Car side window kinematics

It is a demanding and time-consuming task to construct the side window mechanism of a car such that the deflections along the seals are minimized. The reason for this is that the window surface S delivered by the stylist, will in general not be movable in a proper way: It is required that the surface tightly moves along the seals. Deflections will necessarily occur no matter how much effort the engineer invests. This article describes how to find a spatial motion that minimizes seal deflection for some given automobile side window surface. Necessary but acceptable modification of the stylist’s surface S is also addressed, as well as the lifting mechanism design. It is argued that our systematic approach offers considerable savings compared to the prevailing trial-and-error approach.