Automatic Garage Doors Or Door Openers

40YOF WAS AT A BIRTHDAY PARTY PLAYING WITH A PINATA WHEN THEY ACCIDENTALLY HIT THE GARAGE DOOR RELEASE. THE GARAGE DOOR CAME DOWN ON PTS HEAD. SHE DID NOT FALL OR LOSE CONSCIOUSNESS. PT ENDORSES STIFF NECK ON LEFT SIDE THAT RADIATES DOWN TO HER LEFT SHOULDER AND A HEADACHE. DX: HEAD INJURY, NECK PAIN

70YOM PRESENTS TO ED FOR LEFT-SIDED CHEST WALL PAIN AFTER BEING STRUCK BY DOOR TODAY. AS PT WAS LEAVING HE WENT THROUGH DOORWAY AND THE AUTOMATIC DOOR STARTED CLOSING BEFORE HE WAS CELAR OF DOORWAY AND DOOR STRUCK HIM ON LEFT SIDE. DX: CLOSED FX OF MULTIPLE RIBS OF BOTH SIDES

82YOM AT HOME HIT L ARM ON A SCREW ON GARAGE DOOR DX SKIN TEAR OF LEFT FOREARM

40YOF WAS ATTEMPTING TO RUN OUT OF HER GARAGE BEFORE THE AUTOMATIC GARAGE DOOR CLOSED AND ENDED UP HITTING HER HEAD AGAINST IT. DX: UNSP HEAD INJURY

86 YOM HIT HIS HEAD ON GARAGE DOOR WHILE WALKING OUT, HAS LAC TO HEAD. DX: CHI, SCALP LAC

60YOF STATES THAT THREE DAYS AGO SHE WAS CARRYING GROCERIES INTO HER HOUSE DURING A STORM AND THE GARAGE DOOR WAS CLOSING WHEN IT STRUCK HER IN THE FOREHEAD CAUSING HER TO RICOCHET BACKWARDS AND FALL ONTO A CAR DX: CLOSED HEAD INJURY; STRAINED NECK

22YOM WALKED IN TO ED WITH COMPLAINT OF INJURY TO THE RIGHT PINKY FINGER. PATIENT'S FINGER GOT SMASHED IN A GARAGE DOOR OPENER, WENT TO AN URGENT CARE AND WAS TOLD THAT THEY CUT THIER TENDON. PATIENT ARRIVES HERE TO SEE A HAND SPECIALIST. DX:NONE.

54YOF - PATIENT PRESENT FOR MVA. PT IS A RESTRAINED DRIVER THAT WENT THROUGH A GARAGE DOOR. NO LOC. PT C/O CHEST AND NECK PAIN. DX: CONTUSION OF RIGHT CHEST WALL AND CERVICAL STRAIN.

44YOM BROUGHT IN BY EMS FROM HOME AFTER GARAGE BRACKET SNAPPED OFF AND HIT HIM IN THE EYE. DX:TRAUMA; INTRAOCULAR HEMORRHAGE OF LEFT EYE; RUPTURE OF GLOBE OF EYE FOLLOWING BLUNT TRAUMA, LEFT.

47 YOF WAS ATTEMPTING TO EXIT HER GARAGE WHILE THE DOOR WAS LOWERING BY JUMPING OVER THE SENSOR AND STRIKING HER FOREHEAD ON THE DESCENDING DOOR, FALLING BACKWARD ON TO HER OCCIPITAL SCALP ON THE CONCRETE FLOOR. DX: CERVICAL STENOSIS OF SPINAL CANAL.

