Ignition interlock requirements in Iowa

Iowa requires a device on every vehicle you operate before it issues a temporary restricted license. Repeat revocations add a year after reinstatement, and since 2025 violations add sixty days at a time.

No temporary license without a device

Iowa's interlock rule starts with the temporary restricted license. After an operating-while-intoxicated revocation the department may, on application, issue a license that lets the person drive as a class C license holder would — but it “shall not be issued until the applicant installs an approved ignition interlock device on all motor vehicles operated by the applicant.” Every vehicle the person operates, not one designated car.

The temporary license is not available to a person under 18 whose license was revoked under section 321J.2A, or during the period of ineligibility after a conviction involving a death. A temporary-license holder may not drive a commercial vehicle that requires a commercial license, or a school bus. Tampering with, removing without authorisation or circumventing a required device is a serious misdemeanor.

How long the revocation is

Section 321J.4 sets the revocation that follows a conviction, where the license has not already been revoked for the same arrest under the test-refusal or test-failure sections, and in each case repeats the same sentence: the department requires a device on all vehicles operated by the defendant if the defendant seeks a temporary restricted license.

• First conviction: 180 days if the person submitted to chemical testing; one year if they refused.
• Second: one year after a test; two years after a refusal. No temporary license until the device is installed.
• Deferred judgment: not less than 30 days nor more than 90.
• Third or later: six years.

A court finding that the conduct caused serious injury to someone else adds a year. A finding that it caused a death means a six-year revocation with no temporary license for at least two years. The 2024 amendments to this section apply to revocations where the underlying offense occurred on or after January 1, 2025.

After reinstatement: a year more for repeat revocations

For a second or subsequent revocation under the chapter, the device does not come off when the license comes back. The department requires certification of installation on all vehicles operated by the person seeking reinstatement, and the requirement lasts “for one year from the date of reinstatement unless a longer time period is required by statute.” The same applies after a conviction for driving while revoked under section 321J.21.

Time on a temporary license counts

The one-year post-reinstatement period is reduced by any time the person held a valid temporary restricted license during the revocation. Someone who drove on a device for the whole revocation may owe little or nothing after it; someone who sat out the revocation without driving owes the full year. That is the arithmetic the statute sets, and it is a reason the temporary license is usually worth applying for.

Compliance-based removal since 2025

Iowa added a compliance test that took effect January 1, 2025. The device period under sections 321J.17 or 321J.20 “shall be extended by an additional sixty days per occurrence” for any of these, detected by the device:

• ten or more violations within thirty days;
• five or more violations within twenty-four hours;
• tampering with or attempting to circumvent the device;
• removing the device without authorisation.

A violation is either failing to give a detectable breath sample when the device asks, or giving one with an alcohol concentration of .04 or more. There is a carve-out for a false start: if the person passes a test immediately after the first failed one, it is not a violation and is not reported. Nothing limits the number of extensions. Providers report violations and a final compliance report to the department electronically.

Medical waiver and early-termination fees

The department sets criteria by rule to waive the device for a person with a verifiable medical condition that makes them incapable of operating one, aligned with the federal exception in 23 U.S.C. section 164(a)(6). A waived person can get a temporary restricted license without a device, but only for the limited purposes in section 321.215(1)(a).

Separately, a provider “shall not impose an early termination fee” on a person who is no longer required to have a device and presents an unrestricted license before the end of the agreed term.

Before any license: the civil penalty and the course

Every revocation under the chapter carries a civil penalty of $200. No temporary restricted license is issued and no license is reinstated until it is paid. The department or court also orders the person, at their own expense, to complete a course for drinking drivers and to submit to evaluation and treatment; reinstatement waits for proof of both.

The filing that runs alongside it

Iowa's proof of financial responsibility is set by chapter 321A, not 321J. It certifies 20/40/15 and is released after 2 years. A revocation under 321J also suspends the registration of every vehicle in the person's name unless proof is given for all of them. The Iowa SR-22 page covers the filing.

What this page does not cover

The test-refusal and test-failure revocations in sections 321J.9 and 321J.12, the alcohol set point fixed by the commissioner of public safety, and the department's rules are in provisions this site has not read for this page. Device prices are set by providers, not by statute.

Common questions