Rhode Island Window Tint Law 2026

Six inches, like New York and unlike the five-inch figure used by Oklahoma, Wyoming, Texas and the District. Rhode Island does not name the AS-1 line but reaches the same idea by reference — the strip must not "encroach upon the driver's direct forward viewing area as more particularly described and defined in applicable Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards", so the federal standard operates as a second, qualitative limit alongside the six inches.

Rhode Island specifies the measurement geometry — "measured perpendicular to the surface of the glass" — which few states do. NET_ASSEMBLY basis, fixed by the chapter's own definition. §31-23.3-1(5): "\"Transmittance\" means the ratio of the amount of total light, expressed in a percentage, 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." Both sides of the ratio name the glazing, so the measured object is the finished window. Structural note: the number is in the exemption, not the prohibition. §31-23.3-2 bars using "nontransparent or sunscreen material, window application, reflective film or non-reflective film ... in any way to cover or treat" the listed windows, full stop; §31-23.3-4(3) then exempts material at 70% or better. A configuration matching no §31-23.3-4 exemption is prohibited outright rather than merely unregulated.

Two distinct factory-glass provisions that are easy to conflate. §31-23.3-4(1) is the general one and is not time-limited: the chapter does not apply to "Motor vehicles manufactured with windshields and window glass areas equipped in accordance with specifications of 49 CFR 571.205 as authorized by 15 U.S.C. § 1407." §31-23.3-6 is narrower and historical, protecting pre-December-1993 factory material from a removal order. §31-23.3-4 also exempts law-enforcement vehicles (2), vehicles not required to be registered in Rhode Island (5), and — with no parallel anywhere else in the dataset — under (8) "Any motor vehicle, registered and garaged within this state, whose sole purpose is to provide executive security to persons within this state", the owner having first obtained written permission from the local police chief.

NET_ASSEMBLY basis, fixed by the chapter's own definition. §31-23.3-1(5): "\"Transmittance\" means the ratio of the amount of total light, expressed in a percentage, 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." Both sides of the ratio name the glazing, so the measured object is the finished window. Structural note: the number is in the exemption, not the prohibition. §31-23.3-2 bars using "nontransparent or sunscreen material, window application, reflective film or non-reflective film ... in any way to cover or treat" the listed windows, full stop; §31-23.3-4(3) then exempts material at 70% or better. A configuration matching no §31-23.3-4 exemption is prohibited outright rather than merely unregulated.

Rhode Island does not step down behind the driver: §31-23.3-4(3) carries the side windows to the rear of the operator's and front passenger's seats at the same 70% as the front. Note the boundary is drawn at BOTH front seats, not at the driver alone. NET_ASSEMBLY basis, fixed by the chapter's own definition. §31-23.3-1(5): "\"Transmittance\" means the ratio of the amount of total light, expressed in a percentage, 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." Both sides of the ratio name the glazing, so the measured object is the finished window.

The rear window is the one window in (3) that carries an extra condition: the dual-mirror requirement attaches to it alone, the other windows in the list being unconditioned. Read on its terms the 70% qualifier governs the material throughout the subsection, so the rear window of an ordinary passenger car needs BOTH 70% and the mirrors — Rhode Island does not trade darkness for mirrors the way Texas and New York do. The mirror-for-darkness trade appears instead in (6), and only for the listed vehicle classes. NET_ASSEMBLY basis, fixed by the chapter's own definition. §31-23.3-1(5): "\"Transmittance\" means the ratio of the amount of total light, expressed in a percentage, 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." Both sides of the ratio name the glazing, so the measured object is the finished window.

A hybrid of the two common designs: a physician's affidavit as in South Carolina and Indiana, but coupled with a state-issued sticker as in New York. Two conditions travel with it — the vehicle must be registered in Rhode Island and the prescribing professional must be licensed in Rhode Island. Note also that issuance is non-discretionary on its face ("shall issue"), unlike Oklahoma's "may issue". The opening clause of §31-23.3-4 is unusually broad in effect: "The provisions of this chapter shall not apply to" — so the exemption lifts the whole chapter, not merely the percentages.

Recorded as a finding about the scheme rather than a gap: §§31-23.3-1, -2, -4 and -6 were read in full and none imposes a labelling duty on manufacturers or installers, in contrast with Texas §547.609, South Carolina §56-5-5015(E) and Oklahoma 47 O.S. §12-422(G). §31-23.3-3, "Rules and regulations authorized — Administrator of the division of motor vehicles", was not retrieved and could carry such a requirement by regulation; none is asserted.

The duty appears twice in §31-23.3-4, in (3) and again in (6), and both times as a condition on treating the rear glass. Like New York and Utah, Rhode Island states it functionally ("a clear view of the highway behind the vehicle") rather than by distance as Texas and Oklahoma do; (6) adds that the mirrors must meet federal standards.