WA GoodToGo Flex pass placement

[whitex]

In case you are wondering where to place your GoodToGo Flex Pass in a Taycan with noise and thermal insulated glass, the answer is in the dotted area at the top of the windshield next to the mirror.

That area is a little small (my wife's Audi Q8 eTron has the same area but large enough to fit the whole pass with a holder), so to fit it, I ended up doing some simple reverse engineering on the tag, determined that the RFID antennas are near the centerline when exposed, either to the left of center in toll mode, or to the right of center in HOV mode (only one of the antennas is exposed at a time, the red circuit board has a copper plane which blocks the other one depending on the position of the slider which contains the antennas).

I then ground off a quarter inch of the right side to make it even shorter on the right (shift it towards the right into the dotted area) - in retrospect I could have just ground off the top right corner.

and mounted it tight up on the windshield without the holder (which would have pushed it to the left)

It's been working on my car for months now without any issues, so I thought I'd share it as a verified, working solution.

I hope this helps someone. Note that it might work without making it shorter, or even the whole thing with the holder if you want to install it diagonally, I just wanted the RFID to be well within the dotted area, and for it to be as unobtrusive as possible, but still easily accessible and visible to the driver.

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[Dimo]

This is exactly what I was looking to learn about. One question, could you just mount the pass vertically so it fits in the dotted area without having to modify the pass frame? Thanks

 

[whitex]

This is exactly what I was looking to learn about. One question, could you just mount the pass vertically so it fits in the dotted area without having to modify the pass frame? Thanks

You should be able to mount it vertically, or diagonally. As long as the antennas are in the dotted area, they should work. Remember to test in both positions, TOLL and HOV as the corresponding antennas are in different places.

 

[gremlin]

I've got ours mounted diagonally to the right of the mirror and it's not being picked up, unfortunately they closed the office in Bellevue that you could do tests at, so instead we're left waiting for the mailed bills when we figure out it doesn't work!

 

[Dimo]

I ended up mounting vertically (see pic) and it seems to be working fine. good luck.

 

[jakeCT]

My car does not have the insulated glass option, however I strongly dislike seeing the tollpass. For the past few months I have experimented with various stealth mount locations:

• failed: on rear parcel shelf of my cross turismo
• failed: disassembled flex-pass with just the adhesive strip mounted in rubber cover piece under the hood, near the windshield base
• failed: disassembled flex-pass with just the adhesive strip stuck on my windshield-mounted dashcam
• (bought new flex pass)
• failed: inside the rear view mirror cover trim panel (I thought this one would have worked @whitex )
• success: inside front bumper cover, which has no metal obstruction and also near the sensor for waving the hood open.

All-in I spent about $20 in tolls that should have been free while in HOV, and another $15 for a new toll pass.

For a working fully-stealth mounting option:

1. Prepare by adding a full-length strip of VHB tape on the Flex Pass plastic clip, and attach it to your pass
2. In the frunk, gently remove the front rubber cover which is held by clips (no tools required). For the larger back rubber cover, you can temporarily remove the one clip to the fender, closest to the front cover, on each side, to make removal of the front cover easier.
3. (use option (a) or (b) below)
4. Finally, re-attach the rubber cover.

Option a) (what I did)

1. There are 4 torx screws (T25?)- 2 visible in my photo in green, holding the front bumper cover in place, remove these.
2. (optional, but may as well), prep the mounting area (red square in photo) with a small rag for optimal adhesion: use the opening (yellow square in my photo). IPA (isopropyl alcohol) on the rag and wiped on the area should do it.
3. Lift the top edge of the bumper cover (about 0.5"-1") gently such that you can move the pass in by hand, and place it firmly on the inside surface of the bumper cover, around the red area of photo.
4. (optional) use the opportunity to adjust your bumper cover so it is symmetrical on both sides
5. Tighten the 4 torx screws.

Option b)

1. If your hand can fit, it might be possible to use the opening (yellow square in my photo) and reach the same mounting location under the front bumper cover.

 

[gremlin]

Cool option but for us you have to be able to switch the pass between toll and HOV depending on number of people in the car so sadly not an option.
That said good to go makes passes that just stick on the license plate frame if you don’t need to switch them

 

[jakeCT]

Cool option but for us you have to be able to switch the pass between toll and HOV depending on number of people in the car so sadly not an option.
That said good to go makes passes that just stick on the license plate frame if you don’t need to switch them

I have my flex pass permanently on the HOV mode and use the HOV/HOT lanes when with passengers, usually my son. If just myself, I use the regular lanes.