85YOM TO ER FOR POST EVAL LACERATIONS TO PALMAR 2ND 3RD & 5TH DIGITS, PT WAS WORKING ON HIS GARAGE DOOR OPENER& THE BELT OF OPENER CUT HIS FINGERS DX LACERATION OF FINGERS OF RIGHT HAND

76YOM PRESENTS WITH BACK, HIP AND SHOULDER PAIN AFTER HE WAS WORKING AT HIS GARAGE DOOR ON A STEPLADDER WHEN HIS WIFE CAME HOME AND OPENED GARAGE DOOR WHICH HIT HOM IN THE HEAD AND KNOCKED PATIENT OFF STEPLADDER DX: FALL FROM STOOL, RIB FRACTURES, LEFT HIP PAIN, SHOULDER PAIN, HEAD TRAUMA

The "Excelerator Genie Garage Door Opener" is defective in its intended function and poses danger to people, animals and property. It opened the garage door very rapidly as it is intended and designed. But by opening the garage door too rapidly, it damages and breaks apart the connection to the door posing a danger of the garage door falling back down in free falling fashion. I understand that this product was removed from the market in 2005 for this very reason and has been re-engineered to open more slowly. But there are many remaining unit present in people's homes and continue to pose a risk. I have never been contacted by Genie to be informed of this danger despite the fact that I am registered with themas an owner since its purchase in 2005. Thanks, [REDACTED]

Two weeks before the incident date, the spring of my garage door broke. I had the spring replaced within 2 hours after I noticed. Shortly after that, I noticed that my garage door opener was making some unusual purring when opening, but I did not make much of it. A few days later, the lights on the unit started to fail to light up. They eventually did after a few seconds. This happened a couple of times. A week before the incident, the backup battery of the garage door opener went bad. I got a replacement battery, and the day I replaced it, before I installed the battery, I noticed that the lights of the opener where flashing slightly. A small burning smell was in the garage, but since I had just come back from a commute, I did not make much of it. I installed the battery and the unit reported the new battery and indicated it was charging. Later in the evening, as I was going out in the garage and the lights turned on, I started to see smoke and afterwards, a flame of up to 5 inches tall came from the side of the unit. I managed to unplug the power and the fire ceased. I also unplugged the battery, since I saw some led lights in the unit still on. When I did that, the battery was not warm at all. I don't think the unit should have caught fire like that.

I attempted to test the emergency release pull cord for the garage door opener at my elderly father's home. The opener unit, and the original factory installed release cord are about 7 years old and in otherwise excellent condition. The pull cord immediately broke about 2 inches above the "T" handle. I grabbed the remaining cord and tried again. The cord broke a second time, and the remaining cord is about 7 feet off the floor, the same height as the garage door,. This is a health and safety risk! We live in So. California, where wildfires and rolling blackouts can be a regular thing. This pull cord is bright red, and seems made of a synthetic fiber. While is is subject to ambient temperatures that frequently exceed 100 degrees F in the closed garage in the summer, it is never in direct sunlight and never is subject to moisture. I may in fact be the first person to ever try pulling the cord since it's original installation in about 2013. My father worked in aerospace, where nylon parachute cord was in regular use. I am an avid camper and backpacker. We both know that quality materials would not degrade as this cord has. Yet had I not tested it, my father, or others like him, could have become entrapped in their own homes without means to evacuate in an emergency because of this kind of defect. The garage door opener is a Marantec 4500e.

I purchased a Genie PowerLift 900, 1/2 HP, Model 2562 from Home Depot in Atascadero, CA. I assembled and installed it on 7/27/2014. During the initial step in setting up the opener, where you push the Down button on the bottom of the motor assembly, the opener closed the door and then proceeded to break the drive screw housing in to two pieces. Two pieces of the track stayed attached to the house/door, while the last piece of the track stayed attached to the Motor housing. Fortunately no cars were hurt and I was not hurt. A photograph of the failed unit is available. I am a retired mechanical engineer who worked around machinery throughout my career and I can assure you that the three track locking sections were fully engaged at assembly. Also at assembly, I was somewhat concerned about the high amount of force it took to move the screw shaft slider when assembling the last screw section, which required a rubber mallet to a block of wood against the screw shaft. I can only assume that the “preset” down force limit malfunctioned, allowing the stalled trolley to eject the screw shaft backwards thus forcing a disconnect in the track. With two cars in the garage and me standing under the unit pressing the Down button when it happened, the potential for injury or car damage was very high. The track locking brackets should be redesigned or have a couple of bolts added at each connection point to assure positive retention. As I consider this type unit a design hazard, I took it back to Home Depot and purchased a different brand. I sent a copy of the above, including a photograph, to Genie on 7/30/14, but they did not respond. [REDACTED]

My Garage Door Opener just exploded (it popped twice and sparks shot out of it) and then smoke filled the garage.

