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Comment by EdwardDiego | Hacker News Reader

I would kill for Ye Olde Manually Wound windows. Electric windows struggle in temperature extremes, and seem to break down far more often than my old hand-cranked windows ever did.

Also, I had more precise control with the hand-crank.

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The only thing I don't like about crank windows is it's hard to roll down the passenger window while driving.

I've actually got 2 cars with crank windows and am in the process of converting one of them to power windows just because it doesn't have AC and I want an easier way to manage the windows.

Time is running out for those. I have a car that is now over 20 years old (awesome car, I will miss it once it fails) and even that had electric windows in the most basic variant. Of course they will fail in winter regularly...

Bought it 7 years ago for less than a modern GPU currently costs. If you have a mechanic as a friend it can be extremely cheap to own a car. I wonder how the used market will look in the future, I guess prices will be a lot higher and many not security related features will be broken.

Buying a car > $15,000 is always idiotic if you do in any way care about losing $15,000 in my opinion. If you don't care about the money, a happy spending to you. Otherwise get a company car that is financed by other tax payers.

The saddenning part that the majority of the drivers are very proud and enjoy their electronic windows. I guess potentially manual windows could be an option in the new cars, but I'm afraid the most of the new car buyers prefer as much of gimmicks in their cars, about which they could boast right after their purchase. The adults are really just children with the thicker wallets.

Why is it sad that people enjoy a thing? They enjoy it because it works and is less of a pain in the vast majority of cases. That is not sad, that is a good thing.

It's sad because there are people who also hate it while they don't really have an option to use a product that fits them. Unless of course one is advised to buy Lada or Mustang 69. People generally like apps that switch on the lights in the living room. Also they like to keep still on slowly moving escalator (yes even down), because it looks that a biggest joy for a consumer is to be able to lose any tactile and physical agency, presumably to conserve their energy that they so badly lack.

For the record, I hate electric windows, because of insensitivity of the button, it's almost impossible to open the window by few millimeters only (just to allow air circulation to avoid condensation on windows). Or in winter if it freezes to the frame, I want to be able to open without a need of warming it up first. Or not to buy the entire lifting mechanism because a 2$ plastic piece brakes inside. I understand the few uses of electrical window, but those can simply be fixed by avoiding farting inside a car, or politely asking the culprit to open their window themselves.

The saddenning part that the majority of the drivers are very proud and enjoy their electronic windows.

Much like I enjoy the electric starter on the car, such that I do not need to crank it by hand to start it. I'm "proud and enjoy" my electric starter and windows, and make absolutely no apology for doing so. You want to warm your house with a fire started by flint and tinder, have at it; I'll be over here with my gimmicky heat pump.

Knew a fellow whose car flipped into a shallow lake on a dark rainy night. The warning signs for a turn beside the lake had been removed. He was trapped in the car and drowned. Perhaps with hand-crank windows he'd have survived.

I buy only vehicles with hand-cranked windows.

Hopefully the crank doesn't snap off. I've seen that, too. It is also possible for the door handle mechanism to fracture. Sorry for your trauma. Upside down in water is generally a very difficult scenario to survive, no matter what vehicle you're in.

Me and my family members have had multiple window motors fail, due to leaves falling in between the window and the gasket, on completely different car manufacturers.

I have an entirely unreasonable fear of getting stuck in my car as it slowly sinks, unable to open the windows. It makes me want to get hand-cranked windows.

According to Mythbusters [1] it's almost impossible to wind down the windows in a sinking car after it reaches a certain depth. Much better is to have a window breaker tool. You can have one which doubles as a seat belt slicer too. [1] https://mythresults.com/episode72

Oh no you don't want them

I've had cars with electric and manual windows. I'm 27 (so you don't think I have been biased by a lifetime of manual) and I prefer manual crank in all but a single use case: the situation where I want to wind up or down the passenger side window.

the feature to have the window open itself fully after a long-pull of the button feels safer to me in certain situations - means I don't have to spend a few seconds with my dominant hand off the wheel

(and also more convenient in other situations where I need to quickly open the window and actively drive at the same time, e.g. toll booths, drive thru's)

I wait until I'm stopped to wind up or down the passenger side window, having an electric equivalent would save me.. actually 0 time. You have to stop at a toll booth to pay the toll, you have to stop at a drive thru to pay and collect your order. It's purely a convenience mechanism to save perhaps 3 seconds of time in the event it's really super hyper critical it's rolled down before stopping (for whatever arbitrary reason).

Oh yes, I do. Like I want wipers working at a constant interval.

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