Anybody know what this little sticker is by the rear view mirror? It looks like an antenna but it doesn't appear to be hooked up to anything plus it is right under the sun blocker behind the rear view mirror which I suspect is metallic (which would block RF).

 

My 2002 does not have that so no help here.

 

I could be wrong, but it does look like a signal booster for cell phone.

 

yelp, i concur

 

To answer Harold's original post, yes it is an antenna. And, no it's not a signal booster...it's a RFID tag. http://www.alientechnology.com/docs/...0-Squiggle.pdf. Someone is keeping tabs on that car.

 

Do you use Park Place Lexus for service? If so, then that's the "chip" they put in to notify them when you pull up to their drive way. It can inform them of your arrival with name, year and model of your car, recent service history, and inform their service adviser of your present.

 

Makes perfect sense for a dealer to use this type of passive technology to "manage" their customers as long as they have disclosed it to the owner.
Personally, I would not allow a device such as this in my car, but that's just me.

 

Oh, I want everybody to know where I am at all times.
Where do I get one of those?

 

Is the OP Married ?... could be the wife !

 

I had suspicions about it being an RFID but couldn't imagine who would have placed it there unless it was the dealer or the windshield manufacturer.

The original owner did purchase it from Park Place and I have brought it in to Park Place a number of times. They never asked me for permission to place it there. I'll have to ask my service guy there. It would be kind of annoying if they did that without asking me.

The funny thing is that the first time I noticed it was about a week ago and I've owned the car for 6 years now. (Hmmm, maybe that is more sad than funny.)

So is someone considered parnoid if they really are out to get them?

 

rfid for sure. not sure for what tho. ive seen aftermarket alarms with rfids

 

i wonder what the range of these things are?

 

It depends, differs from the type to type

This one in particular looks to be between 1- 100m

Generally they tend to be a very small range eg 1cm -1m but it looks like the OP's one has the little chip in the centre then the rest of the silver/gold bit is an antenna which extends the range.

 

Generally speaking 10 meters is a good assumption, but it depends on antenna design and power.

 

Sewell Dallas put theirs on top of the rearview mirror. I can feel it if I needed to adjust the rearview mirror.