Installed new garage door opener. I have installed several and inspected thousands. This Chamberlain unit and another new one they sent, both will not detect an object that is near the center, and 4 to 6 inches above the floor which is well within the track of the safety beam which is 6 inches above the floor. After about 40 hours of troubleshooting over the course of 8 weeks involving Chamberlain sending me new sensors, new logic board and ultimately a whole new unit, the problem persists. They agree that there is a problem. The problem area is along the beam areas not close to a sensor. Today I discovered that the safety beam and sensor technology is not compatible with the basic 3 year old floor paint. It’s not shiny epoxy, just plain gray floor paint. I had a moment of genius and covered the floor with blankets along the door area and discovered that the safety system starts working as it should. I have a video to show this. I also tested the other new unit with bare concrete and it performs correctly. I have a video to show this too. It is the relationship of the paint to the beam in a way best described as an absorption. The beam is hugging the painted floor and bypassing an obstruction that is not flush. There is another troubleshooting process issue that causes the beam breakage testing to not work by just watching the green light while the door is closed, the beam also hugs the door and sneaks past a reasonable obstruction. There is another issue too, the installation instructions say to test the safety beam with the box that the unit came in. This would be a good idea but in this case it causes a very serious safety issue to be overlooked by inexperienced garage door installers and home owners. In summary, these units are unsafe with painted garage floors. The correction may be a design change, or a more risky approach of just telling people about this. If the installation instructions and system remain the same there will be consumers with unsafe doors.

On 8/16/25, while sitting stationary my Craftsman garage door opener unit suddenly emitted smoke and caught fire. The fire was significant and would have spread to my home if I had not been present to extinguish it immediately. This product poses a serious fire hazard to any consumer using it. Model: CMXEOCG771 Serial: 302915200283 Purchase Date: 4/2020 I have contacted the manufacturer multiple times, but they have not provided resolution.

I bought a garage door from HOME DEPOT IN ROCKFOR, ILLINOIS. I had it installed by them, along with a Genie opener. 20 days ago, after working perfectly for 4 years, a broom handle got in the way, usually if a small object or any incidental object,even a spider web, gets it the way, any pressure it meets, the door reverses. This time it made a horrible churning noise. I was in the garage, am permanently handicapped and got the bright idea of going, and removing the broom handle that usually any pressure or object it touches as I said it reverses, but this was a frightful noise and sight. the door was going sideways, it was pulling towards the right, roller flying all over, the right railing twisting like a pretzel.. tried to put my arm to hold it up, and got a hematoma from my wrist to my elbow, then tried waving my foot in front of the eye, and the door kept grinding horribly and coming down. My doctor told me I was crazy, I could have fallen and got crushed, and I live alone .. who would find me, but dead. The lady who has been stringing me along, a woman who was nice as pie for 20 days told me today, you never almost got killed, as if she knew me or my situation, my doctor does. and she had seen pictures of the damage to my arm done the first day. I was not seeking any legal recompense, I just wanted my rail fixed so I could get in and out of my house in some comfort since it pains me to walk, i NEED 3 SUP.BELTSTO WALK have an impact fracture on my right wrist, and a torn shoulder, and now the crushed left arm. Since she sent her boys over to make sure it was not her fault her attitude changed . .from fairy to witch of the North! Go get whoever sold me the Genie .. well they brought it with them, it mist have been acquired by their company. Incidentally, the handle was not in the railing it was across the path,!