Why Q: are cars able to have power locks and windows with almost no additional cost to the consumer than the cost of manual locks and windows in the mid-1900's? A: During the production of cars until the mid 90's, door locks and windows that came standard in a car were manual. To unlock the doors, you needed a key and to roll down the windows, you needed to crank an arm. The people who had cars with power locks or windows were considered to be in the upper-class who could afford the "luxury" items in cars. The technology to install and power the locks and windows was new and therefore expensive to make and install, which caused the item to be classified as a luxury. So if power locks and windows were so costly and luxurious before, why do cars today come standard with power locks and doors at minimal cost to the consumer? The answer to this phenomenon lies in the fact that the world has become much more technologically advanced, causing production methods to become more streamlined. Previously, parts for power locks and windows were hand-crafted by workers on assembly lines. Then, another set of workers would install the parts into each car. This process was very costly because you had to purchase the materials and machinery and pay for the manual labor for both sets of assembly line workers. These assembly costs are what drove the price of automatic locks and windows high enough to be considered a luxury item. Through years, the technology has advanced and assembly lines have become almost fully automated eliminating the need for vast amounts of manual labor to assemble and install the parts. Minimization of human labor cuts costs dramatically since companies no longer need to pay salary, provide health care, or pay taxes on extra workers. The main cost now is just machinery maintenance costs. This automation and price cutting allows manufacturers to provide more parts in a shorter period, which allows the cost per part to be considerably cheaper. The aforementioned advance in technology allows suppliers to supply more of the necessary parts to install automatic locks and windows at a cheaper cost, therefore making the technology available to the common person rather than the "rich" few. Before, in order to get automatic locks and windows, you would have to put in a special request since the supply was limited and the cost was concentrated per car. Now, since technology has helped by exponentially increasing the supply, all cars are able to come standard with these luxury features. As a result, the cost is spread out over every car produced rather than concentrated on the individual few luxury cars as in the past. This spreading of the cost allows cars to be sold at nearly the same price as they would be without power locks and windows since individuals only have to pay a fractional cost of what they would have previously.