Are car windows no longer designed to be open?
June 8, 2022 2:27 PM Subscribe
This is the weirdest question, but my last three cars have had the most awful windows.
As a kid we always drove around with the windows down because you know cigarette smoke, bad a/c etc.
Now if we have a window down when we are driving above 10 miles an hour the vehicle pressure and windows shake so much that it’s very difficult to have the windows down this has been the case for the last three cars that we’ve had.
Is this just a function of newer vehicles being more air tight? Is there any way to fix it? I guess it doesn’t matter that much, but sometimes it is nice to have the windows open.
As a kid we always drove around with the windows down because you know cigarette smoke, bad a/c etc.
Now if we have a window down when we are driving above 10 miles an hour the vehicle pressure and windows shake so much that it’s very difficult to have the windows down this has been the case for the last three cars that we’ve had.
Is this just a function of newer vehicles being more air tight? Is there any way to fix it? I guess it doesn’t matter that much, but sometimes it is nice to have the windows open.
Response by poster: It is very bad with one window down, but still not great with two.
posted by aetg at 2:31 PM on June 8, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by aetg at 2:31 PM on June 8, 2022 [1 favorite]
You can get side-window deflectors that improve the aerodynamics of having a window open a bit.
It's claimed that they reduce noise and vibration.
posted by Maxwell_Smart at 2:37 PM on June 8, 2022 [1 favorite]
It's claimed that they reduce noise and vibration.
posted by Maxwell_Smart at 2:37 PM on June 8, 2022 [1 favorite]
Do you feel this way in town? For me, highway speeds are worse, but highway speed limits are also higher now. I drive windows down quite a bit and it’s usually fine
posted by advicepig at 2:38 PM on June 8, 2022
posted by advicepig at 2:38 PM on June 8, 2022
This article (jalopnik.com) quotes an expert who answers your question:
[The abominable noise] is more noticeable in modern cars because they're more aerodynamic. By trying to improve gas mileage as much as possible, car manufacturers are creating cars that have much smoother air flows over the windows.This other article (pakwheels.com) also explains why opening a back window causes so much more noise than opening a front window:
Every car and especially newer cars produce this effect, but it depends on the vehicle’s shape, speed, and drag coefficient. The modern cars are more fuel-efficient, aerodynamic and fluid through the air so, opening the rear window can bring a lot of air inside. Cars are designed for aerodynamics with the window closed at the designed stage, and window buffeting is something last thing on the priority list. ... The front windows do not usually create window buffering because the headway wind is obstructed and diverted upwards by the windshield. Secondly, the side view mirror disturbs the airflow away from the front window until they get concentrated again and pushed towards the rear windows. The sunroof is another entry point for air to create buffeting, but the air draft is diverted via the screen on newer cars, which comes out vertically when opened and makes a wind deflector.posted by MiraK at 2:45 PM on June 8, 2022 [19 favorites]
Try opening the rear window on the opposite side. You want to break up the resonance that muddgirl is describing.
posted by JoeZydeco at 2:50 PM on June 8, 2022 [10 favorites]
posted by JoeZydeco at 2:50 PM on June 8, 2022 [10 favorites]
I remember driving with the widows down and it sucked then too (1980s-1990s - we still had cars without A/C). The wind noise was dreadful and overall it was not a good experience.
However, there are some things that have changed that most assuredly make it worse, comparatively.
1)speed limits are higher. Highways used to have 55mph speed limits, not that some people didn't drive faster but plenty didn't. My minivan has a wind buffering thing (sounds like a helicopter with only one window open) above 45mph but is fine below that. That's pretty close to old time highway speed, so they didn't have to de-prioritize wind buffering that much.
2) faster acceleration. My minivan again has a so-so 0-60 of 6.6 seconds. A base-model Corvette sports car didn't consistently pass that until the mid-1980s, and a 1990 C4 apparently barely beats it. Most other cars were far slower. So in town you would spent less time at speed.
