North Texas Toll Tags

[ZestyChicken]

Just wondering if anyone has had any luck getting the toll tags to work in DFW area. I haven't gotten my Tesla yet, but I've heard from another Dallas owner that you can't mount them on the windshield due to interference. This is the sticker model of tolltags I'm talking about. Apparently there is also a hard plastic model you can mount on the front license plate or in the front cone. Wasn't clear whether that actually worked (and how aesthetically pleasing that is). I have the super old tags on my current car which are gray and you attach them to velcro strips in the top left hand of the windshield. Curious if those might work.

Anyway, anyone have an option that works?

 

[SteveH]

I can only tell you what hasn't worked so far. First I asked Jack (Jack is awesome) at the service center to put the toll tag behind the nosecone. I really liked that idea because you couldn't see it and it seemed like it would work. Go to DFW No workie.

So then I go back to the toll tag store and buy one and put it on my windshield where they tell you to, right behind the rear view mirror. Go to DFW. No workie.

Call the toll tag store and they tell me that the two toll tags are probably interfering with each other. And to have the one in the nosecone removed. Did I mention Jack is awesome. He took it out for me without complaint.

I haven't been back to DFW since. Will try to go back tomorrow. Jack did say that he's installed some of the new big tags designed to go on a front license plate behind the nosecone and has heard that worked.

I'll try to go by DFW tomorrow and test to see if the current standard location by itself works. If not, then I'll try the big thing behind the nosecone. (Thank goodness for Jack's awesomeness.)

 

[ZestyChicken]

What was the original tolltag you put in the cone?

Was it the sticker

the old gray plastic ones, or the new black License Plate Tag?

 

[SteveH]

Sticker

 

[LagunaDallas]

Jack is awesome, no doubt. Unfortunately mine isn't working in the nose cone. There is another thread on here about them working when attached to the plastic rear-view mirror *mount* as opposed to the actual windshield. Not sure if that's something that applies to the transponders and stickers and other parts of the country vs. our TollTags, though. I have a couple items that need to be fixed and will be back to see Jack soon, at which point I'll have him take it from the nose and try something else.

 

[pete8314]

For now mine is just stuffed up into the headlining by the rear view mirror, so that about half of it is showing. I think most of the highway toll gantries failover to plate recognition if they can't ping the tag, so no problems there either way. Not sure about DFW, I thought they used a different tag system (at least they did a few years ago), so just pay cash there anyway.

 

[ZestyChicken]

For now mine is just stuffed up into the headlining by the rear view mirror, so that about half of it is showing. I think most of the highway toll gantries failover to plate recognition if they can't ping the tag, so no problems there either way. Not sure about DFW, I thought they used a different tag system (at least they did a few years ago), so just pay cash there anyway.

Well the NTTA (North Texas Toll Authority) charges more if they charge you by your license plate than if they hit your tolltag.

 

[mark]

Well the NTTA (North Texas Toll Authority) charges more if they charge you by your license plate than if they hit your tolltag.

This is only true if you don't have an account. If you have a tag that doesn't read, then it bills your account the same as if it picked up.
I used the "wedge it under the mirror/headliner" approach and it didn't work at DFW on the way in, but picked up at the exit.

 

[SteveH]

Agreed. The real problem is the airport where you have to stop if you don't have a tolltag.

 

[SteveH]

I tried my new tolltag sticker at DFW last night with no joy. So now I've tried a sticker behind the nosecone: no luck. And behind the rearview mirror. No luck.

Who has had luck?

 

[stephenpace]

Only place left is rear frunk as high as you can go aiming for the gap between the hood and the windshield. Try taping tag there to start and if it works, temporarily tape it to the underside of the frunk cover, and if that still works, attach it permanently. Sounds like the reader at the airport is on the weak side.

More information:

Things you may not have discovered about your Model S?!!


There is one tip on page 3 of the thread about EZ passes that answers a question that many of us have had:

"You can mount an "EZ pass" windshield sticker and hide most of the sticker by sliding it part way underneath the rear view mirror support on the right side and sliding the top half of the sticker into the seam between the top of the windshield and the roof.

