What does the Solar Control on Mercedes-Benz ML430 windows?
“Solar Control” in automotive glass can mean a number of different things. The lowest level of performance is so called “solar tinted glass” which means some trace elements are added to the glass which improve the absorption of IR energy by the glass. This is the norm in all new vehicles produced by North American and European car companies and is becoming very common in Asian manufacturers as well. The next level of performance is IR absorbing PVB. PVB is the ‘glue’ that sticks together the two pieces of glass in a windshield (all windshields are laminated glass) and sometimes for side lites and back lites. This is not a very common technology but does see some use by Toyota and Honda. The best performance comes from IR reflecting coatings applied either to the glass or to a sheet of plastic that is then laminated in to the final window. Both technologies require laminated glass and both have about the same level of performance. These are used mostly on high end / luxury vehicles made
