April 27, 2026 · 5 min read
Your garage door has safety systems built in that most homeowners never think about until they don't work. Here's what to know and test.
A garage door is one of the heaviest moving objects in most homes, and it moves through a space where kids, pets, and cars pass through every day. Manufacturers have built real safety systems into modern doors and openers to account for that. Most homeowners never think about them until something goes wrong, but a few minutes understanding what’s there, and testing that it actually works, is time well spent.
Since the mid-1990s, garage door openers sold in North America have been required to include photoelectric sensors: the two small “eyes” mounted near the floor on either side of the door track. When the beam between them is broken while the door is closing, the door is supposed to stop and reverse instead of continuing down. This is the single most important safety feature on your door, because it’s what stops a closing door from coming down on a person, pet, or car that’s in the way.
Test it monthly: place a solid object, like a piece of wood, flat on the ground where the door would close, and trigger the door to close normally. It should reverse the moment it contacts the object. If it doesn’t reverse, if it keeps closing, or stops but doesn’t go back up, stop using the door and get it looked at. This isn’t a convenience feature to put off fixing.
Separately from the photo-eye sensors, most openers also monitor how much resistance the door meets as it closes. If the door encounters unexpected resistance (hitting an object the sensors didn’t catch, or binding on a track), the opener is designed to stop and reverse rather than keep pushing. This system can be adjusted, which is exactly why homeowners shouldn’t turn the sensitivity down to “push through” a door that’s sticking. If the door needs more force to close properly, something mechanical needs attention: increasing the force setting just hides the underlying problem.
Every opener has a red cord hanging from the trolley that disconnects the door from the motor, letting you open and close it by hand. This exists mainly for power outages, but it’s also your emergency disconnect if the opener is malfunctioning, for instance, if a door won’t stop or reverse properly. Know where it is and what it looks like before you need it in a hurry.
If your door was installed reasonably recently, the panel sections are likely designed to reduce finger-pinch injuries where the sections meet as the door bends around the curve of the track. Older doors, especially ones installed before this became standard, don’t have this feature, which is one more reason kids shouldn’t be playing near a moving door regardless of its age.
None of these systems are a substitute for basic good habits: keeping the remote out of reach of small children, not letting anyone walk under a door that’s mid-cycle, and not using the door if you’ve noticed it behaving oddly: reversing without contact, closing unevenly, or making new noises. Those are all signs one of the systems above may not be working correctly.
If you’re not sure your door’s safety sensors are working properly, or something about how your door opens and closes has changed, call ASAP Garage Door at 514-701-8612. We’ll check the full system, and the $30 service call is waived if you go ahead with the repair.
$30 Service Call, Waived: a technician gives you a firm price before any work starts.
Call 514-701-8612