Legal Window Tint in Louisiana: Limits, Exemptions, and Fines

Legal window tint in Louisiana means front side windows that let through at least 25% of visible light and a rear window that lets through at least 12%, under limits that took effect August 1, 2025. The front-side figure used to be 40%. Acts 2025, No. 143 dropped it, giving drivers substantially more room to darken their glass than the state allowed for years. Trucks and SUVs get even more freedom behind the driver, and medical and security exemptions exist for anyone who needs to go darker still.

Limits for Passenger Cars

For a standard passenger vehicle, the minimum Visible Light Transmittance (VLT) on each window is:

Front side windows: 25%
Side windows behind the driver: 25%
Rear window: 12%

VLT is the share of light that passes through the glass and any film combined. A 25% window blocks three-quarters of incoming light. If your car left the factory with privacy glass on the rear windows, adding film on top compounds the darkness, and the combined reading is what counts. Ask your installer to measure both layers together before signing off.¹

Limits for Trucks, SUVs, and Multi-Purpose Vehicles

Trucks, SUVs, buses, motor homes, and multi-purpose passenger vehicles follow the same 25% rule on the front side windows, but everything behind the driver can go as dark as you like, including full blackout. The windshield rules are identical to those for passenger cars.²

Windshield Rules

You can put a tint strip across the top of the windshield. The material has to be transparent, cannot be red or amber, and cannot extend more than five inches down from the top. If the vehicle carries a sunscreen certificate, the strip can go six inches down.¹

Below the strip, no film at all. This rule holds for every vehicle class, trucks and SUVs included, and it holds even if you qualify for a security exemption.

Color and Reflectivity

Tint cannot have a luminous reflectance above 20%. Highly mirrored or metallic films that exceed that threshold fail inspection regardless of how much light they transmit.¹

On the windshield and front side windows, the only color allowed is smoke. Blue, green, yellow, or any other film that alters the color of light passing through those windows will fail inspection. Vehicle wraps are not permitted on any glass.²

Medical Exemptions

If you have a medical condition that makes you sensitive to sunlight, you can apply for permission to run darker tint than the standard limits allow. Qualifying conditions are those recognized under the World Health Organization’s ICD-9-CM classification. The statute names photophobia and light-sensitive porphyria specifically, and other sun-related conditions may also qualify.

You need a signed affidavit from a licensed optometrist, ophthalmologist, dermatologist, or other physician, on a form prepared by the Office of State Police, describing the vehicle. For photophobia, the doctor has to explain why sunglasses would not provide enough protection and why the darker tint would not impair your nighttime driving. A copy of the affidavit must stay in the vehicle at all times. The exemption is reviewed every three years, except for diagnosed light-sensitive porphyria, which carries the exemption for as long as you own the vehicle.³

Security Exemptions

Government and law enforcement vehicles used for official business qualify for a security exemption automatically, with no application or background check.⁴

Private individuals follow a different route. You apply to the Department of Public Safety and Corrections for an affidavit stating that legitimate security reasons justify darker tint, and you consent to a criminal background check through the Louisiana Bureau of Criminal Identification and Information. A conviction for a violent crime or drug offense disqualifies you. The affidavit must describe the vehicle and stay inside it at all times. Even with a security exemption, the windshield below the top six inches cannot be tinted.⁴

The Installer Label

Every professional tint job must carry a compliance label placed between the film and the glass in the lower right corner of the driver’s side window. The label can be no larger than one and a half square inches and has to show the installer’s name and city.¹

A missing label is its own reason to fail inspection, even if the tint itself measures within every legal limit. If you installed the film yourself or used a shop that skipped the label, get one added before you take the car in.²

Fines and Inspection Consequences

Driver fines for non-compliant tint escalate with repeat offenses:

First offense: $150
Second offense: $250
Third or subsequent offense: $350

Sellers face heavier penalties. A seller who provides non-compliant sun screening material is fined $1,000 for a first offense and $2,000 for a second. A third conviction bars the seller from any tint-related business in Louisiana.⁵

Illegal tint also causes your vehicle to fail its state inspection, which means you cannot renew the registration until you fix it.

A Note on the Outdated 40% Reference

The state’s administrative inspection code still cites a 40% VLT minimum for front side windows, which was the standard before the August 2025 statutory change. The statute controls, but an inspector may be working from the older number until the administrative rules are updated. If that happens, the current text of RS 32:361.1 is your authority.¹

1
Justia Law. Louisiana Revised Statutes Title 32 RS 32-361.1 – View Outward or Inward Through Windshield or Windows; Obscuring Prohibited
2
Legal Information Institute. La Admin Code Tit 55 III-813 – Required Equipment
3
Louisiana State Legislature. RS 32-361.2 – Medical Exemption
4
Justia. Louisiana Revised Statutes Title 32 RS 32-361.3 – Security Exemption
5
Louisiana State Legislature. RS 32-361.1 – View Outward or Inward Through Windshield or Windows; Obscuring Prohibited