The legal limits, the exemptions most shops get wrong, and the three things that changed in 2025. Written straight from the statute, with the section numbers so you can check us.
Session Law 2025-47 made three changes. Two took effect December 1, 2025, one on July 1, 2025.
The tint measurement was removed from the annual state inspection, and the $10 tinted window inspection fee went with it.
This is where people get themselves in trouble. The inspection stopped checking. The law did not change. The 35% limit is still the 35% limit, and driving on illegal tint is still a Class 3 misdemeanor. An officer on the roadside can still meter your windows. All that changed is that nobody catches it for you once a year.
New subsection (g): if you have tinted windows, you roll the driver side window down when an officer approaches. If they come up the passenger side, you roll that one down instead. This is now written into the statute.
A person can now hold up to four valid medical exception permits at one time, up from two.
The 35% and 20% limits do not apply to every window on every vehicle. The statute lists exceptions, and the big one is multipurpose vehicles.
A multipurpose vehicle carries 10 or fewer passengers and is either built on a truck chassis or has features for occasional off-road use. The statute names minivans and pickup trucks directly, and most SUVs qualify. On those vehicles, every window behind the driver is exempt from both the 35% and the 20% rule. That is why you see factory privacy glass far darker than 35% on the back of an SUV and it is perfectly legal.
Also exempt from those two limits: motor homes, ambulances, limousines, law enforcement vehicles, excursion passenger vehicles, the rear window of a property-hauling vehicle, and vehicles registered in another state that meet that state's rules.
The windshield is the exception with no exceptions. The statute says the windshield rules apply without exception, so none of the above buys you a darker windshield.
If a medical condition makes you photosensitive to visible light, you can apply for a permit. You apply in writing to the Drivers Medical Evaluation Program and your doctor completes the evaluation form. A permit lasts five years and names the specific vehicle, the windows that may be tinted, and the tint levels allowed.
The permit has to be carried in that vehicle. DMV also issues a sticker for the lower left corner of the rear window, and it goes on between the glass and the film at install. Failing to display it is a $200 fine.
There is a defense written into the statute. Remove the tint within 15 days of being charged, get a certificate from DMV or the Highway Patrol confirming the window now complies, and produce it in court or give it to the prosecutor before trial.
We install to the legal limit unless you hold a medical permit, and we will tell you before anything is cut. We stock 35% and 70% for windows that have to stay legal, and 5%, 15% and 20% for the windows on a multipurpose vehicle that do not. Bring the vehicle by and we will hold samples against your own glass.
Sources: N.C.G.S. § 20-127 and Session Law 2025-47. We are a tint shop, not a law firm. This is a plain reading of the statute as of September 2026, not legal advice. If you are dealing with a citation, talk to a lawyer.
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