Narrow Rear Quarter Panel Window "Disease" ?

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- Victor Roberts
  
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posted
18 years ago

Mon, Oct 17, 2005 9:35 PM

Does anyone know why the rear quarter panel windows on so many wagons and SUV's are becoming so small?

This "disease" seems to have infected cars as diverse as the Outback/Legacy, Toyota RAV4, Jeep Cherokee, and many others. Is this driven only by a misguided (in my opinion) sense of design, or is there some cost or other reason driving this change. The small windows seem to reduce visibility and may lead to more highway accidents during lane changing.

-- Vic Roberts Replace xxx with vdr in e-mail address.

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- mark jb
  
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posted
18 years ago

Mon, Oct 17, 2005 11:05 PM

AFAIK, because there's more roof to hold up on the C-pillars. Wagon vs sedan in an identical car has the same problem with the C pillars, but when you try to streamline the whole package if not remove the B-pillars, leaves a lot of weight to hold up. Looks nice and curvy from outside most of the time, inside is fine unless you want to see behind you.

-mark

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- Victor Roberts
  
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posted
18 years ago

Tue, Oct 18, 2005 12:02 AM

More roof than in past years???? Also, most of the size reduction is in the height of the window, not the length. The lower edge of the windows are now sloped up while the upper edge is sloped down, leading to a rather short height by the time you get to the rear of the car.

-- Vic Roberts Replace xxx with vdr in e-mail address.