Weak Garage Door Security Lets Intruders Into Homes Easily

A Real-Life Wake-Up Call: The Anaheim Garage Break-Ins

In a recent incident in Anaheim, California, a burglar dramatically exposed the weak link that a garage door can pose in home security. Surveillance footage captured a woman using a small window to climb into a home’s garage on West Houston Avenue, where she remained for at least three hours unnoticed.

The intruder, later identified as a 30-year-old woman allegedly high on methamphetamine, simply slipped through the tiny opening and made herself at home. The startled homeowner saw vague movement on her Ring camera and initially didn’t even realize it was a break-in. When she finally understood what was happening, he moved on already - and then the next night, he set his sights on yet another dwelling nearby - just the same. At that home, he piled items in order to climb through a bathroom window, making enough noise to wake the residents. Police eventually arrested the suspect, who admitted to being under the influence of meth during the break-ins.

This bizarre case highlights a serious issue: if your garage door area isn’t secure, intruders can gain entry with disturbing ease. Here, the intruder didn’t need to hack high-tech alarms or break down a front door – she found the path of least resistance through an insecure garage entrance. Unfortunately, her story is far from unique. Criminals know that garages are often the Achilles’ heel of home security, and they are all too willing to exploit them.

The Garage: A Common Weak Link in Home Security

Your garage door might feel solid and secure due to its size and weight, but statistics show it’s a favored entry point for burglars. According to crime data, roughly 9% of break-ins occur through the garage.

The garage often serves as a “forgotten front door” in many situations. Homeowners generally overlook it. Intruders are aware that homeowners generally put a strong lock and alarm on the handling and ground floors' windows but don't make similar efforts with the garage.

What do burglars find so attractive about garages? For starters, garages often contain valuables such as power tools, bicycles, and vehicles themselves, making the garage a target on its own. Additionally, homeowners tend to overlook the garage’s place in the security chain. An owner may leave the big overhead door open, “just for a minute,” neglect to back reinforce the service door (the side door or door into the home) or neglect to harden the garage with alarm sensors. Some owners will not even lock the interior door from the garage into the home, which provides an unhindered entry point to anyone gaining access into the garage.

Burglars are aware that garages provide a level of privacy as well. A thief who enters your garage can close the door and work out of any prying eyes, loading up a stolen car in an area which neighbors cannot see. For example, in the Anaheim case, an intruder made herself at home for several hours without anyone even noticing her presence. The privacy a garage affords is another reason a burglar may target a garage as it provides both time and cover (especially a garage without an entrance door) to either burglarize the rest of the house or ransack the garage.

How Burglars Exploit Garage Door Vulnerabilities

Intruders use a variety of tactics to breach garages – some surprisingly low-tech. It’s not like in movies, like when someone hacks into your lock, or destroys your entryway, sometimes a burglar will just simply take advantage of aspects of the garage to enter it without raising alarm. Here are some typical ways burglars enter garages:

• “Six-Second” Coat Hanger Trick: Believe it or not, a thief armed with a simple wire coat hanger and a wedge can open many garage doors in under a minute by tripping the emergency release. This is often called the 6-second break-in or coat hanger trick. The burglar wedges open a tiny gap at the top of the garage door (for example, by pushing in the top-center of the door or prying the weatherstripping) and then slides in a hooked coat hanger. With a bit of fishing, they hook the garage door’s emergency release cord – that red handle dangling inside that is meant for homeowners to use during power outages.

• Exploiting Old Garage Door Openers: High-tech burglars can take advantage of outdated garage door opener systems. Older automatic openers (typically those made before the mid-1990s) often use fixed codes – a single, unchanging radio frequency code sent from the remote to open the door. Criminals can use code grabbers or even modified toys to capture and replay that signal. In one famous demonstration, a security researcher hacked a common children’s toy into a device that could open many garage doors by cycling through possible codes in seconds. If a thief gets your opener’s code (for instance, by eavesdropping when you press the clicker, or by brute-force scanning the old frequencies), they essentially have a spare remote to your garage. Newer openers use rolling-code technology that changes the code with each use to foil this trick.

• Stealing or Copying Remotes: Some burglars skip hacking altogether and just take advantage of homeowner mistakes. It’s common for people to leave garage door remotes in their cars – clipped to the visor or tossed in the glovebox. Thieves know this; if they can break into your car (or even just open an unlocked car), they can grab the remote and find your address on registration papers, then later break into your garage at their leisure.

• Physical Force and Faulty Hardware: Although high-tech hacks get attention, many garage break-ins still involve brute force or exploiting wear-and-tear. A common weakness is old weatherstripping or flimsy garage doors. If the weather seal at the edges of the door is brittle or the door material is weak, a pry bar can create a gap big enough to pop the door open or reach inside. Glass window panels on garage doors are another risk – thieves can break a small window to reach in and unlock a door, or simply see what’s inside worth stealing. In the Anaheim case, the intruder literally crawled through a small garage window to get inside. Garages may also have side doors (often called service doors) that are seldom used and not reinforced; burglars know a simple kick can force a cheap service door open if it isn’t solid-core and deadbolted. Even the big overhead door itself, if left unlocked or unsecured, can be an easy target.
  

• The “Open Door” Opportunity: Lastly, one of the most common “methods” requires no skill at all – unlocked and open garages. Many burglaries are not high-tech or forced; they occur simply because a garage door was left wide open or a side door was left unlocked. It sounds obvious, but a surprising number of homeowners inadvertently invite trouble by forgetting to close the garage. Drive through any neighborhood on a sunny afternoon and you’re likely to see a few garage doors left open with nobody around.

