A windshield shade band, or vinyl windshield visor, is a straightforward improvement to your regular sun visor. It’s basically a strip at the top of your windshield that’s blue-ish in color. Its purpose is to filter out sunlight that can make your driving experiences unpleasant.

Taking note of your driving experience in order to determine if you have a shade band is a viable option, but not completely accurate. Instead, you can visually check for it very easily. The vinyl visor is basically a strip of glass that’s been tinted to be darker. Usually, it is around 3 to 6 inches wide, so as to block the sun no matter its position during the day, while also not impeding your visibility of the road. That’s also why this technology isn’t applied to the entirety of your windshield, as it isn’t transparent. In fact, it has a blue-ish hue (usually), so it’s not standard for all vehicles either, and neither is it a production requirement.

When you’re driving, do you routinely drop the sun visor and adjust your seating position to help block the sun from your eyes? Did you know that there are visor tints and sun shade strips that can be placed on your windshield to help you see better? Looking at your windshield, if there is a 3”-6” strip of darker tinted glass at the top of the windshield where it meets the roof, then your vehicle has a shade band. Because this feature of the car or truck is not mandatory for driving on the road, take note if your vehicle has one, as they are not standard.