Automotive Glass in the US

[David Dunn]

Because of a thread on another forum regarding the glass that I am supplying to the Pinzgauer and Unimog community, I am writing the federal standards for autoglass in the US. The US DOT set the standards for autoglass and state DOTs may require stricter laws( not less) on some items, but usually defer to the federal standards, I find that some states in the southwest do not enforce the UPON word of the law.

Simple and straight anywhere in the USA, all windshields are AS1 laminated glass, tinted glass ( the glass itself tinted) up to 30% tint is legal in the viewable area .Shaded windshields ( windshields with a dark tinted band across the top). These windshields are tinted and have a dark band above the useable and viewable area of the driver. These windshields will have a horizontal line at the base of this band and a down pointing arrow with an AS1 label, indicating that the glass is of legal window shield tint below that line At no time tinting material can be added to the glass ( hence the word upon).... if you can scrape it off, it's upon .

The glass that is within the driver's view area left and right (normally front doors) are AS2 (either tempered or laminated), they too fall under the same guidelines for tinting as the windshield. Again, no tinting upon the glass. 70% minimum light transparency (30% tint).

Glass behind the driver is AS3. This glass can be almost any safety glass ( almost always tempered or laminated), and can be of any degree of tint. Tinting material can be added to AS3 locations.

Rear windows in any vehicle may be AS2[or AS3, depending on whether you have a mirror on the passenger side of the vehicle or not. The law mandates that all vehicles have a exterior side mirror on the driver's side (left in the US) of the vehicle AND either an interior rearview mirror or an exterior mirror on the passenger side (right side). Without the exterior mirror on the passenger side, the rear window must be to AS2 standards and not be blocked in any fashion ( cargo or anything else that blocks visibility out the rear).


The above standards are the ones that all my glass meet!

All my windshields are AS1, and all door and rear glass are tempered AS2 ( back doors in Pinz K can be AS3, but I chose to supply only AS2). SBU Unimog Dokas can have AS3 in their rear doors, BUT because the front and rear door glasses are the same, again I made the decision to supply only AS2. These windows can legally have tinted film upon them.

There are states that will ignore the tinting issue, but the law is still there and may be enforce at the enforcement officer discretion.

I hope this will put to rest any question on automotive glass.

Dave Dunn