Thought that was gone with OnStar. The Acura site still shows it

 

I could be wrong, but I don't think it ever completely left. I know some models omitted it, but it is definitely present on the 09' RL. Aside from Onstar, the shark fin antenna is also used for XM and GPS.

 

I have not searched the threads or the manual, but I think the XM and GPS receivers are located in different places - one of them in the tail light area I believe. I remember being surprised to find out that they were not in the fin.

 

From the navigation manual: "If you have rear window tinting installed, be aware that if the tint has metallic properties, it can seriously degrade or prevent GPS reception. This is because the GPS antenna is located under the rear window beneath the rear shelf."

 

I knew someone would have the answer. Then is XM in the tail light?

 

"Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water......

TOOF!!!"

da dum, da Dum....da DUM......dum, Dum,DUM, DUM, DUM!

 

found this thread:
https://acurazine.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3085

 

The NAV antenna is mounted under the rear parcel shelf behind the top of the back seats; the XM antenna on the Tech model is attached to the rear window glass behind the 3rd brakelight cover (the ground plane is part of the rear window glass), while the base RL has the XM antenna mounted in the shark's fin; The 05 and 06 also had the onstar antenna in the shark's fin.

 

Thanks for the clarification. Bad assumption on my part.

 

XM antenna was enlarged to have the XM traffic data and the XM weather stream though faster, the engineers probably used some leftover parts and BAM!