I just bought a 2008 corolla. THere are dots on the passenger side of the windshield and up around the rear view mirror. I thought it might be an antenna but the dots aren’t connected and the car has an antenna on the roof anyway.
What are these dots for? There aren’t any on the driver’s side.
Do the dots get denser as they get to the top of the windshield, forming sort of a gradient? It was like that on my `96 Corolla, and I always thought it was to shield from the sun. I don’t recall whether it was passenger-side only, though.
I’ve never seen a stated purpose, but on my Toyota the “dotted” area around the rear view mirror reduces the sun’s intensity in the area not covered by the sun visors.
Rain sensor for automatic windshield wipers?
Sun shade would be my first guess too except the dots run down the passenger side but not the driver’s side. Anyone know about Sirius radio? would this have something to do with that? Does Sirius need a “different” antenna? I don’t have Sirius, but I could see where a new car might be “set up” to accept it.
I have a similar pattern of dots around the rain and light sensors, between the visors and presumed that they were to reduce the light intensity around the rear view mirror.
No.
The rain sensor (on the cars I have seen) is a box mounted on the inner side of the windshield that shines an IR light that reflects off the outer surface.
The dots are (pick all that apply)
A) sunshade
B) cosmetic
Same here. Now I have to go take another look at the passenger side!
just cosmetic my ford has them on all the windows they graduate from small to large i think it just breaks up the sharp edges of the window seals
Well, they’re there and I can’t imagine why it’s only on the passenger side. The ones between the visors make sense, for sun shade. Perhaps it’s only the passenger side to cut some sort of sideways glare?
Does your car have a visible antenna anywhere for the radio?
On mine, yes, it sticks up from the back of the top of the car.
Got me stumped. My old Mercedes had a bunch of dots on the windshield top, behind and a little to each side of the mirror. I finally figured out, first time we put down both visors when driving into the sun, that it did dim the sunlight streaming in between them.
Your only recourse, I suppose, is to send an email to Mr Toyota and ask him. 
Mine has the antenna on the back top of the car as I had mentioned before. I can totally accept the cosmetic or sun shield thing except that it isn’t symmetric.
Maybe the question should be why isn’t it on the driver’s side?
Surely we have some Toyota auto glass engineer here on the boards.
Hey you! yes… YOU… over there in front of that computer screen…Why did you design the windshield that way?
I know what you mean. Now that I see it I’m not sure I can drive such an unbalanced vehicle!
OK, if it’s not a typo, there’s a word for it:
“The black dots above the mirror are whats [sic] called a third visor frit, it is supposed to help with the sun glare between the drop down visors (it is baked on paint). The blue shading across the top is tinting on the vinyl that is between the two pieces of glass that make up the windshield.”
Ah, here we go:
<<Q: Several years ago, black dots started appearing on new vehicle windshields. The dots are usually only around the periphery of the windshield. What purpose do these dots serve? --Brad, Midland, Texas
A: Windshield glass contains a black enamel band (called the frit) around the periphery that is baked into the glass. This black band includes a border of dots. The band has an etched surface to enable adhesive to bond to the glass, says a sales manager at Able Auto Glass. When car manufacturers install the windshield, they bond the windshield to the vehicle with adhesive placed on the etched part of the black enamel glass area (inside surface). The outside of the enamel band shades the adhesive from the Sun and protects it from ultraviolet radiation. The band also serves a cosmetic purpose by covering up the adhesive and gives the windshield edge “a more finished look.”
Rather than a straight black edge, the dot border blends the solid band into the clear glass, says Steve Coyle at Auto Glass Specialists. Some windshields also use the dots as a third sun visor to block the Sun behind the rearview mirror where most visors don’t reach.>>
Drat. No explanation of why only on the passenger side.