Estimated Reading Time: 7 minutes
- How Modern Safety Features Work
- Testing Your Safety Features
- What Colorado Weather Does to Garage Doors
- A Few Safety Rules for Families with Kids
- Signs Your Door Needs Professional Attention
- Annual Maintenance Makes a Difference
Your garage door is the largest moving object in your home. Most of the time it works without incident, and because of that, it is easy to underestimate how much weight and mechanical force is actually involved every time it moves.
A standard residential garage door weighs between 100 and 300 pounds. It is held in motion by springs under high tension, cables, rollers, and a motor that cycles the whole system up and down thousands of times over the life of the door. When that system is well-maintained and functioning correctly, it is safe. When something is worn, misaligned, or damaged, the risk goes up quickly.
Around 35,000 people are injured by garage doors every year. Crushing accidents account for more than 2,000 injuries per year. Pinching injuries, which often happen when fingers get caught between door panels or near the tracks, account for more than 7,000 per year.
Many of these accidents are preventable.
How Modern Safety Features Work
If your garage door opener was manufactured after January 1, 1993, it is required by federal law to include entrapment protection. That means two things: photoelectric sensors and an auto-reverse mechanism.
Photoelectric sensors are small devices mounted near the floor on either side of the door opening. They project an invisible beam across the opening. If anything breaks that beam while the door is closing, the door stops and reverses. They are the reason a door stops when your dog or a child walks into the path.
If the door makes contact with something on the way down, the auto-reverse mechanism is designed to sense the resistance and reverse automatically.
Both of these features only work if they are properly aligned, clean, and tested regularly. A sensor that has been bumped out of alignment, coated in dust, or partially blocked by a bag of sporting equipment may not respond the way it should.
Testing Your Safety Features
The CPSC recommends testing your garage door's safety features once a month. It takes about two minutes.
For the auto-reverse test, place a flat piece of wood, like a 2x4 laid flat, on the ground in the center of the door opening. Close the door using the opener. When the door makes contact with the board, it should reverse within two seconds. If it does not, the sensitivity needs to be adjusted or the system needs service.
For the photoelectric sensor test, start closing the door and then wave your hand through the beam near floor level. The door should stop and reverse immediately. If it does not, check whether the sensor indicator lights are on and whether anything is blocking or misaligning the sensors.
These are quick checks that most homeowners can do on their own. If either test fails, stop using the automatic opener until the system has been inspected.
What Colorado Weather Does to Garage Doors
Garage door components go through hard winters, dramatic temperature swings, summer hailstorms, and high winds. All of that takes a toll.
Springs are particularly vulnerable to cold. As temperatures drop, metal contracts and becomes more brittle. A spring that is already showing wear from years of cycling is more likely to break during a cold snap. A broken torsion spring is not just an inconvenience — it is a serious safety risk and should only be handled by a professional.
Hail and wind can dent panels, knock sensors out of alignment, and damage weatherstripping in ways that are not always obvious from a quick look. After a significant storm, give your door a closer inspection before assuming everything is fine.
Temperature cycling also affects the tracks and rollers. Metal tracks expand and contract with temperature changes, and rollers that are not lubricated regularly can wear unevenly, leading to a door that moves slightly off its intended path.
A Few Safety Rules for Families with Kids
Children are disproportionately represented in garage door injury statistics. The CPSC documented 48 child deaths related to garage door entrapment between 1982 and the early 1990s, which led directly to the federal safety requirements that took effect in 1993. Those regulations reduced the risk significantly, but the door is still a heavy, mechanical system that children should be taught to respect.
A few straightforward rules go a long way.
Keep the wall-mounted button out of reach of small children, or position it where kids cannot access it unsupervised. Remote controls should not be treated as toys. Children should be taught never to walk under or stand near a moving door. And the "beat the door" game — where kids try to run through before the door closes — should be extremely discouraged.
Signs Your Door Needs Professional Attention
Regular visual checks take a minute and can catch problems before they become dangerous.
A door that moves unevenly, jerks, or makes grinding or scraping sounds is telling you something is off. Visible wear or fraying on the cables is a sign they need to be replaced before they fail. Springs that are visibly cracked or separated should not be operated manually. Any hardware that looks bent, corroded, or loose is worth having a technician look at.
Garage door springs and cables are under significant tension. Attempting to repair or adjust them without the right training and tools is how serious injuries happen. If something looks wrong with the mechanical components, the right move is to stop using the door and call a professional.
Annual Maintenance Makes a Difference
We recommend a professional garage door inspection once a year. That covers lubrication of moving parts, calibration of the auto-reverse and sensor systems, inspection of springs, cables, rollers, and tracks, and an overall check of the hardware.
Between professional visits, a few habits help. Lubricate the rollers, hinges, and springs with a garage door-specific lubricant every 6 months or so. Keep the tracks clear of debris. Test the safety features monthly. Take a look at the weatherstripping a couple of times a year; damaged seals are easy to replace.
Awesome Home Services offers garage door maintenance, installation, and repair throughout the Colorado Springs area. If your door has not been serviced recently, or if something about how it is operating does not seem right, we are happy to take a look!
Call (719) 800-7121 or contact us online to schedule service with experienced garage door technicians.