3) cars don't have that tiny triangle window (apparently called a quarter glass) next to the front window to open anymore. That generally made the main windows smaller, and if I had to guess the framing supporting them was thicker and stronger.
posted by The_Vegetables at 3:30 PM on June 8, 2022 [1 favorite]
However, there are some things that have changed that most assuredly make it worse, comparatively.
1)speed limits are higher. Highways used to have 55mph speed limits, not that some people didn't drive faster but plenty didn't. My minivan has a wind buffering thing (sounds like a helicopter with only one window open) above 45mph but is fine below that. That's pretty close to old time highway speed, so they didn't have to de-prioritize wind buffering that much.
2) faster acceleration. My minivan again has a so-so 0-60 of 6.6 seconds. A base-model Corvette sports car didn't consistently pass that until the mid-1980s, and a 1990 C4 apparently barely beats it. Most other cars were far slower. So in town you would spent less time at speed.
3) cars don't have that tiny triangle window (apparently called a quarter glass) next to the front window to open anymore. That generally made the main windows smaller, and if I had to guess the framing supporting them was thicker and stronger.
posted by The_Vegetables at 3:30 PM on June 8, 2022 [1 favorite]
My experiences with a Toyota Prius and my current Camry suggest that opening the windows doesn't accomplish much. The air just flows up and over the car with very little draft from the windows, even at freeway speeds.
posted by SPrintF at 3:58 PM on June 8, 2022
posted by SPrintF at 3:58 PM on June 8, 2022
I've always gotta have at least a second window open in these newer vehicles, running around in town, and I absolutely cannot stand windows open on the highway. (My its-too-noisy point is about 35-40, unless it's just for seconds.) The rear-passenger-window trick works in my 2017 vehicle better than just the front-passenger-side, though I rarely remember to do it.
Thinking about vehicles I've had / regularly ridden in, any that were made after about 1995 had this problem. But older trunks than that, even riding in them in the last few years, aren't a problem despite obvious wind noise.
So odd to realize that there's more to it than just NOISE, lol. (Just one more thought - with actual snow on the road, not just ice/packed ice, it changes the dynamics in some way that isn't just from the slower speeds.)
posted by stormyteal at 8:29 PM on June 8, 2022
Thinking about vehicles I've had / regularly ridden in, any that were made after about 1995 had this problem. But older trunks than that, even riding in them in the last few years, aren't a problem despite obvious wind noise.
So odd to realize that there's more to it than just NOISE, lol. (Just one more thought - with actual snow on the road, not just ice/packed ice, it changes the dynamics in some way that isn't just from the slower speeds.)
posted by stormyteal at 8:29 PM on June 8, 2022
I love to open only one window on the other side of the vehicle and have the sunroof open so a I get a lovely mini cyclone inside. You'll need a pretty clean interior though.
I think that resonance and wind noise just aren't a major design consideration and the focus for most vehicles is simply spent elsewhere. My fancy Lexus was very slippery through the air, and you could open the windows/sunroof up in such a way that it was like getting boxed in the ears. But at other speeds/window combinations the WAWAWA went away it was just lovely to have the windows down.
I think SUV's are particularly prone to type of issue - they create a great deal of road noise and then have additional soundeadening to combat that, and then you open the window and get to hear all the buffering around the vehicle and tire noise.
posted by zenon at 8:17 AM on June 9, 2022
I think that resonance and wind noise just aren't a major design consideration and the focus for most vehicles is simply spent elsewhere. My fancy Lexus was very slippery through the air, and you could open the windows/sunroof up in such a way that it was like getting boxed in the ears. But at other speeds/window combinations the WAWAWA went away it was just lovely to have the windows down.
I think SUV's are particularly prone to type of issue - they create a great deal of road noise and then have additional soundeadening to combat that, and then you open the window and get to hear all the buffering around the vehicle and tire noise.
posted by zenon at 8:17 AM on June 9, 2022
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by muddgirl at 2:29 PM on June 8, 2022 [6 favorites]