There’s a few reasons why folks decide to get their cars tinted out—filtering out harmful UV rays that get all up in your grill when you’re trying to drive is a huge benefit, especially if there’s that one hill you need to climb every morning where the sun mercilessly blinds you for a few seconds and the only way you’re making it to work is with prayer.
For others, it’s about privacy—if you have to drive through areas you don’t exactly feel safe or don’t want people to know who or what is inside your car, keeping your windows tinted is a good way to practice the old “out of sight, out of mind” philosophy.
But one TikToker, Joseph Robinson (@bluestangster) says that if you’re wrapping your vehicle’s windows in particularly dark tints, then you might be compromising your night-time driving privacy. He demonstrates in a viral TikTok just how visible lights are in a vehicle’s interior at night in vehicle’s with dark tints. So if you’re trying to roll a jay in a parking lot and don’t want anyone to see, or maybe you got a surprise gift for someone at home you don’t want them seeing in your car as you pull up in the driveway, keep this in mind.
Several TikTokers who responded to Robinson’s video commented that they weren’t so impressed by this “revelation” stating that this discovery is more common sense than some groundbreaking knowledge. Robinson contended that for him, it was.
“If you have dark window tint on your car be aware of this. Having dark window tint on your car is great and all, like I have 35% on the front and then 5% on the side, and as you can see, you can’t really see anything at all inside the car it’s pretty much just a black mirror.” To demonstrate this mirror effect, he zooms his lens into tinted glass of the vehicle, showcasing just how reflective it is.
“However there is one thing that’s really annoying about having dark tint on your car and I’m not talking about it being an illegal percentage or not being able to see out of the car while you’re driving at night. So the worst thing is that at nighttime, if you have any source of light from inside of the car, you can see it through the windows really well.”
He then goes on to demonstrate this issue he has with dark tints: “Let me just show y’all real quick,” he cracks open the door of his vehicle and the clip jumps to him plopped in the driver’s seat and showing off the interior car ceiling lights. “For example these two lights are the most likely lights you’re gonna have in your car, aside from your phone, but that’s pretty dim, but if you have these two suckers on, you can pretty much see everything inside the car at nighttime.”
The TikToker then cuts to a shot of him turning the lights off in his garage followed by a shot of his vehicle’s interior in complete darkness. “So I turned the lights off and the lights in some of my car are on, the windows are up, and you can literally see pretty much everything inside my car. This is ridiculous. The only reason that I say you need to be aware of this is because if you get a common dark tint like 5% ceramic on your car, and you think that no one can see you at night time, if you have your interior lights on—they can. So just be aware of that,” he says at the end of his clip.
Commenters remarked that they weren’t exactly stunned by Robinson’s find: “Bruh I thought this was common sense,” one penned.
Someone else offered up a helpful trick for anyone who gets pulled over with tints, in lieu of criticizing Robinson’s clip: “Thats why you turn your dome light on when you get pulled over. It makes the officer feel safer and your tint less obvious.”
However, there were plenty of other folks who were quick to point out they didn’t think Robinson exactly knew what he was talking about: “so its the same as no tint”
@bluestangster How did i just learn this 🤦♂️ #fyp #foryou #viral #cartiktok #carsoftiktok #mustang #ecoboost #windowtint #tint #darktint #tipsandtricks #blue #slow ♬ original sound – JosephRobinson
Another replied: “it took you this long to figure that out”
Someone else joked: “I spray painted my windows black…”
However, there were others who said that they were concerned with this same issue and have set their car up in a way to ensure the interior lights in their vehicle aren’t triggered when their doors are opened: “Exactly why I have the button on the keeps the interior lights from turning on when I open the door. Gotta stay dark”
Psst: Your tinted windows will likely fail if it’s dark and you turn on a light
There were also other people who seemed just as surprised as Robinson was by the late-night-interior-light-tint-visibility revelation: “YES BRO I was checking this on my car last night you could dead see what was in my phone just by standing outside the window I turn off my radio light n dash light n keep my phone bright down now”
Sunstoppers, an online window tinting resource, also touched on this phenomenon and explained why it may be easier to see the interior of a tinted window home when compared to other untinted glass at night: “After dark, when the interior lights are on, is a different story. The reflective features no longer offer complete privacy because it’s now brighter inside than outside. Still, some tint options offer more nighttime privacy than others.”
The Daily Dot has reached out to Robinson via TikTok comment for further information.