At least in my car, the sticker is snug enough it probably won't have to be "stuck" to the windshield there.

This hides most of the sticker from view from the inside of the car - and also from the outside, because it's at the top of the area with black dots in the center of the windshield.

I found this spot by making multiple passes through an EZ Tag test lane, placing the sticker at various locations on the windshield - until I could find one that worked reliably - and by accident, found this extremely convenient location."

 

[hcoon2000]

Stephen has found the location that worked for me at the airport. It is on the right side of the mirror near the black dots. My toll tag is exposed about 1/4 inch at the bottom of the mirror. North Texas Tollway has acknowledged they are reading my license plate for tolls and the airport is reading the tag for entry. Apparently as long as my tolltag and license plate are noted properly in their system I am billed at the tolltag rate and not the higher zipcash rate. Before I found this spot I simply waived the tolltag outside my driver's window when I wanted to enter the airport.

 

[stephenpace]

Glad that worked for you! If you don't mind, please post a photo when you get a chance so others can use similar placement if they need to.

 

[Gigemags]

I've been thru these threads and have tried all suggested positions for the sticker with no luck at DFW and office gates, even the black-dot locations.

I now have the large black plastic license-plate mounted transponder and started by zip-tying it to the front grille...no luck. I'm guessing that the hood/nose meta trim may be blocking it.

Next step is to try under the nosecone.

 

[flybob08]

Gigemags

Take a look at the photos of my toll tag under the nose cone mounted on the bumper - It works like a champ on the toll road, office parking lot gate and subdivision gate. The gates jump open much faster than with the window sticker on my old car. http://www.teslamotorsclub.com/showthread.php/8427-Houston-TX/page17

 

[Rockster]

This is only true if you don't have an account. If you have a tag that doesn't read, then it bills your account the same as if it picked up.
I used the "wedge it under the mirror/headliner" approach and it didn't work at DFW on the way in, but picked up at the exit.

I thought that was true, too, so I haven't been terribly concerned about my toll tag, content to let NTTA read my license plate. That changed, however, when I received an email this morning from NTTA saying that since they've been unable to read my toll tag for a while now they're going to start charging me the higher fee. Quoting:

"We recently noticed an inconsistency with your TollTag account and wanted to alert you. Our tolling equipment is not detecting one or more of your TollTag(s) when your vehicle passes tolling points. Most likely, this is occurring because the TollTag is improperly installed, not in the vehicle or, on rare occasions, is defective.... Because of the additional time required to process and collect tolls, your account will be billed at the 50 percent higher ZipCash rate if these problems persist."

 

[Chris TX]

I just got the same email today. I'll be paying the Plano office a visit soon to get the plate mounted one and put it behind the nosecone. They have a test area, too.

 

[mark]

Same email here also. Same plan as Chris...

 

[Rockster]

I went to the toll tag store today at lunch and swapped my old, credit card-type tag for the black, mountable one. Our 12,500 mile service is tomorrow and I'll ask Jack to install it behind the nosecone.

 

[Chris TX]

Today around 2:30PM, I went to the Plano NTTA office and spend a bit of time with one of the supervisors named Rine Sanchez. He was really helpful and said he knows of other Tesla owners that are having this same problem. He had a hand-held tag reader and we went out to the car to try various locations. Some seemed promising, so I hopped on the tollway to test it out but none of them worked. He checked the system each time I got back and they never registered.

1. Sticky slim tag stuck to the middle of the inside of the nosecone
Reader had to be almost touching the nosecone but never registered on the tollbooth
2. Sticky slim tag slipped between the dash and windshield, just below the IR coating
Reader had an easier time reading it, but tollbooth still didn't register it.
3. Older hard plastic tag, will try it between the dash and the windshield. I'll be putting a string or something on it to retrieve it.

Once I have #3 in place, I'll tool around the booths to see if it registers. If not, I'll get the larger black module and put it behind the nosecone. I'll be damned if I'm forced to drill holes in my nosecone or pay the ZipCash toll price.