Study Finds Garage Doors Can Be Hazardous To Kids
Automatic garage-door openers may be convenient for adults, but they can be deadly for small children, Minnesota researchers report.
They studied cases involving more than 85 children who died or suffered permanent brain damage after being trapped under these automatic doors. Devices installed before 1993 are particularly likely to be deadly, the researchers say, because federal safety standards did not then require that doors reverse automatically.
Researchers led by pediatrician Robert L. Kriel of the Hennepin County Medical Center reviewed data on injuries involving children reported between 1974 and 1995. They examined documents from the Consumer Product Safety Commission and details of cases involving three children treated at the medical center, which is in Minneapolis. The researchers also conducted tests on 50 automatic openers installed before 1993.
They placed one of three objects under the doors: a toddler-sized mannequin, a block of wood equipped with a pressure gauge, or an unopened roll of high-density paper towels. They then closed the doors with the objects underneath.
Eighty-eight percent of the doors reversed within two seconds after they hit the wood, but only 60 percent did so after striking the mannequin or the paper-towel roll. Nearly 75 percent exerted more than 130 pounds of pressure, according to the pressure gauge, enough to crush a child’s chest or cause serious skeletal damage.
The authors described three cases of children under 6 whom they treated for garage-door-related injuries. One boy, nearly 6 when the accident occurred, suffered severe brain damage and can no longer walk or speak. He was discovered in the basement garage of an apartment complex, with the door compressing his neck.
The second case involved a 4-year-old girl. Her mother left home for an errand and activated the garage door as she backed her car out of the driveway. She returned home 30 minutes later to find her daughter pinned face down with the door across her shoulder blades. The child died 70 days later.
The third, a 5-1/2-year-old girl, was found face down on the floor of the garage with the door pressing on her back. Her bicycle was found inside the garage. Investigators believe she returned to the garage to close the door and was trapped as she attempted to leave.
Doors installed since 1993 are required by federal law to be equipped with an electric eye or an edge sensor similar to those on an elevator door. Researchers say that does not address the problem of thousands of older doors still in use.
They suggest that to prevent injuries, which are most likely to occur in children between the ages of 2 and 8, adults conduct a test using a new roll of paper towels. Doors that fail to reverse should be fixed or replaced.
The authors also recommend that children not be permitted to run under descending doors. They also advise parents to place door activation buttons at least six feet above the floor, out of the reach of children.
The study was published in the October issue of the journal Pediatrics.