CA owners...are side window deflectors illegal?

That refers to sun visors because of the mounting location "mounted forward of the side windows and are not attached to the glass"

The way I read the VC, you aren't allowed to install anything on the front side windows that blocks the drivers view unless it is listed as an exception, and fixed visors aren't listed. That said, the odds of getting cited for them are close to zero and if you do get cited it would just be a fix-it ticket. Go for it.:rockon:

 

Dude, I see these mounted on so many cars in the bay area. My dealership sells them so they should be alright.

Matt, I totally dig these and really want to mount them, but am deciding on the cheapo sets that use only adhesive sticky tape to mount or the expensive set that actually has clips that attach to the door. If you do get them, let me know how they work, whichever set you get.

 

The side visors are legal. This is directed at front window tinting.

 

Here's the CVC

(2) is quite clear that it applies to side windows as well as the windshield.

Fortunately, reality is that 99.99% of the time the cops aren't going to bother anyone with reasonable side visors.

 

We've got fairly fat wind deflectors that are heavily tinted on our 15 passenger van. I really don't like driving it at night, because the tint is so heavy, I can't see out of the sideview mirrors effectively. But it's my mom's main car...so whatever.

We've had it for about 4 years now and no fix it tickets or mention of it being illegal by any of our cop friends.

There's also about a 6 inch strip of VERY heavy tint across the top of the windshield and still, nothing from cops.

 

It's clear that the CVC section refers to them. More than a fix-it ticket (which is still a PITA to clear), I would worry more about how much my insurance company would defend me in a lawsuit if they were mentioned or photographed in an accident report. I've never read the finest fine print in my policy, but I imagine there's something down there in the agate type.

 

I use WeatherTech deflectors with light tint (don't like the dark tint). It works well so far and it's hard to imagine that would be illegal anywhere - it's not blocking views for normal driving.

 

Any tint on the front windows is illegal in Ca, even the 100% UV only film.