Not all car windows, especially in the rear of the vehicle, will go all the way down! Some great examples are the Tesla Model 3, some Infinities and even some SUVs. I’m sure many people have wondered why this is, and if they might be able to make it go all the way down.
So why don’t car windows go all the way down? In most cases, car windows won’t go all the way down because of the physical limitations of the window and door. However there are other reasons such as safety, and even the fact that your window motor might actually be bad.
Let’s dig in a little bit further to see which might be the reason in your case!
1. Construction of the door
The primary reason why most car (especially rear) windows don’t go down all the way, is because they physically are unable to go down any further than that.
Normally this is because the door itself wraps around the rear wheel wells instead of just going straight down. This means that the window “hits” the wheel well and is unable to go down any further.
On other cars it also could be a result of glass being straight and the door having a curve to it or something along those lines.
In the end, windows can’t “roll-up” and are not pliable, so they have to have physical room in the door to roll down into, and if the car is designed with thinner doors to wrap around a wheel well, the window itself just can’t go down that far.
The only way to get around this would be to split that rear window into two parts, and only allow the front part that is not above the wheel well to roll down. An example of this would be the Infinity you will find above.
2. Safety for rear occupants
While the primary reason that rear windows only roll down halfway, or partially is the physical limitations of the door and window, a secondary reason comes down to safety.
Generally speaking, younger children, and pets tend to sit in the back of a vehicle! Because of this, it is actually beneficial for rear windows to not be able to roll all the way down, so that they don’t crawl out the window and get hurt (considerably).
So this physical limitation of the window does actually play out in a good way as well!
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3. It might just be broken
The final reason your window may not be rolling all the way down, is that it just might be broken… if you see other vehicles like yours driving down the road with the windows all the way down, but yours won’t, you might have something snagging on the inside of your door, or a motor is going out.
That said, this likely would cause the window to not work at all, and should be a rare occurrence.
You can actually easily find a new window regulator (which should fix the issue most of the time) right here. While many people should be able to do this fix, I would probably recommend going to a shop for a resolution.
Why would you want your window to go all the way down?
I think that the main reason why most people would want there window to go all the way down, would be to be put your arm on the window sill, or completely out the window! One of the nicest things about road trips, is being able to put your arm out the window to feel the wind rush past it, however if your window doesn’t go all the way down, this becomes much less comfortable and enjoyable.
Another reason some may want the window to go down is to be able to put things through the window! This could range from snow boards, to moving boxes from one place or another. Of course in this case, the best solution… would be to open the door.
Side note: Did you know that some sedans have a hole between the rear seats to allow you to put skis and snowboards into the interior of a smaller sedan? This would fix this whole issue of windows not going all the way down right?
Frequently Asked Questions
There are some signs that your window motor might be bad, or going bad! Primarily the fact that you window won’t go down, is slowly going down, or it won’t go back up. Another great way to tell is if there is a clicking noise when you are using your windows.
Generally speaking, if your rear windows don’t go down normally, there really isn’t any way to force them to go any lower! This can be due to physical limitations of the window, or safety precautions. Manufacturers are not really going to give you a good way to override that and possibly cause damage.
From what I have found, Tesla Model 3 windows in the rear will not go all the way down. This is strictly because of the wheel arch being too close to the window. If it went any further down, the window would hit the door panel.
Conclusion
If you have a vehicle where the car window doesn’t go all the way down, it might be frustrating as you can’t put your arm there, or fit larger objects through it, however the trade-offs probably are going to weigh more on the side of it being a good thing, than a bad thing!
Really the only alternative, if you do want it go down is to get yourself a different car!
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