Ignition interlock requirements in California

California runs the most precisely specified interlock scheme of the states on this site: a fixed window of offense dates, a published table of terms, and four named exemptions. It is also the one where the common assumption — that a first DUI means a device — is usually wrong.

A program with a start date, an end date and an exemption

California's statewide interlock program is bounded in a way most state schemes are not. It applies to driving-under-the-influence offenses committed on or after 1 January 2019 and through 31 December 2032, for offenses involving alcohol or a combination of alcohol and drugs.

What the section itself says

That window is how the DMV describes the program. The statute behind it, Cal. Veh. Code sec. 23575.3, is written by conviction date and has an end of its own. Its requirements “shall apply only to a person who is convicted for a violation of Section 23152 or 23153 that occurred on or after January 1, 2019”, and the section “shall remain in effect only until January 1, 2033, and as of that date is repealed, unless a later enacted statute, that is enacted before January 1, 2033, deletes or extends that date.” It was last amended by Assembly Bill 366 (Stats. 2025, ch. 689), effective January 1, 2026.

It then carves four groups out. First-time offenders whose violation did not involve drugs only and did not result in injury are outside the mandatory terms. So are repeat offenders whose violation involved drugs only, offenders who were administratively suspended after arrest, and anyone approved for an exemption.

That first carve-out is the one that matters most often, and it is the opposite of what people assume. A first DUI in California, with no injury and no drugs-only element, carries no mandatory interlock restriction term at all.

No mandatory term is not the same as no device. For a first conviction under section 23152 the statute allows exactly one of three things: the court may order a device “for a period not to exceed six months from the date of conviction”, or the person may apply to the DMV for a restricted license under section 13352.4, or under section 13352(a)(1) or 13352.1(c). Which of those happens is decided in your case, not by the table below.

The term ladder

Where a term does apply, two variables set its length: how many prior convictions within ten years, and whether anyone was injured.

The same ladder in the statute, in months

Section 23575.3(h) writes the terms in months and splits them by the offense charged. Under section 23152, the no-injury offense: one prior conviction, 12 months; two, 24 months; three or more, or a conviction punishable under section 23550.5, 36 months. Under section 23153, where someone was injured: no prior, 12 months; one, 24; two, 36; one prior punishable under section 23550.5, 48 months. A “prior” is a separate conviction within ten years for DUI, for the reduced alcohol-related reckless driving charge under section 23103.5, for the intoxicated-manslaughter offenses in Penal Code 191.5(a) or (b) and 192.5(a), or for boating under the influence under the Harbors and Navigation Code.

The clock does not start at sentencing. A term begins once proof of installation is filed and the privilege is reinstated or a restricted license is issued; time already spent on a restricted license under section 13353.6 or 13353.75 counts toward it; and any period out of compliance “shall not be credited towards the mandatory term”.

The trade the program actually offers

Read the requirements rather than the penalties and a different picture emerges. Program participants may comply with the mandatory installation immediately, without first serving any suspension or revocation period.

That is the deal on the table: a device in the car, now, instead of a period of not driving at all. Whether it is worth taking depends entirely on whether you need to drive, which is a question about your life rather than about the law.

Before applying for an interlock-restricted license, offenders have to clear all other outstanding suspensions. So it does not work as a route around unrelated license problems, and it does not stand in for the financial-responsibility filing, which is the next section.

The interlock does not replace the filing

These are two separate obligations that arrive from the same case and end at different times.

The interlock restriction is set by the DMV program above, at one to four years depending on priors and injury. The SR-22 filing runs for three years from the date proof was required, under a different section of a different code. Neither one discharges the other, and finishing the interlock term does not release the certificate.

The practical error people make is assuming a single end date. There are two, they are set by two different documents, and the later one is the one that governs when this is over. The California SR-22 page covers the filing side.

The ten-year window, and why it is doing so much work

Every row of the table above counts priors within ten years. That qualifier decides more outcomes than anything else on this page, and it is the part summaries drop first.

Two drivers with identical records on paper can land in different rows because one of the prior convictions falls eleven years back rather than nine. The difference between the no-prior row and the one-prior row is the difference between no mandatory term and a year of it — or, where somebody was injured, between one year and two.

It also means the ladder is not a lifetime accumulation. A conviction that ages out of the window stops counting for this purpose, which is an unusual amount of relief to find in a driving statute and is worth confirming against your own dates rather than assuming.

Restriction, suspension and revocation are three different words

The program's vocabulary is precise and the three terms do different jobs. Reading them as synonyms is how people conclude they cannot drive when they can, or the reverse.

A suspension or revocation removes the driving privilege for a period. An interlock restriction does not remove it — it narrows it. You may drive, and under the program you may drive anywhere and at any time, provided the vehicle is fitted with a device.

That distinction is the whole value of the program to a participant, and it is why the DMV describes the requirements as things to satisfy before applying for an interlock-restricted driver license rather than as an additional penalty. The application is for a license, not for permission to serve a punishment differently.

Living with the device

The statute's day-to-day rules are short. Every vehicle you operate needs a device — and “operates” includes a vehicle you do not own. Each one has to be serviced by the installer at least every 60 days, and the installer reports to the DMV if the device is removed, if it shows an attempt to remove, bypass or tamper with it, or if you miss maintenance or calibration three or more times. A bypass includes skipping a random retest while the engine is running, or failing one above 0.03. You also pay the DMV an administration fee “determined by the department”; the section does not state the amount, so this page does not either.

Two rules catch people. You may not ride a motorcycle at all during the restriction, because the state has not certified a device that fits one — the motorcycle and interlock page compares states. And if you have no car, you can be exempt until you buy or get access to one, but only if you certify to the DMV within 30 days of its notice that you own no vehicle, have none at home, no longer have the one you were arrested in, and know you may drive only a vehicle with a device.

The offense-date window, and what sits outside it

The program applies to offenses committed on or after 1 January 2019 and through 31 December 2032. Both ends of that window matter.

An offense before the start date is not governed by this scheme, which is a live issue for anyone whose case is old and whose paperwork surfaced late. And the closing date is not just the end of an offense window — it is the section's own end: section 23575.3 is repealed on January 1, 2033 unless a later statute extends it before then. What happens to a term still running on that day is not written in the section, and this page does not guess; the DMV notice that set your term is the document to keep.

Three further groups sit outside the mandatory terms regardless of date: repeat offenders whose violation involved drugs only, offenders who were administratively suspended following arrest, and anyone approved for an exemption. Whether you are in one of those groups is a question of record rather than of interpretation, and the DMV holds the record.

What this costs: the statute sets shares, not prices

California's statute does not set a price for the device. It sets how much of the manufacturer's standard program cost you pay, by your income relative to the federal poverty level, and it makes the manufacturer carry the rest:

The reduced shares need proof: last year's federal tax return, three months of income statements, or Employment Development Department verification of unemployment benefits. Costs you run up by not complying are yours in every band. A certified manufacturer that fails to tell you about the schedule, or does not follow it, can be assessed up to $1,000 by the Department of Consumer Affairs — which is the reason to ask for the schedule before signing anything.

The prices the shares apply to are another matter. Device pricing is set by certified providers rather than by statute, it varies by region and by device, and a figure copied from a competitor page has no provenance at all. Ask the providers on the state's own certified list; the number you are given is the number, and it will be more current than anything published here could be.

Common questions