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Does my S have metallic film on the windshield?
- Thread starter Cfinck
- Start date
Ostrichsak
Active Member
I have a 2015 S and the front windshield has some type of brown metallic tint to it. I have a barcode stick on the outside of the windshield that is used for something else, and the scanner cannot read it. The spot where you are supposed to put the detector/easy pass toll thingy has an obvious patch of dense metallic film directly in front of it, which makes no sense. I just put my detector on the dash and make the best of it.
Huachipato
Member
That black painted part next to the AP camera is the spot - easily seen in the image already posted. I imagine it is terrible for laser reception, but that is the spot for the toll tags and other transponders.
Edit: image of my tolltag installed next to mirror.
Edit: image of my tolltag installed next to mirror.
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Ostrichsak
Active Member
Ostrichsak
Active Member
I know this isn't what you asked, but...
As an avid high-end radar detector user for decades I would recommend not worrying about it. When I got my first Tesla I lost sleep over how to put one in these cars and the best answer is spendy mounted module units. Being as I didn't want to go that route and deal with installing every time we got another car (which is pretty frequently to this point) I opted to just run w/o one.
The reality is that I enable AP everywhere I go and the cap is almost always 5mph over which is more like 3mph over depending on the speed you're going. You're not going to get pulled over for that. You can only exceed that on divided roads and even then I choose to not drive super high speeds and it really hasn't been an issue in several years for me or my wife.
I think I put too much weight into those devices and how effective they were for me but my driving style now (thanks to AP) is such that I really don't miss running a radar detector at all. Saves me thousands and it's much less noisy and busy in my cars now.
There's no solid way to do what you're trying to do as only the newest Teslas are sans that metallic layer on the windshield. All of our older cars will drastically reduce the effectiveness of a radar detector behind the windshield to the point where it's not even worth it. The best answer for what you want to do is the high-dollar mounted units that require actual installation. Windshield mounted units won't work well in these cars but the up shot is they're largely unnecessary from my personal experience as someone who was once a huge proponent of them and their use.
Ostrichsak
Active Member
Different lighting conditions make it look different. I've seen some mornings during sunrise at the right angle and direction where a Lexus or Tesla coming at me has basically a golden glowing spartan shield for a windshield. Like I said, up until only VERY recently, every single Model S has this metallic UV protection built into the windshield. Only in newer versions did they include a black notch in the metallic coating which is replaced with another nearly equally signal blocking area supposedly for RF tags. Stupid IMO. There should be an entire area that has NOTHING over it but... what do I know?
I get it's added assurance and, like I said, those things were one of the very first things I added to new cars, Heck, whenever I traveled by plane I would pack a radar detector just for the rental. To say I was obsessed with them is like saying Wayne Gretzky played hockey. Now, that I've had a few years with Teslas I don't even care. The way I see it I save a ton of money and have one less thing to worry about. FWIW, one of the ONLY tickets I've received in over a decade was in a vehicle that had a radar detector in it so....
EVRider-FL
Active Member
From what I recall, the older S did have a coated windshield, but the uncoated area next to the mirror wasn’t there initially. It was there in my early 2016 S. People using toll transponders had to mount them elsewhere, in the frunk, trunk, or on the license plate frame, depending on your state. However, my recollection could be incorrect. 
Oh so there is a chance even that spot on mine is coated. Awesome. I am going to call and check lol.From what I recall, the older S did have a coated windshield, but the uncoated area next to the mirror wasn’t there initially. It was there in my early 2016 S. People using toll transponders had to mount them elsewhere, in the frunk, trunk, or on the license plate frame, depending on your state. However, my recollection could be incorrect.
Ostrichsak
Active Member
Like I said previously, yours is w/o a doubt going to give you issues trying to run a radar detector. It's only the newest cars being made that don't have that coating from the factory. All previous cars had the coating. Some older ones had a place designated for RF tags and toll responders (you can see that giant black area next to the cam array in that photo above, it's a pretty obvious visual indication) but those didn't work the best either. The easiest way to tell if you have this one is the obvious blackout section on the passenger side of the AP cam array indicated by a previous picture that was posted. Given the age of your car I can almost guarantee that yours is the older version which still has the coating but no provisions for toll pass, etc.
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