Crank windows now extinct in US after being retired

Rolling down your car windows is now a thing of the past – crank windows in the US are no more.

The last car to have held onto them as a feature has now jumped ship.

The 2025 Wrangler JL has ditched them, after holding out for years.

It didn’t seem so out of place for a while, as the car long maintained a old school feel.

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The last of the crank windows

Even though it held onto the crank for longer than others, describing the Wrangler JL as outdated would be inaccurate.

Its 12.3-inch touchscreen is testament to that for a start.

There’s also the five-link suspension system and electronic lockers included.

Maybe the crank just started looking out of place at this point.

There’s also an argument to be made for cost – no longer will Jeep have to produce different doors for different wranglers.

If they’ve all opted to have power windows, there’s a more streamlined process in place.

In the end, not all much is lost beyond the nostalgia factor.

Owners will still be able to remove the doors from their Wranglers, by unclipping an electrical connector after unbolting the hinges.

It would take you longer to get this done if you were driving this double wide Wrangler.

The crank was optional on the Wrangler to begin with, so its retirement suggests that not many customers were opting for it.

When did the car industry start turning its back on cranks?

There’s no clear cut-off year in which car manufacturers ditched the old fashioned cranks in favor of power windows.

Around 2008, many manufacturers started moving with the times and consigning the crank to the dustbin of history.

However, it wasn’t a consistent retirement by any means – the 2008 Audi RS4 was sold with roll-up windows in the rear seats in Europe, whilst having power windows when shipped in the US.

Whether its windows are roll-ups or electric, the RS4 was still a world apart from this Audi RS e-Tron GT.