Power Windows Failing

[George_San_Jose1]

@TwinTurbo

Are you implying that mechanical window controls never fail?

No, although I’ve never had a mechanical window totally fail myself. When they start to get balky I lube the mechanism. I guess what we need is some unbiased window failure statistics, manually cranked windows vs electric windows. .

[davesmopar]

@George_San_Jose1

I guess what we need is some unbiased window failure statistics, manually cranked windows vs electric windows. .

That is going to be very hard to do, most vehicles have P/W’s now days, I think around 2008 a few or more manufactures stopped offering C/W’s, my 2009 has C/W’s (that is what my wife wanted at the time), but my 06 had P/W’s…

That being said, I have zero statistics and only can go by what I have done but I have replaced many crank window regulators back in the day as well as power ones… I have seen the old crank Scissor-type window regulators bend as well as many of the roller wheels break… I have also replaced power scissor-type regulators also for the same thing…

Now I have also replaced a lot of cable-type as well as a few ribbon-type P/W regulators… Over the years I have replaced more P/W stuff because there are more P/W stuff then C/W stuff out there, and the newer the vehicle the less crank regulators get replaced… A regulator is a regulator, main difference is what makes it move… Cables tend to fray and bind up or break and that seems to over work the motors causing them to fail as well…
Also the more you use your windows (drive throughs, mail box, letting hot air out, letting your dog hang it’s head out, etc) the faster it will normally wear out…

If available, I always replace a P/W regulator and motor together, but that is not always an option…
Again just my observation over the years, others may/will differ…

[wolyrobb]

We had to buy a window regulator repair kit a couple times to replace the plastic tape that the regulator rides on for the 1988 Grand Voyager, none of the much newer cars with power windows have had any problems.

[bing]

I did have to replace the plastic ribbon gear once in my door. I was welding on the door and caught it on fire. Luckily I had an extinguisher handy and the dealer stocked the part. Operator error I guess.

[VDCdriver]

@bing

Stuff has gotten better in 50 or so years

Yup!
When I was a kid, back in the '50s, one of the mantras that was recited to anyone shopping for a new car was, “Don’t get power windows because if one of them fails, it will cost $40 to repair”.

I don’t know how accurate that $40 figure was, but that was a sizable chunk of change in those days, so most people did avoid power windows, which apparently did have a fairly high failure rate in The Good Old Days.

[jtsanders]

@Mustangman

I am on window regulator #6, I think, on my Chevy Avalanche All 4 at least once and the driver and passenger fronts twice in 151K miles and 19 years. And it is never the motors, it is always the mechanism. Weak design.

@TwinTurbo

I’ve replaced a couple regulators over the years. Same as Mustangman, never the motor or switches, the mechanism gets worn out or sticky after 10-12 years. That causes the motor to work harder and eventually trip the over current protection.

Electromechanical systems have a mechanical component too and that is most likely to fail, causing the electronic fail safe response.

[Maxbiskup93]

The driver window is working today…probably the a window motor close to failure?

[Mustangman]

@jtsanders

Electronic systems are more reliable than mechanical systems.

I’ve heard that for years… mostly from Electrical engineers I am a Mechanical myself…

Mechanical systems don’t fail from simply age like electronics with capacitors… My 120 year old crank handle meat grinder works perfectly but my 10 year old Mustang powertrain control module didn’t.

And electronic components, for the most part, need those mechanical bits to do work. We are all in this together!

[TwinTurbo]

@Mustangman

Mechanical systems don’t fail from simply age like electronics with capacitors

Oh yes they do! Lots of plastic bits that degrade due to environmental exposure. Look at those “bumper” bits in one of the other threads on regulators for example. And it’s been going on for years! I had one of those plastic encased timing gears in an old vette that disintegrated and plugged up my oil intake screen. Mechanical guys started it. The Electronic guys just perpetuated what they started

Now the software guys think both ME and EE are to blame. They have coffee cups with quotes- don’t bother me, it’s clearly a hardware problem!

@Mustangman

And electronic components, for the most part, need those mechanical bits to do work. We are all in this together!

So true!

[George_San_Jose1]

Good posts above. It seems until we get some unbiased stats – e.g. needed stuck window repairs per 1000 vehicles, manual vs power windows – we just don’t know. It would be interesting to know the average fee, P + L, to repair a stuck manual window vs electric as well.

[texases]

@George_San_Jose1

until we get some unbiased stats – e.g. needed stuck window repairs per 1000 vehicles, manual vs power windows

Which doesn’t, and will never, exist.

[VDCdriver]

@texases

Which doesn’t, and will never, exist.

While it’s possible that those stats existed at some point in the past, the sample size for hand-cranked windows nowadays is so small as to make it very difficult to compile statistics, and because the sample would be made-up of only “older” cars, it would be largely irrelevant. To the best of my knowledge, no new cars with hand-cranked windows have been sold in The US for at least a few years.

[bcohen2010]

@VDCdriver

To the best of my knowledge, no new cars with hand-cranked windows have been sold in The US for at least a few years.

Up until very recently, you could still get the Nissan Versa and Kia Rio with hand-crank windows. The Versa would actually be a decent car, but for the 100,000 mile throwaway transmission.