinted clear film which does not obstruct vision but which reduces or eliminates ultraviolet radiation". Washington allows "clear film sunscreening material that reduces or eliminates ultraviolet light". Virginia allows clear film so long as the windshield stays consistent with FMVSS 205. Minnesota's text bars any material that reduces light transmittance through the windshield, with no clear film exception in subdivision 4a. If you are weighing a full windshield film for heat or chip protection, read what windshield protection film does to legality first.

Where this answer stops applying

• States not in the table. Only the code sections named here were read. Many states also delegate window rules to regulations, which can add conditions the statute does not show.
• Medical exemptions. Washington's waiver reaches "the top six inches of windshields"; Maryland's expressly does not extend tint below its limit.
• Pending changes. The Minnesota revisor flags that the 2026 session amended subdivision 4a, the exceptions list. Check the current text before relying on it.
• Commercial vehicles. North Carolina sends vehicles subject to 49 CFR Part 393 to the federal rules instead of its own strip limit.
• Inspection. In states that inspect glazing, a strip below the limit is a rejection item. What inspectors look at is covered in which states inspect windshields.

What to do next

Find your state's row and note which kind of rule it is. For a fixed depth, measure from the top edge of the glass. For an AS-1 rule, find the marks, measure their depth, and apply "closer" or "longer" exactly as your statute says. In California or Arizona, take the 29 inch measurement before you buy anything. In Virginia or Minnesota, the factory band is the only strip you get. If a strip you already have runs too deep, removal is the fix; if you have already been cited, read how windshield equipment tickets are written.

Frequently asked questions

Is a 6 inch windshield tint strip legal in Texas?

Not always. Texas Transportation Code 547.613 lets a windshield strip run down to the AS-1 line or 5 inches from the top, whichever is closer to the top. A 6 inch strip is over the limit on any windshield, and if your AS-1 marks sit less than 5 inches down, the marks are the limit. The strip must also pass at least 25 percent of light and not be red, blue or amber.

How do I measure the 29 inch rule in California?

Park on level ground and move the driver's seat to its rearmost and lowest position. Find the point on the cushion 5 inches in front of the bottom of the backrest, without compressing it, and measure 29 inches straight up. The bottom edge of any material on the windshield must be at or above that height. The strip also cannot be red or amber, carry opaque lettering, or reflect more glare than the bare glass.

Does the factory shade band count as illegal tint?

Generally no. The band is pigment sealed inside the laminate when the glass is made, and the statutes here regulate material applied afterward. Minnesota expressly exempts unmodified original glazing that meets FMVSS 205, and Virginia allows film only to replace the manufacturer's sunshield. Michigan uses the band as a limit: film may go no lower than it, or 4 inches, whichever is higher on the glass.

What if my windshield has no AS-1 mark at the top?

Then in states that use the mark, the inch figure is the only reference you have, so stay within it: 5 inches in Texas, Ohio and North Carolina, 6 in Washington. Florida's rule refers only to the AS/1 portion, so ask the installer to establish where it falls before fitting anything. In fixed depth states and in California and Arizona the mark does not matter at all.

Can I put clear UV film on the whole windshield?

In some states the statute says so. North Carolina allows untinted clear film that reduces ultraviolet radiation and does not obstruct vision, Washington allows clear film that reduces ultraviolet light, and Virginia allows clear film if the glass still meets FMVSS 205. Minnesota bars any material that reduces light transmittance through the windshield, with no clear film exception in its list.