Toyota has invented an innovative glass technology that claims to reduce ultraviolet (UV) light penetration into the front of the car by approximately 99 per cent.
The new front-door glass will be used in various new cars to be launched on international markets during 2011.
Combined with UV-reducing windscreens, the use of the new front-door glass will result in an approximate 99 per cent reduction in overall UV penetration through the front-door windows and windscreen. Toyota estimates that the resulting sunburn protection is equivalent to that of wearing gloves while driving.
Windscreens, which use laminated glass, reduce UV by approximately 99 per cent through the use of a UV-blocking film between two sheets of glass in the laminating process. Door windows, however, generally use single-piece tempered glass that is often instilled with UV-absorbing material to achieve approximately 89 per cent UV protection.
For the new front-door glass technology, the interior side of the window glass has been surfaced with a high-performance UV-absorbing film to achieve approximately 99 per cent UV-reduction.