Curious as to whether this is a mic mounted on my windscreen

[ALD 2]

Hi everyone, I have this 20c sized sensor of some sort mounted at the top of my windscreen by the rear view mirror.  While it looks just like what I reckon a mic would look like, given my car has zero handsfree or similar, I'm guessing its actually some other kind of sensor?  Any assistance identifying what this is would be much appreciated!

[zero 1162]

If its a jap import, in japan they have sensors for gps and automatically paying at toll booths.

[ALD 2]

Interesting.  It is a Japanese import.  If it is a sensor for gps/automatically paying at toll booths I wonder how it works.  The car has zero comms, no nav etc.  Maybe its some kind of RFID sensor ...

[Michael. 2313]

Glass break sensor? 

Prob factory toll booth sensor though, surely. 

[C-130 Hercules 571]

Not a rain sensor? 

[ALD 2]

Don't think it could be a rain sensor, the wipers are entirely manual.  Seems to be an evolving consensus that it may be a toll booth sensor which hadn't occurred to me.  What threw me off was the mic-like grill on the front of it.  It looks OEM, very professionally fitted, a little surprised that BMW would make something so market specific as a Japanese toll both sensor!

Anyone else with a Japanese import have one of these up near the rear view mirror?

[Michael. 2313]

Has to be a toll sensor from a third party, dealer option or similar. 

Removed from an E46 in Japan. 

 

[ALD 2]

The two devices look almost identical Michael.  So, a toll booth sensor.  I have been looking at the damn thing for years wondering what it was.  Now I know!  Thanks for your help everyone!

[zero 1162]

My wifes e46 was a jap import and I pulled a whole heap of electronics out of it that are useless here. You will probably find a card reader which accepts the prepaid toll cards, and modules to send voice messages to your stereo etc.

I removed all of it as I dont like clutter, even if most of the clutter was under the dash.

[ALD 2]

Hi Nathan, yeah, there was something that chatted to me in Japanese every time I turned the car on.  There was a card reader in that compartment below and to the right of the steering wheel.  For some reason removing the card stopped the voice.  With the immediate problem solved I didn't bother investigating further to discover what it was all for.  I'm thinking of putting a new stereo in so perhaps that will provide the opportunity to remove the toll booth sensor and card reader.  I wonder if either are connected to the stereo?

[zero 1162]

The voice was probably saying that there is no card.

I had heaps of other crap too like memeory card readers, dvd players, gps etc which I stripped out.

None of it works in NZ.

I have an okay stereo setup in the wifes e46, but with the oem head unit.

On the e46 the speakers and speaker mounting are easily the weak link, followed by the amplification, the headdeck, then the wiring.

If you like music, then its worth looking at replacing the speakers.

[Neal 544]

On 11/29/2017 at 1:33 PM, ALD said:

Hi Nathan, yeah, there was something that chatted to me in Japanese every time I turned the car on.  There was a card reader in that compartment below and to the right of the steering wheel.  For some reason removing the card stopped the voice.  With the immediate problem solved I didn't bother investigating further to discover what it was all for.  I'm thinking of putting a new stereo in so perhaps that will provide the opportunity to remove the toll booth sensor and card reader.  I wonder if either are connected to the stereo?

Most likely has a vics module if your hearing announcements.