 

[Flying ace]

My car does not have the insulated glass option, however I strongly dislike seeing the tollpass. For the past few months I have experimented with various stealth mount locations:

• failed: on rear parcel shelf of my cross turismo
• failed: disassembled flex-pass with just the adhesive strip mounted in rubber cover piece under the hood, near the windshield base
• failed: disassembled flex-pass with just the adhesive strip stuck on my windshield-mounted dashcam
• (bought new flex pass)
• failed: inside the rear view mirror cover trim panel (I thought this one would have worked @whitex )
• success: inside front bumper cover, which has no metal obstruction and also near the sensor for waving the hood open.

All-in I spent about $20 in tolls that should have been free while in HOV, and another $15 for a new toll pass.

For a working fully-stealth mounting option:

1. Prepare by adding a full-length strip of VHB tape on the Flex Pass plastic clip, and attach it to your pass
2. In the frunk, gently remove the front rubber cover which is held by clips (no tools required).

Option a) (what I did)

1. There are 4 torx screws (T25?)- 2 visible in my photo in green, holding the front bumper cover in place, remove these.
2. Lift the top edge of the bumper cover gently such that you can slide the pass in by hand, and place it firmly around the red area of photo

Option b)

1. If your hand can fit, it might be possible to use the opening (yellow square in my photo) and reach the same mounting location under the front bumper cover.

Does the area get wet or dirty?. When you prepared the area what did the prep pad pick up?

 

[jakeCT]

Does the area get wet or dirty?. When you prepared the area what did the prep pad pick up?

The area was ~95% clean and dry. The stickers and surfaces of adjacent components, including the hood hand wave sensor were also clean. I gave it a good prep with a microfiber and Gyeon Prep (typically used for paint coating preparation, mostly just isopropyl alcohol) and towel came out with little dirt.

 

[Flying ace]

The area was ~95% clean and dry. The stickers and surfaces of adjacent components, including the hood hand wave sensor were also clean. I gave it a good prep with a microfiber and Gyeon Prep (typically used for paint coating preparation, mostly just isopropyl alcohol) and towel came out with little dirt.

good to know. I'll give this mounting location a try too.

 

[whitex]

I have my flex pass permanently on the HOV mode and use the HOV/HOT lanes when with passengers, usually my son. If just myself, I use the regular lanes.

Personally I prefer to be able to switch to pay. Remember that some toll lane requirements around here are 3+ people, others 2+ people, depending on time. There might even be some without free option (520 bridge? Some SR’s), not sure what happens if you keep the toll tag in HOV there.

That said, for permanent HOV installation you could make it tiny, just remove the HOV circuit as shown in my picture (I think it actually is a sticker on plastic) and mount it wherever you want it - could probably fit on the back of the mirror, it neatly tucked under the headliner (still on glass).

 

[jakeCT]

Personally I prefer to be able to switch to pay. Remember that some toll lane requirements around here are 3+ people, others 2+ people, depending on time. There might even be some without free option (520 bridge? Some SR’s), not sure what happens if you keep the toll tag in HOV there.

That said, for permanent HOV installation you could make it tiny, just remove the HOV circuit as shown in my picture (I think it actually is a sticker on plastic) and mount it wherever you want it - could probably fit on the back of the mirror, it neatly tucked under the headliner (still on glass).

The paid bridges without regard for HOV will charge normally (HOV or TOLL mode).

I did try with just the disassembled pass using the sticker but it did not work. Something in the housing seems to work together with the sticker as an antenna to make it work, well that’s what the chatbots say anyway.

 

[gremlin]

Make sense I go 405N quite a bit to Everett and sometimes I’ll pay the toll when it’s just me and sometimes it 2 and there are 2 of us so I have to be able to switch is. I’ve managed to get it to work at an angle in the space next to the mirror

 

[whitex]

I did try with just the disassembled pass using the sticker but it did not work. Something in the housing seems to work together with the sticker as an antenna to make it work, well that’s what the chatbots say anyway.

Seems a little odd, especially that the non-HOV pass stickers are exactly just that. I was thinking maybe a solid metal backplane, but the circuit board is in front of those, not behind. Perhaps the sticker got damaged when removing or reapplying.

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