Since 1993 garage door safety sensors have been required on all garage door openers. This safety feature has saved countless people from injuries and damage to vehicles and other property.

Your garage door is likely the most used entry/exit point for your home. If you work a typical Monday-Friday job your garage door is going up and down 1,040 times a year, and that doesn’t even account for the weekends! If there are other people in your home that leave the house or come home at a different time than you do, that number could easily be doubled! With this kind of usage it is important to ensure that your garage door is working properly and safely. Your garage door is also likely the largest moving item in your home, which means it is very heavy and potentially dangerous. Your garage door safety sensor is a key safety component on your garage door opener system.

Keep Your Family Safe

Garage door sensors work by detecting an obstruction in the path of the closing door and reversing the path of the door so that nothing is crushed beneath the closing garage door. There is a safety sensor on each side of your garage door and a laser beam passes from one sensor to the other. If this beam is broken, either by an obstruction or misalignment, it stops the downward progression of the door, therefore protecting people, animals, and property from being injured, damaged, or crushed.

Some stats say that as many as 3 people die each year due to malfunctioning garage doors with numerous injuries reported. Your garage door sensor is typically placed about 6 inches off the floor of the garage because children and small animals are especially susceptible to injury or death from a closing garage door. Because children may be oblivious to a closing garage door it is vitally important to ensure that these the garage door opener sensors are working properly.

Garage door injuries not only come from closing doors. In 2007 garagedoorchildsafety.com reports 13,325 injuries from garage doors from incidents such as a falling door, a race to beat the door, fingers being caught between section joints, improperly working garage doors, or homeowners attempting do-it-yourself repairs. If you suspect there are any problems with your garage door opener it is a good idea to contact the professionals at your local garage door opener repair company to complete any repairs.

You might not often think about the obscure garage door opener sensors, but as you can see they play a very important part in protecting your family.

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