Reasons Your Power Window Switch Stopped Working: 4 Tips From Capitol Subaru In Salem

August 13, 2019

When your power windows stop working, you might be annoyed, but brush it off with a shrug. After all, you don't need your power windows all that much, right? Well, as long as you don't need to drive through any toll booths, visit the bank drive-through, pick up some fast-food or ever want to enjoy any fresh air as you drive. When it comes to power windows, you don't realize what you've got until it's gone! Well, not gone, but not working correctly.

On this page, we'll give you some tips for finding out why your power windows have stopped working, and what it'll take to get them fixed. If you need an electrical repair or a new power window motor, get superior quality at Capitol Subaru where we use genuine OEM parts! Here are four things that can make your power windows stop working.

4. Blown Fuse

When you attempt to operate the broken power window, give a listen. What do you hear? If you can hear the motor behind the door working as if trying to move the glass, jump down to tip #2. But if you don't hear anything at all when you press the window switch, that could indicate an electrical problem. If there's no electricity getting to the window regulator motor, it can't turn on to move the window. This problem could be caused by a simple blown fuse.

To find out if the fuse is blown, locate the fuse associated with your power windows, and remove it from the fuse box. Your owner's manual should have a fuse box diagram, and a diagram may even be printed on the fuse box cover itself. If the power window fuse has blown, it may just need to be replaced with a new one to get your windows moving once again.

3. Bad Window Switch

If you've checked the power window fuse, and it's in-tact, but the window still doesn't respond when you press the window switch, it could be that the switch itself has broken. Over time, the window switch could break from years and years of use. To have this problem fixed, visit Capitol Subaru to get a new, OEM window switch to replace the broken one. We'll be glad to install it for you in our service center, too.

2. Sticking Window Glass

If you can hear the window regulator motor whirring when you press the window switch, but the window glass doesn't move, you know there's no electrical issue because the motor is working. That means you have a mechanical issue preventing your power window from moving. It could simply be that the window glass is getting caught on the track. You may need to have a technician remove the door panel to resituate the glass, or replace a broken component -- or, this problem might be solved by simply lubricating the tracks on which the window rides as it travels up and down.

1. Broken Window Regulator

The window regulator is a mechanical system that raises and lowers the window on your car. It's all the gadgetry that lives inside your car door behind the door panel -- there's one in every door with a power window. It consists of a metal arm that can extend and retract, which is attached to the window itself. It also has a small motor that moves the metal arm, and thus the window, when you press the window switch.

If the window glass became disconnected from the regulator, the motor has burned out or something becomes stuck in the system, your window might not be able to move. This is a job for our trained Subaru experts at the Capitol Subaru service department. We'll need to disassemble the door to access the window regulator in order to find the faulty bit and replace it.

No matter why your windows aren't working, we can help get them fixed. Visit Capitol Subaru for all your auto care needs!