# Can I block UVA in my car without tinting?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-block-uva-in-my-car-without-tinting/816895>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [June 28, 2018, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-block-uva-in-my-car-without-tinting/816895 "2018-06-28T04:17:28Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\
**Post date:** [June 29, 2018, 10:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-block-uva-in-my-car-without-tinting/816895/21 "2018-06-29T10:33:08Z")

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> [@nelliebly](#):
>
> I appreciate the thorough explanation even I could understand. Cars back in the day must have had tempered glass windshields front and rear then, right? I was in the backseat of an old beater (I think maybe a mid- or late-sixties car) when I was in my teens, and we were hit by another car. The whole rear windshield caved in in tiny pieces.
> 
> I really appreciate the excellent explanation. Thanks much!

No, cars have _never_ had tempered glass windshields. If they did, they’d shatter into a million bits the first time they were struck by a pebble.

Windshields have been made from laminated safety glass for a long time. The side windows and backlite (what you call the “rear windshield”) are made from toughened (tempered) glass which is stronger and more scratch resistant. And when they do get broken, break into a bunch of tiny glass pebbles instead of razor sharp daggers.

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**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\
**Post date:** [June 29, 2018, 11:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-block-uva-in-my-car-without-tinting/816895/22 "2018-06-29T11:07:26Z")

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> [@jz78817](#):
>
> No, cars have _never_ had tempered glass windshields.

Actually they did. Early cars used ordinary window glass, which resulted in exactly the types of problems you’d expect in a crash. From there they moved on to tempered glass. Not too long after that, they switched to laminated windshields.

The switch to laminated glass occurred somewhere around 1920, IIRC. You’d probably only find cars with tempered glass around 1915 to 1920 or so, and even then they weren’t common. Some cars were produced with ordinary plate glass up into the 1920s.

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