  
  

  

  Burglars absolutely take note of this. An open garage full of tools, bikes, or a clear path into the house is an easy target they can literally walk into. In fact, when one HOA in Arizona started enforcing a rule that garage doors must be kept closed, burglaries in the area dropped by 50% – a testament to how often thieves had been simply strolling in through open garage doors. Even at night, some folks accidentally leave the garage open; opportunistic intruders are known to cruise suburban streets looking for that telltale dark maw of an open garage after dusk. It only takes seconds for a thief to slip in and grab valuables (or enter the home if the interior door is unlocked).

Protecting Yourself: Securing Your Garage Door and Home

The good news is that you can greatly reduce the likelihood of a garage break in up front just by taking some steps and making some basic upgrades. By monitoring your garage access points with the same vigilance and commitment to safety as your front door, you can eliminate the easy chances for thieves. Here’s how to protect the security of your garage door:

• Upgrade Old Garage Door Openers: If your opener is an older model (mid-90s or earlier) that doesn’t use rolling codes, consider replacing it. Modern garage door openers have rolling code technology or other encryption that changes the signal each use, making code-grabber hacks ineffective. Newer smart openers also often send alerts to your phone when the door opens, adding awareness. This upgrade is one of the best ways to stop tech-savvy intruders from hacking your garage. As a bonus, new openers are quieter and more reliable, but the key here is security. Don’t give thieves an electronic backdoor into your home.
  

• Secure (or Shield) the Emergency Release: The emergency release feature is an important safety option, but you can change the mechanism to prevent it from being triggered with coat hanger manipulation. Avoid completely removing the release cord; you may need it to get out in an emergency. Instead, you can make the release cord harder to grab behind the door. One option is to use a plastic zip tie or provided cable lock to keep the release lever in the engaged position. This way, a coat hanger cannot easily pull it down, yet in an emergency you could still yank the cord hard to break the tie and use it. An even better solution is to install a garage shield – a small device that covers the opener’s release lever channel, effectively blocking that coat-hanger attack without compromising the safety function.
  

• Keep Garage Doors Closed and Locked: Make it a habit to never leave your garage door open unattended, even for a short errand. It sounds like common sense, but as mentioned, many break-ins happen this way. Consider installing a garage door sensor or timer that alerts you if the door is left open, or even automatically closes it after a set time. If you are taking a vacation or will be away for several days, lock your garage door or unplug the opener. You can use a manual sliding bolt from the inside, a padlock through the track (most tracks will have holes to accomplish this), or an electronic garage door lock that engages when the door is shut. Also, always close and lock your garage’s side doors and windows. Treat them like any external door – use sturdy deadbolts, and consider reinforcing the door frame or strike plate so it can’t be easily kicked in.
  

• Hide the Goodies (and the Thieves):Don’t advertise the contents of your garage to prying eyes. If your overhead door has glass window panels, use frosted film or covers so thieves can’t window-shop your gear. Keep expensive items like bicycles, grills, or tool chests out of direct sight when the garage is open. Also, conceal your identity and access – never leave the garage remote visibly lying in a parked car (use a keychain remote and take it with you), and don’t leave keys in vehicles in the garage. It’s also wise to cover or block any garage windows entirely; besides preventing peeping, it stops thieves from seeing if a car is gone (a clue nobody’s home).
  

• Lights, Cameras, Action: Increase the visibility around your garage. Motion-activated floodlights mounted near the garage door and any side entrances will startle prowlers and take away the cover of darkness. Bright lighting makes intruders feel exposed and is a proven deterrent. Likewise, security cameras trained on your driveway and garage (and inside the garage, if feasible) can dissuade thieves and provide evidence if someone attempts a break-in. Even the presence of camera housings or a “24/7 Video Surveillance” sign can make a burglar think twice.
  

• Lock the Interior Door & Fortify It: The door between your garage and your house is your last line of defense – always keep it locked. Too often, people assume “it’s inside the garage, so it’s safe” and leave that door unlocked, effectively giving a burglar who entered the garage free access to the whole home.
  

• Regular Maintenance and Repairs: Finally, maintaining your garage door and its components is essential for security. Fix any weaknesses promptly. If your garage door doesn’t close flush to the ground, adjust it so there’s no gap for tools to slip under. Replace old brittle weatherstripping that might make prying easier. Keep an eye on the automatic opener's sensitivity settings - if your garage door can be pushed completely open when a little force is applied, it needs to be repaired by a technician. If your garage door is older, you might want to consider reinforcement brackets or supports that will help keep the door from being bent or forced open. Detailed repairs need to be done as needed like if there are broken springs or cables, if they are broken, or in a partially opened state you should get those repaired immediately, as these issues are like throwing out an invitation. You should treat these problems as security problems; in other words, if the door or lock isn't working like it should, it gives the intruder an advantage. Like your home alarm, you should inspect or service your garage door system. If you are worried about your garage door features, a garage door repair service can help you assess the valuable components (such as a locking mechanism or an opener) for regular updates and requirements for securing and prestoring your garage.
  

By practicing these measures, you greatly diminish the chance for someone to get into your house through the garage. Additionally, you should watch the area. If you see someone wandering around garages, or a garage door is left open, let your neighbor know. Sometimes an "Hey just wanted to let you know your garage is open!" can deter a crime. Police agencies often ask the community to be vigilant for garage safety because they know, like you, it can be an easy entry point.

Stay safe, stay alert, and keep that garage door locked up tight – it might just foil the next would-be intruder.