After a DUI in Nevada, you must have an ignition interlock device (IID) installed in your car for you to continue driving while your driver’s license is suspended. IIDs are small breathalyzers that prevent your vehicle from starting if it detects alcohol on your breath.
This chart illustrates how long you must drive with an IID following a DUI in Nevada.
| Nevada DUI Conviction | IID Sentence |
Felony DUI:
| 12 to 36 months |
| Misdemeanor DUI with a breath alcohol concentration / blood alcohol content (BAC) of 0.18% or higher | 12 to 36 months |
| Misdemeanor DUI with a BAC less than 0.18% | 185 days |
Below, our Las Vegas DUI defense lawyers discuss the following IID topics:
- 1. What if I fail a test?
- 2. Penalties for Driving Without IIDs
- 3. Which Cars You Can Drive
- 4. Undue Hardship Exception
- 5. How IIDs Work
- 6. How do I get an IID?
- 7. How much does it cost?
- 8. License Reinstatement
- 9. DUI Penalties
IIDs are also called BIDs, short for “breath interlock devices.”
1. What if I fail a test?
IIDs keep a log of all failed breath tests. At your next appointment with the IID-certified service provider, the technician will download the information and give it to the court.
How the court responds to failed tests depends on the specific case. If there is an innocent explanation — such as using mouthwash with alcohol — there may be no repercussions. Otherwise, the judge will likely increase the length of time you must use the IID.1
If the failed test occurs in the last four months of your IID sentence, the judge can increase this sentence by up to 50%: 2
Example: Jed is ordered to use an IID for 12 months. In month 10, Jed fails the IID test. Since he is within the last four months of the sentence, the judge can increase his IID sentence by six months — 50% of his original year-long sentence.
If the judge had ordered you to abstain from alcohol, then a failed test could result in you going to jail.
IIDs are small, no bigger than a mobile phone. They are installed on a vehicle’s steering column near the ignition.
2. Penalties for Driving Without IIDs
Driving without an IID when required — or tampering with it — is a misdemeanor in Nevada. The penalty is either:
- 30 days to 6 months in jail; or
- 60 days to 6 months in home confinement and $500 to $1,000 in fines.
In addition, the Nevada Department of Motor Vehicles will revoke your license for three years. If you drive without an IID again, the Nevada DMV will revoke your license for five years.3
It is also a misdemeanor for anyone but you to blow in your IID. The penalty includes:
- up to 6 months in jail; and/or
- up to $1,000 in fines.4
3. Which Cars You Can Drive
If you are ordered to use IIDs, you are required to install one in every car and motorcycle you drive, whether you own them or not. During this time, you may not drive any car without an IID, such as a rental car.
You may drive your employer’s company cars without an IID only if:
- there is written proof the employer was notified of your IID restriction; and
- that written proof is kept in the company car at all times; and
- the company car is not a commercial vehicle.
Written proof can be a court order with your employer’s signature. Alternatively, it could be a letter written by your employer stating their awareness of your IID restriction.5
4. Undue Hardship Exception
If you are convicted of a DUI-first in Nevada, you can potentially get out of the IID requirement by showing it causes you undue hardship. There are four possible grounds for undue hardship:
- you cannot provide a deep lung sample, and a physician confirms this in writing;
- you reside more than 100 miles from an IID manufacturer or agent;
- maintaining an IID would pose an economic hardship; or
- your car is necessary to travel for work or to obtain medicine, food, necessities, or health care for you or your immediate family.6
IIDs have a mouthpiece where you are required to blow. If the breath sample is alcohol-free, the car can start.
5. How IIDs Work
If the IID detects that your BAC is 0.02% or higher, the IID will disable the car from starting because you are presumably under the influence of alcohol.7
Once the car is running, the IID will conduct periodic rolling tests within the first 15 minutes of starting the car, and then again at 45-minute intervals.
When the IID asks for a rolling sample, you usually have six minutes to breathe into the device. If you do not pass the breath test or provide a sample in time, the car will not stop. Instead, the IID will register a fail in its log.
6. How do I get an IID?
Go to a certified service interlock provider that offers IIDs certified by the Nevada Committee on Testing for Intoxication. The court or DMV should provide a list of where you can go to get the IID.
Only employees at certified service providers may install, check, repair, and remove breath interlock devices. Once you get the IID, you must provide proof of ignition interlock device installation to the DMV.
Approved Interlock Providers in Nevada
- AlcoAlert Interlock, Inc.
- Alcohol Detection Systems – Determinator
- ALCOLOCK
- B.E.S.T. Labs Inc. – FR9000
- Draeger (RoadGuard) – Draeger Interlock or Draeger XT
- Guardian – Guardian AMS 2500
- Intoxalock
- LMG / Lifesafer
- Low Cost Interlock
- SkyFineUSA
- Smart Start – SSI 20/20
7. What are the costs?
It usually costs up to $170 to install and another $120 monthly to maintain each IID. You are also responsible for the costs of repairing, calibrating, and removing the IID.
You must get your IIDs inspected by the manufacturer or its agent regularly. The frequency of these inspections depends on your DUI conviction, as the following table shows:8
| Nevada DUI Conviction | Frequency of IID inspection |
| Felony DUI | Every 90 days |
| Misdemeanor DUI with a BAC of 0.18% or higher | Every 90 days |
| Misdemeanor DUI with a BAC of less than 0.18% | Once |
8. License Reinstatement
Contact the DMV for the exact reinstatement requirements in your particular case. Expect to:
- appear at a DMV office in person,
- pay reinstatement fees, and
- show proof of SR-22 insurance (proof of financial responsibility).
In some cases, you may have to take a driving skills test.
9. DUI Penalties
The penalties for driving under the influence in Nevada grow harsher with each successive conviction, as the following table shows:
| DUI Conviction | Nevada Punishments |
| DUI 1st (in 7 years) | Misdemeanor:
|
| DUI 2nd (in 7 years) | Misdemeanor:
|
| DUI 3rd (in 7 years) | Category B felony:
|
Note that refusing to take a preliminary breath test or an evidentiary chemical test will result in an immediate license revocation for at least one year.9
Legal References
- NRS 484C.470. See also NRS 484C.460; NRS 483.460; NRS 483.464; Katherine Jarvis, New Nevada law requiring breathalyzer device for DUI offenders takes effect, KTNV-13 (October 3, 2018). See, for example, Silva v. State (2016) 403 P.3d 378.
- NRS 484C.470.
- NRS 483.460; NRS 484C.470.
- NRS 484C.475. See, for example, Chamberlain v. State (Court of Appeals of Nevada, 2022) 514 P.3d 468.
- NRS 484C.460.
- Same.
- NRS 484C.450.
- NRS 484C.460.
- NRS 484C.400. NRS 484C.150. NRS 484C.160.