Or a VW product that hasn't been retrofitted with the proper parts.
They had an issue with a supplier substituting a plastic part for a
metal one in the window lift mechanism, and they didn't catch it until a
bunch of cars had been built with the plastic parts, which turned out to
be not quite up to the task.  I got one of those and it was another one
of those deals where VWoA pissed me off royally by their stupid policies
- my driver's window failed, so you know it was only a matter of time
until the passenger one failed, however they would only install the
repair kit on the driver's side and sure enough a month later I had to
go back to the dealer...  VW builds great cars but their distribution
and dealer network is a big reason why people don't buy more VWs.

nate

The long-term failure incidence on the power windows I've owned or
spent much time with has been about one per window.   The only car on
which I've never had to repair any of the things has been a mid-90s
Nissan Altima.

The failure modes are various and often include a switch on the blink,
a burned-out motor, or a broken plastic gear-track.  (And then there
are more exotic failure modes like the neighbor's '74 Galaxie whose
passenger side window jumped to its death within the door one day when
something in the mechanical mechanism failed.  And my own car, the
Antichrysler, whose driver's door started to smoke one day -- in the
Bay Bridge toll plaza at rush hour --  because, as it turned out, they
hadn't seen fit to spend a nickel on a grommet where the wires went
through the sheet metal.  Don't get me started.  Fortunately they
*did* trouble themselves to install a circuit breaker, so at least I
didn't get my 15 minutes of fame from the traffic copter.)   For sure
you want to start by isolating the (mostly electrical) causes that
might be outside the door, then the ones that can be probed and
eyeballed with minimal disassembly.

In the short term they're a great convenience  that becomes affordable
and easy to implement once you've got some economies of scale going.
You can also choose to cut corners on component quality, or perhaps
underdesign something in innocent ignorance, either of which really
comes back to haunt the second or third owner.  Of course, car makers
are not especially concerned with second or third owners.  The
temptation to throw in cheap parts in order to show the first owner a
"luxury" feature at little cost becomes obvious  when you think about
it that way.

I must say I've never repaired the same power window twice, so either
the aftermarket parts are a bit better than original equipment or
they're about the same and by the time their several year/several tens
of thousands of miles turkey timer pops out, the car is no longer my
problem.

All in all I have a love-hate relationship with the things and would
just as soon  have manual windows, though I have perforce learned how
to keep the power ones on the air and do not base purchasing decisions
on this feature.

--Joe