Power windows or electric windows (American English) as well as electric or power window lifts (British English) are automobile windows which can be raised and lowered by depressing a button or switch, as opposed to using a hand-turned crank handle.

Packard introduced the first power windows (along with automotive air-conditioning systems) in the 1940 Packard 180 series. This was a hydro-electric system. In 1941, the Ford Motor Company followed quickly with power windows on the Lincoln Custom (only the limousine and seven-passenger sedans).Cadillac had a straight-electric divider window (but not side windows) on their series 75 limousines immediately prior to World War II.

Power assists originated in the need and desire to move convertible body-style tops up and down by some means other than human effort. The earliest power assists were vacuum-operated and were offered on Chrysler Corporation vehicles, particularly the low-cost Plymouth convertibles in the late 1930s.

Shortly before World War II, General Motors developed a central hydraulic pump for working convertible tops. This system was introduced on 1942 convertibles built by GM. Previously, GM had used a vacuum system which did not have the power to handle increasingly larger and complex (four side-windows vs. only two) convertible top mechanisms.