(a) No person shall operate, on any highway or other public or private property open to the public for vehicular travel or parking, lease or rent any motor vehicle that is required to be registered in this state with any sunscreening material, or other product or material, which has the effect of making the windshield or windows nontransparent or would alter the windows’ color, increase its reflectivity, or reduce its light transmittance, unless the product or material satisfies one of the following exceptions:
(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Standard Number 205 in effect at the time of the manufacture of the motor vehicle until such standard is subsequently repealed or reduced. In 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 sunscreening material or other product or material applied to the windshield when used in conjunction with the safety glazing materials of such window, has a light transmittance of not less than seventy per cent plus or minus three per cent and is not red or yellow in color.
(3) Any sunscreening material or other product or material applied to the side windows to the immediate right or left the driver, so long as such material, when used in conjunction with the safety glazing materials of such windows, has a light transmittance of not less than fifty per cent plus or minus three per cent and is not red or yellow in color.
(4) Any sunscreening material or other product or material applied to a window not otherwise listed in divisions (a)(1) through (a)(3) or (a)(5) of this section, except that outside left and right rear view mirrors are required if the sunscreening material is applied to the rear window and the sunscreening material, when used in conjunction with the safety glazing material of such window, has a light transmittance of less than fifty per cent plus or minus three per cent.
(5) Any sunscreening material or other product or material applied along the top of the windshield and that does not extend downward beyond the AS-1 line or five inches from the top of the windshield, whichever is closer to the top, is not regulated by this rule or this chapter.
(b) No person shall install in any motor vehicle any glass or other material that fails to conform to the specifications of this section.
(c) 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 to the specifications of this section.
(d) No reflectorized materials shall be permitted upon or in any front windshield, side windows, sidewings or rear window.
(e) No person shall operate, on any highway or other public or private property open to the public for vehicular travel or parking, 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 open and secure during vehicle operation.
(f) All motor vehicles, beginning with the 1990 model year, must be equipped with labels identifying sunscreening material. All sunscreening material must indicate the manufacturer’s name and the percentage level of light transmission of the material permanently installed between the material and the surface to which the material is applied or affixed. Such label must be legible and must be placed in the lower left-hand corner of the vehicle window when viewed from the outside. (O.A.C. 4501-41-03)
(g) 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 under R.C. Chapter 4731, or an affidavit signed by an optometrist licensed to practice in this state under R.C. Chapter 4725, that states that the person has a physical condition that makes it necessary to equip such motor vehicle with sunscreening material which would 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 chauffered limousines, as defined in Rule 4501-41-02 of the Ohio Administrative Code;
(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 in effect at the time of the manufacture of the motor vehicle as provided in Rule 4501-41-03 of the O.A.C.;
(O.A.C. 4501-41-05)
(5) With regard to any side window behind a driver’s seat or any rear window other than any window on an emergency door, any school bus used to transport a child with disabilities pursuant to R.C. Chapter 3323, whom it is impossible or impractical to transport by regular school bus in the course of regular route transportation provided by a school district. As used in this division, “child with disabilities” has the same meanings as in R.C. § 3323.01;
(R.C. § 4513.241(H))
(6) Any school bus that is to be sold and operated outside this state.
(R.C. § 4513.241(I))
(7) A. A motor vehicle used by a law enforcement agency under either of the following circumstances:
1. The vehicle does not have distinctive markings of a law enforcement vehicle but is operated by or on behalf of the law enforcement agency in an authorized investigation or other activity requiring that the presence and identity of the vehicle occupants be undisclosed.
2. The vehicle primarily is used by the law enforcement canine unit for transporting a police dog.
B. As used in this division, “law enforcement agency” means a police department, the office of a sheriff, the State Highway Patrol, a county prosecuting attorney, or a federal, state, or local governmental body that enforces criminal laws and that has employees who have a statutory power of arrest.
(R.C. § 4513.241(J))
(h) As used in this section, certain terms are defined as follows:
(1) “Motor vehicle” has the same meaning as specified in § 402.20.
(2) “Sunscreening material” means products or materials, including film, glazing and perforated sunscreening, which, when applied to the windshield or windows of a motor vehicle, reduce the effects of the sun with respect to light reflectance or transmittance.
(3) “Transmittance” means the ratio of the amount of 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 material and the glazing.
(4) “Windshield” means the front exterior viewing device of a motor vehicle.
(5) “Window” means any device designed for exterior viewing from a motor vehicle, except the windshield or any roof-mounted viewing device.
(6) “Manufacturer,” unless otherwise specified in this 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.
(7) “Chauffered limousine” means a motor vehicle that is designed to carry nine or fewer passengers and is operated for hire on an hourly basis pursuant to a prearranged contract for the transportation of passengers on public roads and highways along a route under the control of the person hiring the vehicle and not over a defined and regular route. “Prearranged contract” means an agreement, made in advance of boarding, to provide transportation from a specific location in a chauffeured limousine at a fixed rate per hour or trip. “Chauffered limousine” does not include any vehicle that is used exclusively in the business of funeral directing.
(O.A.C. 4501-41-02)