| In the final part of my series of articles on the | | | | and 1995, in accidents involving automatic garage |
| history of the garage door, I'll talk a bit about garage | | | | door openers. |
| door openers and the dangers garage doors can | | | | Hence, in 1993 the Consumer Product Safety |
| pose. | | | | Commission in the U.S. passed a law that required all |
| After more modern materials and designs were used, | | | | garage doors to be equipped with photoelectric |
| a more modern way of opening the garage door | | | | sensors and pressure-sensitive sensors. The |
| was sought. Using the latest technology of the day, | | | | photoelectric sensors were mounted 6 inches from |
| electrical energy, the new garage door opener could | | | | the ground and the pressure-sensitive sensors were |
| open the garage at the touch of a button, providing | | | | mounted on the bottom of the door. When either of |
| even more convenience. At first, they were a luxury. | | | | these sensors detected any object under a garage |
| However, today most homes with garages have | | | | door while it was closing, they would automatically |
| them and in many places, almost all new homes use | | | | reverse themselves and fully open. |
| electrical garage door openers. Opening the heavy | | | | Still garage doors are not completely safe and these |
| garage doors can be difficult and dangerous (even if | | | | sensors can function improperly. At one point, a |
| the home owner wasn't aware of it), so the electric | | | | study showed that on a test with 50 openers only |
| opener made life easier for thousands of | | | | 40% of them reversed and, before reversing, they |
| homeowners. Opening these heavy garage doors | | | | exerted 130 pounds of pressure, enough to break an |
| was also often a problem in the rain or the snow, | | | | arm or leg of a small child. Even though we may have |
| where one had to get out of the car and try to | | | | better garage door sensors today, it is much better |
| open the door in the freezing cold or while soaked to | | | | to be safe than sorry. |
| bring the car inside. This took time and was often | | | | Today, there are many styles and sizes of portable |
| impossible as in many cases the handle became "iced | | | | garages available. They're made from clear or colored |
| over" and very slippery. Today, we can open our | | | | ultraviolet-resistant, fire-retardant plastic sheeting or |
| garage doors before we even enter our driveway | | | | tarps, stretched over metal tubing. These are great |
| and take our cars inside. | | | | for storing a boat or a recreational vehicle. You can |
| The Dangers of Garage Door Openers | | | | even get an instant garage, consisting of a plastic |
| Garage door openers are not a toy, but to many | | | | sheet which you drape over your car. Supported with |
| young children, opening and closing a garage door can | | | | aluminum poles, it leaves about 3 feet around your |
| be fun, even though it is very dangerous. It was | | | | car, which is then pumped up with warm air - a great |
| reported that at least 85 children in the U.S. had died | | | | place to work on your car in the winter. |
| or suffered permanent brain damage between 1974 | | | | |