STR tinted window glass question.

[J44EAG]

Perhaps some of the STR guys can help with this question?

I had a member call me this afternoon. He had just been stopped by the Police who issued him with a cautionary notice to remove and replace his front door tinted window glass as they considered it would be hazardous for use at night.

The gentleman has had this car for quite a while now and says he has not experienced night time visibility problems during his ownership. Neither has the car been failed at MOT time. His car file does not show that the vehicle has had any after market tint film applied.

Several thoughts come to mind.

Has the car been factory fitted with a form of bright light self dimming glass similar to Reactolight spectacles and did perhaps the Police view the car in light conditions that might have caused the glass to dim and raise a question of road legality?

Was this type of glass a factory option?

Has the car perhaps had tint film applied to the glass away from the Dealer network and is that film legal? My knowledge says that there are two depths of tint available on the open market and I wonder if a dark tint film may have illegally been applied to the front door windows and have provoked the Police interest.

I suggested that the member contact Jaguar Customer services to ascertain if the car had dimming glass fitted as an option. Perhaps also to visit his local main dealer and ask them to view the car and give their opinion. Finally to drop a window down and see if he could use a finger nail to see if he could lift a film edge and see if removal was possible assuming film had indeed been applied to the glass.

I have seen this film application on a MY2000 V6 in Cornwall. The landlord of my friends pub had experienced night use problems on his car that had dark film applied. Exiting a T junction on a dark road was truly scary. I drove the car as an experiment and it was only moments before I found myself dropping the windows to get decent vision. No wonder dark tint is deemed illegal.

We managed to pull the film off the glass but had to clean the glass of adhesive. The only solvent we found touched it was petrol. As you can imagine, that was quite a smelly old job.

Can anyone help answer the original question please. Was dimming glass an option on the STR?

Mike

[Montana5]

Mike...I don't believe there was ever any options like that available, I did check the options list on the brochure and nothing, it doesn't even mention tinted windows, I suppose because its standard on all models and I reckon my tints are exactly the same as every other S Type.
Had a look in the Drivers Handbook and interestingly enough there is a warning note titled 'Window Tinting'
which reads...

" Do not have your vehicle windows tinted with a metal oxide tinting (for maximum heat reduction from sun load) if you have a Navigation or JaguarNet system fitted to your vehicle.
Metal oxide tinting prevents the reception of GPS signals by the attena causing the navigation system to stop functioning.
This will also prevent the emergency JaguarNet feature from giving the emergency centre your vehicle location. A non metal tinting should be used if you require window tinting and if in doubt contact your Jaguar Dealer for advice.

When I was looking for my STR I came across an Ultraviolet Blue car for sale in Halifax, it had the really heavy black tints on both the rear sides and rear screen only, I mention this because as far as I'm aware they are not allowed to heavy tint the front side windows.
I would imagine the JEC Member could get a letter of conformity from his Dealer to say the windows were standard and un modified, or could he send you a picture or link for you to confirm standard or not.

Doug.

[J44EAG]

Thanks for that, Doug.

It will be interesting to see what our friend can find out about his glass. One hopes that he is not faced with a complete glass change in his car.

Mike

[stuarthardy]

There was a recent TV article about this subject and in particular a Range Rover which had heavily tinted front windows.

The police now carry devices to measure the transmission of light through glass and would deem a vehicle to be illegal if, from memory, less than 70% of a pre-determined level of light was transmitted.

I understand that the window film had been fitted from new but by a dealer, not by the manufacturer, and that the owner was unaware that it was illegal to do so to the front windows.

You will note that some manufacturers offer an option of privacy glass but this is applied only to windows in the rear of the vehicle. Hence why you see some cars that look like vans due to the heavy tin in the rear side windows.

[J44EAG]

Interesting about the light transmission measurement device, Stuart. Without such a gadget, one persons opinion on what is safe and legal can only be subjective when measured against the opinion of another.

Heavy tint is most certainly a danger if applied to front windows. My experience in the V6 I drove, was most unpleasant and rather frightening.

I`ll try to find out from the member who called me whether the police used a light transmission unit to measure if his glass was indeed legal.

Appreciate your input. Thanks.

Mike

[redcat]

I saw the above TV programme - I think it was one of the "Road Wars" type shows. The police officer began to peel the film from one window (I think he quite enjoyed it!) and told the lady to have the rest removed when she got home.

Redcat

[Mugwy1]

If stopped by the police for tinted windows an authorised police vehicle examiner can give an opinion to the safety aspect of any tint, and this would be taken into account at any Court, however the majority of Road Policing Unit officers (Traffic) do carry or have access to a "TINTMAN". This accurately measures the tint on any window tested by passing light between two probes, one located on either side of the window. A reading across three sections of the window is taken and an average worked from there.
Front windscreen has to allow 75% of light through and the driver/passenger front 70%. At the time of manufacture the windows would not be type approved if the readings fell short of this.
As stated previously there is no limit to the amount of tint you put on the rear windows.

[jeff1954]

I'm with Stuart on this one, you see so many new cars now with heavy tinted glass on all round the rear. To me it makes the driver look like a chauffeur!

Jeff