New 'Vitz' Front-door Glass Cuts UV by Approximately 99%

Toyota City, Japan, December 15, 2010―Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC) announces that it will begin using―as a world's first¹―car front-door glass that reduces ultraviolet (UV) penetration by approximately 99%². The new glass will be used in the new "Vitz" scheduled for launch at the end of this year.

Combining use of the glass with a windshield that reduces UV penetration by approximately 99% will result in an approximately 99%² combined reduction in UV penetration through the front-door windows and windshield of the new Vitz. TMC estimates that the resulting sunburn protection is equivalent to that of wearing gloves while driving³.

Windshields, which use laminated glass, can be given approximately 99% UV-reduction performance by inserting a UV-blocking film between two sheets of glass in the laminating process. Car-door windows, on the other hand, generally use single-piece tempered glass that is often imbued with a UV-absorbing material to achieve approximately 89% UV protection. Getting the UV-reduction performance of door-window glass closer to 100% requires the use of UV absorption technologies. Thus, the interior side of the door-window glass to be used in the new Vitz has been surfaced with a high-performance UV-absorbing film to achieve approximately 99% UV-reduction performance.