Cars Have Had Power Windows For Way Longer Than You Might Think

You may not know it, but most American automobile manufacturers phased out hand-operated window cranks on new cars years ago. The last company to finally ditch them entirely was Jeep in September 2024, with its 2025 model-year Wrangler JL and Gladiator. However, when Slate announced the specifics for its yet-to-be-released low-priced EV truck, hand-cranked windows were suddenly back on the menu.

Power windows may seem like a more recent vehicle option, but they’ve actually been around, albeit in a very crude form, since the 1920s. Flint Motors Division — a wholly owned subsidiary of Durant Motors Company — experimented with pressurized hydraulic fluid to raise and lower “automatic windows” in its 1925 Model E-55s. Over the next decade or so, engineers experimented with hydraulic circuits to move seats and raise and lower convertible tops, which segued into hydroelectric power using a combination of electric pumps and fluid lines.

Packard offered what is recognized as the first “power windows” in its 1941 model-year Custom Super Eight 180 touring sedan, marketing it as hydraulic window lifts powered by a “Hydro-Electric” system. In an industry where imitation is more about “Keeping up with the Joneses” than flattery, Ford soon followed with a very similar hydraulic system on its 1941 Lincoln Custom limousines and seven-passenger sedans. A year later, General Motors offered a central hydraulic pump to raise and lower its convertible tops, then used it to power windows and seats on its luxury models.

When the driver flipped the switch on this “Hydro-Electric” system, pressurized hydraulic fluid from a central electric pump ran through a network of lines to cylinders in each door panel, which moved the glass up and down via regulator linkage. Unfortunately, hydraulic systems proved to be rather prickly at best. They were complex and hard to maintain, mainly because a great deal of “plumbing” had to be stretched throughout the vehicle, which often resulted in leaks. Their complexity begat a high cost, and thus they were typically only available on high-end autos.

Finally, in 1951, Chrysler rolled out what many believe to be the first all-electric window system in the Imperial. It replaced all the leaky pumps and fluid lines with small, self-contained electric motors that moved the window regulator linkage (i.e., like a mechanical scissor-lift, gear, or cable system) that then moved the glass up and down accordingly. GM, Ford, and Chevrolet (in 1954) followed with their own versions in rather quick succession.

Then, in the 1960s, Cadillac decided to make electric-powered windows a standard feature in its Fleetwood line. Most major U.S. automakers had switched from the long-standing manual window cranks to all-electric systems within a decade, and by the time the celestial calendar turned to the 2000s, a vehicle’s door had gone from what was once a big empty shell with some window parts (and maybe a speaker or two) to a “complex electromechanical subsystem” filled with a litany of electronics powering a whole suite of other features, none of which had any mechanical backup systems. Alas, window cranks are but one of several car features you no longer see.