On March 27, 2009, CARB issued a revised draft regulation that now specifies solar control requirements only for new vehicle glazing. The original proposed regulation contained requirements for both vehicle paint and windows to improve their ability to reflect heat from the sun. The intent of the paint requirements was to introduce reflective paint (currently used in architectural paints to keep houses and businesses cool) into the automotive arena. Based on input from the automotive industry, paint, pigment suppliers, and comments from a public workshop held on March 12th, ARB staff has determined that a clear path to achieve solar reflectivity for the darker colors has not yet been identified. CARB plans to address the paint-related portion of the proposal in a future regulatory action.
With the March 27, 2009 draft, CARB has also changed the glazing requirements from a reflective (Rds) to a Total Solar Transmission (Tts) specification. In an effort to get the newest draft of the regulation out to stakeholders some numerical values are not currently indicated in the draft regulation. The numerical values will be specified in the final draft of the regulation which will be released 45-days prior to the June 25-26, 2009 Board Hearing.
