The Severe Risks of Injuries from DIY Garage Door Repair

Garage doors may not first appear dangerous, but they are in fact among the most injurious parts of a home. Automatic garage doors are responsible for tens of thousands of injuries and some dozens of deaths each year. Homeowners often underestimate these dangers and attempt "do-it-yourself" repairs and fixes without realizing that a simple garage door repair can escalate into a potentially life-threatening accident. This article summarizes the most common garage door related injuries and indicates the reasons why DIY garage door repairs and fixes are dangerous.

Common Garage Door Injuries – Statistics and Facts

Garage doors combine heavy weight, powerful springs, and moving parts – a recipe for serious injury if anything goes wrong. Each year, an estimated 20,000 to 30,000 people in the United States are injured in garage door accidents. These injuries range from minor pinched fingers to severe, life-altering trauma. Below are some key statistics and common injury types:

• Crush and Impact Injuries: More than 2,000 people are admitted to hospitals each year with crushing injuries due to a garage door closing on them or falling on them. Being struck by a door or caught under the door as it descends can lead to broken bones, internal injuries, or death. As an example, a typical residential garage door usually weighs between 100 pounds and 400 pounds, and anyone pinned underneath will face serious injury due to this significant mass. Unfortunately, a handful of people (around 3–5) die each year due to being trapped under a closing door when the door does not stop or reverse under the weight. Most victims are children.

• Pinching and Amputation Injuries: By far, the most common injuries that occur result from fingers and hands being pinched in the door mechanism. More than 7,500 Americans get emergency room care every year due to pinching injuries from garage doors. Pinching injuries occur when fingers get caught in the sectional panels of the door, in the garage door tracks, or in the springs. While it may start as a pinch between the sectional panels, once the weight and momentum of the door develops, it quickly escalates into a significant accident and injury often resulting in deep lacerations, crushed or amputated fingers, or broken fingers.

• Lacerations and Broken Glass: Many garage doors have windows made of glass, so often, this glass can shatter due to a garage door accident. Approximately around 800 injuries occur each year due to lacerations from broken glass from a garage door. Older garage doors, in particular, do not use safety glass, making this type of injury more likely; especially because if a door slams down, or a spring breaks, the glass can break into pieces with sharp edges. Victims often incur lacerations to the face, arms, or eyes, sometimes resulting in stitches or in more severe cases, surgery.

• Children and Other Victims: Many garage door accidents involve children. Almost 40% of the victims of garage door injuries are children under the age of 15 and are most likely to be injured when playing under a closing door or when the garage door safety features do not work properly. More than a few children died in the 1980s due to being caught under closing garage doors when the auto-reverse features did not work properly. Older adults are also victims because they may not react quickly enough to a falling garage door. Falling under a garage door for an older person will often lead to serious falls or crush injuries. The data presented proves that garage door injuries will affect anyone: a parent promoting curiosity in their child or a person using the garage door in a chore or task.

These disturbing statistics emphasize the need for garage door safety. The garage door is the largest moving object in the home, and therefore has considerable potential energy. When energy is abruptly released (e.g., a spring breaks, or the door falls) the outcomes can be catastrophic. Many injuries can be preventable with proper installation, maintenance, and safety devices, but many injuries occur with great frequency when homeowners simply try to DIY repairs without appropriate knowledge. The next section will discuss why DIY garage door repairs are particularly dangerous, and often add to injury statistics.

Why DIY Garage Door Repairs Are Dangerous

Influenced by the potential for savings or through pure convenience, homeowners too frequently attempt to fix garage door issues themselves. The reality is, however, that DIY garage door repair is often extremely dangerous, even to those who are handy and mechanically inclined. In fact, statistics show that about 12.7% of garage door injury incidents occur as a result of repair or installation work which means the worker on the garage door was injured. There are several reasons DIY garage door repairs are very dangerous:

