what is a window regulator
 

And why is it that VWs have them set to fail every 5000 miles? Seriously, what does a regulator do? Is it a little thingy to tell the window how far up and down to go? Is this why I see VWs every day with garbage bag windows? My brother must have gone through like 5 of them in his first year, before he traded it.

It is a government employee that makes sure you keep spending money and fueling the economy.

See also:

Voltage Regulator
Battery
Tires
Exhaust System

No that's an entitlement. Regulators prevent business from opening or closing their windows in the global economy. I'd recommend that you convert over to free market windows and *****can any regulators. Either that or invest in baggies and duct tape when regulation invariable fails. It might be an industry sector on the rise.

No no no. It's a European car. It must have regulators!

Oh, yeah.

So perhaps along with the regulators, VW owners should also install supervisors for the regulators to make sure that the regulators are correctly managing the windows.

Right. But don't forget, they do get their one month summer holiday.

No, that's France.

if they take them consecutively, that means 2 months without functional windows. Better hope they schedule in the spring or fall.