(A) For the purpose of this section the following definitions shall apply unless the context clearly indicates or requires a different meaning.
LIMOUSINE. Any vehicle of the type generally described as an extended length, chauffeur driven luxury vehicle, or van body type, or any other vehicle employed as a public or private livery, designed to transport seven or more people.
MANUFACTURER. Unless otherwise specified in the section, means any person who engages in the manufacturing or assembling of sunscreening products or materials or any person who fabricates, laminates or tempers a safety glazing material, incorporating, during the manufacturing process, the capacity to reflect or reduce the transmission of light.
MOTOR VEHICLE. Has the same meaning as specified in § 70.01 of this code.
SUNSCREENING MATERIALS. Products or materials, including film, glazing and perforated tinting or light filter which, when applied to the windshield or windows of the motor vehicle, reduce the effects of the sun with respect to the light reflectance or transmittance.
TRANSMITTANCE. The ratio of the amount or total light, expressed in percentages, which is allowed to pass through the product or material, including glazing, to the amount of total light falling on the product or materials and the glazing.
WINDOW. Any device designed for exterior viewing from a motor vehicle, except the windshield or any roof-mounted viewing device.
WINDSHIELD. The front exterior viewing device of a motor vehicle.
(O.A.C. 4501-41-02).
(B) No person shall operate on any street, highway or other public or private property open to the public for vehicular travel or parking, nor lease, or rent any motor vehicle that is required to be registered in this state with any sunscreening materials, or other product or materials, which has the effect of making the windshield or windows nontransparent or would alter the window's color, increase its reflectivity, or reduce its light transmittance, except as herein specified:
(1) Any manufacturer's tinting or glazing of motor vehicle windows or windshields that is otherwise in compliance with or permitted by "Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard Number 205",
MANUFACTURER means any person engaged in the manufacturing or assembling of motor vehicles or motor vehicle equipment, including any person importing motor vehicles or motor vehicle equipment for resale.
(2) Any motor vehicle with a strip of sunscreening applied along the top of the windshield so long as such material when used in conjunction with the windshield is transparent and is in compliance with "Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard Number 205" or other applicable federal standards, and does not exceed downward beyond the AS-1 line or five inches from the top of the windshield, whichever is closer to the top.
(3) Any motor vehicle with sunscreening materials applied to the side windows near the driver and passenger in the front seat of such vehicles and/or the rear windows, so long as such materials, when used in conjunction with the safety glazing materials of such windows, has a light transmittance of not less than 50% plus or minus 3% and is not red or yellow in color.
(C) No person shall install in any motor vehicle any glass or other material that fails to conform to the specifications of this section.
(D) No used motor vehicle dealer or new motor vehicle dealer, as defined in R.C. § 4517.01, shall sell any motor vehicle that fails to conform with the specifications of this section.
(E) No reflectorized materials shall be permitted upon or in any front windshield, side windows, sidewings or rear window.
(F) No person shall operate on any street, highway or other public or private property open to the public for vehicular travel or parking, nor lease, or rent any motor vehicle that is required to be registered in this state that is equipped with privacy drapes, louvers, curtains or blinds unless the drapes, louvers, curtains or blinds are opened and secured during the vehicle operation.
(G) All motor vehicles, beginning with the 2000 model year, shall be equipped with labels identifying sunscreening material. All sunscreening material shall indicate the manufacturer's name and the percentage level of light transmission of the materials permanently installed between the material and the surface to which the material is applied or affixed. Such labels shall be legible and shall be placed in the lower left-hand corner of the vehicle window when viewed from the outside. (O.A.C. 4501-41-03)
(H) The provisions of this section do not apply to:
(1) A motor vehicle registered in this state in the name of a person, or the person's parent, legal guardian or spouse who has an affidavit signed by a physician licensed to practice in this state or an affidavit signed by an optometrist licensed to practice in this state that states that the person has a physical condition that makes it necessary to equip such motor vehicle with sunscreening material which would otherwise be of a light transmittance and/or luminous reflectance in violation of this section. Such affidavit shall be in the possession of the person so afflicted or the driver at all times while in the motor vehicle.
(2) The windows to the rear of the driver in limousines if the limousines are operated for hire.
(3) The windows to the rear of the driver in those vehicles designed and used to transport corpses, which include hearses and other vehicles adapted for such use.
(4) The manufacturer's tinting or glazing of motor vehicle windows or windshields that is otherwise in compliance with or permitted by "Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard Number 205".
(I) The penalties for a violation of this section shall be in accordance with § 70.99 of this code.
(Ord. 2000-25, passed 6-5-00)