• High-Tension Springs – “Loaded Weapons”: The largest threat associated with a garage door is the torsion or extension springs. These springs are made of steel and are heavy duty. They counterbalance the weight of the garage door and retain a very high amount of tension. These springs might maintain a force of 100–300 pounds when coiled. If a homeowner attempts to adjust or substitute the springs without the proper training, the springs can unwound or snap which will quickly release that stored energy, in milliseconds. If a heavily loaded spring fails suddenly, it could whisk parts or tools out at great speed causing deep lacerations, broken bones, or injuries resembling decapitation. Garage door professionals liken an undamped spring release to an explosion – springs have been known to shoot across a garage and embed in walls or hit people with fatal force. One medical case series described seven individuals who suffered severe eye injuries (open-globe globe lacerations and ruptures) after a garage door spring dislodged during their DIY repair attempts. Most of those victims permanently lost vision in the affected eye, illustrating how a split-second mishap with a spring can cause life-altering harm. Simply put, handling high-tension springs without the correct tools and expertise is like handling a loaded gun – the risk of a grievous accident is extremely high.
  

• Heavy Doors - Heavy Door Hazards: The average residential garage door weighs at least 100–200 pounds, and larger or solid wood doors can even weigh 300–400 pounds. When the door's springs or cables are disabled for maintenance repairs, incredible weight is no longer safe and can create an unbalanced door that rapidly slams downward like a guillotine. There are actual reports, for example, of hazardous conditions resulting in the injury or death of DIY tinkerers when attempting repairs. A DIY tinkerers may be unsuspecting of being flattened by a garage door. For instance, if a spring is completely removed, or a track is misaligned the entire door can crash down without warning. The massive weight of 100s of pounds can crush limbs or a person could end of pinned underneath, resulting in very serious fractures or internal injuries. A falling door is also a danger to bystanders, property, and/or cars parked nearby. If a falling door crashes down it could crumple the hood of a car or even seriously injure a pet, child, or nearby bystander. Do not position yourself or anyone else under the garage door for any repairs not to mention without the proper supports in place or spring tension. A heavy weight hazard is a primary reason professionals often utilize specialty jacks or braces while servicing garage doors, and in the interest of safety as professionals will insist that no one stand under the door while they are repairing the door.
  

• Inadequate Equipment and Technical Knowledge: Whether it's adjusting the springs, replacing a roll, or other tasks, professionally fixing a garage door requires specialty tools or education. For example, a specialist will use winding bars to safely re-tension torsion spring, clamp pliers to hold the components in place, and follow a series of precautions. On the other hand, a DIY homeowner may use improvised tools or skip critical safety precautions altogether (for example, using a screwdriver instead of a winding bar). The margins are razor-thin, and just your one mistake can lead to grave consequences. As an analogy, if a wrench slips while per-mutation a spring, the wrench could go flying through the air. Unsecured bolts or pulleys can be launched by stored tension. Even the door panels themselves can pop out or “kick back” suddenly during disassembly. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission explicitly warns homeowners to keep their hands and fingers away from door sections, hinges, pulleys, and springs when manually operating or repairing a door, to avoid amputation or crushing injuries. Without knowing these safety steps, a DIY enthusiast is at great risk. Moreover, garage door systems are complex: an untrained person may misdiagnose the problem or improperly reassemble parts, inadvertently creating new hazards. A common DIY error is using the wrong size of replacement spring or incorrect tensioning, which can cause the spring to break soon after installation or make the door unbalanced.
  

To sum up what has been discussed, fixing your garage door is a very dangerous and risky task. Homeowners need to weigh these risks carefully before attempting to repair garage door springs, cables, openers, or any other major garage door repair on their own.

The severity of the risks involved in repairing a garage door is amplified by the combination of tremendously high forces, heavy materials, and the precarious adjustments that accompany garage door repairs. A split second is all it takes for one misplaced hand or tool to lead to disaster.

The experience and expertise and safety equipment provided with a garage door technician is far more extensive than any number of online DIY videos. Given the risk of severe injury, it is the best decision to have your garage door repaired by a licensed, professional garage door technician, who is trained and equipped to perform repairs safely. Your health and safety, as well as that of your family, is worth much more than calling a technician.

Fixing your garage door without the proper experience, knowledge, and tools often does more harm than good. Underestimating the risks of garage door repairs and making even a simple mistake may cause additional damage to the door, lead to a costly trip to the emergency room, or result in permanent injury.