The UK’s Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency published results from its 2024 automotive-tint checks on January 21, 2025. The regulator reported contacting 684 businesses about their obligations and purchasing 42 tint products, including 15 marketed as chameleon films.
Of the purchased products, 25 supplied no information about current tint rules, eight supplied partial information and nine supplied complete information. In tests on untinted glass, 40 products matched their advertised tint level; two allowed substantially less light through than advertised.
These findings describe the agency’s purchased sample. They do not establish the rate of non-compliance across the entire market, and a film’s advertised transmission is not a measurement of every completed vehicle installation.
For context, government guidance requires vehicles first used on or after April 1, 1985 to transmit at least 75% of light through the front windscreen and 70% through the front-side windows. The guidance says police and DVSA examiners use measuring equipment to check tint. That makes the finished window’s performance, alongside accurate product information, the practical concern for installers and customers.
Sources & reporting notes
- Vehicle Market Surveillance Unit: results of the 2024 programme Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency · Source dated January 21, 2025
- Tinted vehicle windows: the law UK Government
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