-- Soft-top convertible Jeep Wrangler fans breathe easy: you will still be able to buy one in the Golden State.

The California Air Resources Board said Friday that when it issues its final "cool car" regulations, which will require vehicles to reduce the amount of heat entering vehicles starting in the 2012 model year, it will exempt soft-sided plastic windows.

"The Cool Cars regulation only applies to rigid windows and will not affect the flexible glazing on vehicles such as the Jeep Wrangler," the board said.

"If the plastic windows are rigid, they must comply with the same standards as glass windows, beginning with the 2012 model year."

The board has not yet published its final proposed regulation, which is due by month's end.

Chrysler officials raised the possibility that they wouldn't be able to sell the vehicle in California.

Chrysler Group LLC sought an exemption for vehicles' plastic windows, warning it could affect its GEM Electric vehicle and Jeep Wrangler.

The irony is the GEM electric vehicles don't even offer air conditioning, Chrysler told the board.

"The very popular Jeep Wrangler fitted with a soft convertible top uses flexible roll-up side windows which are not capable of meeting the side window standard," Ross Good, Chrysler's senior manager of government relations told the board.

"Outlawing the soft top would require us to use the hard-top vehicle with the hard windows, which would add significant weight to the vehicle."

The regulation takes effect in 2012, with a three-year phase-in, and requires all vehicles prevent 45 percent of the energy from the sun from entering a vehicle by 2014, and 60 percent by 2016. The regulation applies to new vehicles weighing 10,000 pounds or less.

The initial "cool car" regulation will cost $111 over the life of a vehicle; the 2016 standard will add $250 to a vehicle's cost. California says it will take five to 12 years for consumers to recoup the costs, through reduced gasoline use.

Air conditioning burns more gasoline and contributes to greenhouse gas emissions.

California says its regulation will save 700,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide by 2020, which is equivalent to taking 140,000 cars off the road for a year.