Car Talk

DEAR CAR TALK: I had a '73 MGB, and it had the vent windows. I now have a 2007 VW Eos, and like all new autos, it does not have vent windows. I miss the vent windows. Why were they designed out of the newer vehicles?

-- John

For two reasons, John. One is that they're no longer really necessary.

For those too young to remember vent windows, vinyl seats that left branding marks on your thighs and car interiors that felt like ovens, cars used to have small, triangular windows in front of the driver and passenger windows. Those vent windows could be unlocked and then angled outward, so they would catch the wind and blow it directly onto your face ... or other important areas of the body that require cooling.

And back before air conditioning, those vent windows could mean the difference between showing up at work ready to suck up to the boss, and showing up for work looking like you'd just played two hours of one-on-one with LeBron James.

But almost every car now comes with air conditioning. So if it's so hot that simply lowering a window won't cut it, you always have the option of rolling up the windows and turning the temperature down to 70 degrees.

And that leads to the second reason why you don't see vent windows anymore: Cars are actually more fuel-efficient with all of their windows closed and the air conditioner on -- even when you factor in the energy used to power the air conditioner.

A lot of work and science go into making cars aerodynamic these days so as to maximize mileage. To make the wind flow around the car, the windows have to be closed to create a smooth exterior surface. If you open the windows, you increase the car's wind resistance and reduce its fuel mileage, especially at higher speeds.

And that's just with the regular windows open. If you were to push out one of the windows, so it was perpendicular to the car -- which is what vent windows did -- it'd be like mounting a pizza box on your door. It would kill the aerodynamic profile of the vehicle.

So that's why you don't see them anymore, John. But if you're really nostalgic, next time you go to the local pizza joint to get indigestion, save the box and stick it out your window on the way home.

DEAR CAR TALK: I drive a 2001 GMC Jimmy with about 230,000 miles on it. Recently, I drove it cross-country from New Orleans to Portland, Ore., with a U-Haul trailer in tow. We had a few problems, but we completed the journey. Before we left, I had the mechanic in New Orleans give it a good lookover, which turned into replacing brake lines and installing a new emergency brake. However, we've recently noticed that there is a clicking noise coming from the passenger side of the car when we brake, though it seems to happen only when the following conditions all are in play: Going downhill + pressing the brake + turning right. Any thoughts on what it might be? The car is such an old man at this point that I'm hesitant to put too much money into getting it fixed if it isn't a problem that will lead to me careening off a cliff in the near future. Thanks!

-- Becki

Well, I can't rule out the cliff scenario, Becki. Start by checking all of your wheel nuts. Since you had brake work done, you may be thinking "brakes" first, but maybe the guy didn't tighten your wheel nuts and you have a wheel that's getting ready to fall off. Hey, it happens.

Assuming it's not that, then if you're lucky it's something simple, like a loose brake pad. If it tends to happen when you're stepping on the brakes lightly, then it could be just a loose pad. When you step hard on the brakes, there's really no room for pads to rattle because they're pushed up hard against the rotor. So if it's just during light or moderate braking, your mechanic can try installing a hardware kit that's designed for rattling brakes. It's called -- get this -- an anti-rattle kit.

If it's not a loose pad, then it could be something more dangerous. I would assume that when your mechanic did all that brake work in New Orleans, he would have noticed if an entire caliper were loose. But maybe he was suffering from a crawfish hangover that day and missed it. So you definitely want to have another mechanic take a look.

If it's a loose caliper, or a caliper bracket that's not attached properly to the steering knuckle, you'd be more likely to hear the rattling when you go over bumps, too. Because the caliper is a larger part and would be banging up against its bolts, it would sound more like a knocking, rather than a rattling.

If your caliper were to fall off, you'd have trouble stopping the car and trouble controlling the car, because one wheel would be stopping while the other would not be. Then we're back to that cliff scenario.

So I'd advise you to check the wheel nuts, and then take it to a mechanic you trust right away, and just let him inspect the brakes.

Hopefully, he'll rule out anything drastic, and if it's just benign pad rattle (which I'm sure our pharmaceutical companies are working on a cure for right now: "Do you, or someone you love, have BPR?"), then you can decide if you want to fix it or just live with it.

Ray Magliozzi dispenses advice about cars in Car Talk every Saturday. Email him by visiting

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