Today we’re going to put out some important information about the inherent dangers of automatic garage door openers and how easily they can be bypassed. We hope that everyone takes this information to heart and spends just a few seconds to protect themselves and their property.
So what is the inherent danger? All automatic garage door openers legally require a safety release mechanism that is controlled by a grab handle. This is put into place so that if your automatic garage door opener is malfunctioning or traps someone beneath the door you can manually release and move it.
How Thieves Enter
This safety release mechanism can be tripped from outside your garage door with nothing more than a coat hanger. By disengaging the safety release on your door, a thief can simply lift the door and gain access to your home.
While hopefully most of you lock the door from your garage to your house, most aren’t built solid or have a deadbolt. Even still, once a thief has access to your garage they have plenty of time to lower your garage door and bypass the lock without being seen. This can be done with picks, or using the tools that most of us have in the garage against us.
As you can see in the video below, it’s very easy to defeat an automatic garage door opener and break into a garage, especially when you have garage door windows that enable the thief to see exactly what they’re doing. Even without windows the task is fairly easy and can be done just on feel and the fact that thieves know the mid-point of your garage is where the release cord is located.
Methods to Protect Yourself
A few simple methods that can be used to protect yourself against this type of break-in take no more than a few minutes and are something hopefully everyone reading this will do tonight if you’ve not done so already.
The method we recommend is using a zip-tie (or two), to lock the disengaging arm on the automatic opener. While this will prevent the bypass technique employed by thieves, the safety pull handle can still be yanked hard to break the zip ties in an emergency.
Demonstration
You’ll also notice the other method is to completely wire the arm closed, but you loose the safety feature of the door and in our opinion it’s much better to have this option available in an emergency situation.
Please share this article with your friends and family to warn them of the danger in leaving their garage door unprotected!
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{ 41 comments… read them below or add oneDiscuss in our Forum }
have windows removed or not installed is also a big help, the video shows a door with windows, which helps greatly in locating the latch to start with, further, use of slide latches on the sides also reduces break-ins
Andrew, we did mention the points on windows vs. no windows in the article. Using slide latches is pointless with an automatic garage door opener and defeats the purpose. I suppose you could always throw the side latch at night as long as you remember to disengage it in the morning. There are devices that work electronically in conjunction with your opener to throw a secondary side latch, but those are hardwired to the house and would be rendered locked during a power failure from what I remember about them.
Thanks for the comment,
~ Bryan
My side latches are thrown by hand not electronically and can only be open from the inside.
Alright folks, how would you secure one of these? I see no spot for a zip tie or wire.
I’d drill my own secondary hole to zip tie it. It’s plastic and it looks like there’s a hollow area directly above the arm.
Great reply and thanks for sharing!
~ Bryan
If that flat plate area on top of the mechanism isn’t to thick, I’d drill a hole in it and run the zip tie through it and around the locking lever.
You could also run the zip tie through the hole the pull cord runs through. You may need more then one zip tie but it should work.
I have the same crap on mine… I drilled out a hole in the middle top area enough to put a 14guage wire through and tie mine up.
I’ve had mine tied for years. :)
Great post as usual guys – doin my best to get the word out on this one!
Wow it’s insane what people come up with to break into places. This was a good and helpful vid. Thanks ITS Tactical.
Great article, I am surprised no one has broken into my garage yet. I will take care of the problem as soon as I get home.
It seems like there should be some type of plastic shroud coming down around sides of the lever, which would prevent a coat hanger from hooking into that void and disengaging the lever from the outside.
Eric, maybe one of these days the opener companies will wise up and create this as a standard. Until then, it’s zip ties and sharing knowledge.
Just a side note, with the use of the side slide locks for those who don’t have openers, or those really paranoids who use both. Being an installer we regularly get calls to get people into garages that get locked out. Slide locks are easily defeated by removing side moulding/trim on the lock side (very easy to do with the small pry bar your going use in a second), shifting door to the side(opposite of lock) to gain more gap, sliding a small flat pry bar with a 90 degree bend on the end and easily pulling lock back through lock hole in track. I can be in a door (normally) in less than 5 minutes. I know it’s not 6 seconds, but thats plenty quick enough. My advise, if your lock doesnt already have one, drill a hole in the end of the lock bar big enough to clip a caribiner through so the lock cant be pulled back through the track without removing the clip. Just my 2 cents…
Excellent Tip Andrew!
Wow, thanks for that tip Eric!
Forwarding this to a coworker with those “slide locks.”
Thanks ITS for the tip! However, E. Andrews, you just gave a step by step on the intrawebs for those less scrupulous.
I am a locksmith and over the years have learned many new techniques and tricks from such postings. The thing is, the class of people using them to do harm have known them for years. A weekend in county jail could probably teach you more bypass techniques than several ALOA conventions. In my opinion, the more people who (previously) relied on such security who now know they should not, the better.
Great security tip ITS!
Nice simple quick fix too.
As for “windows,” I say tint them. There are a lot of self apply tint sheet kits out there, some with a mirror glass effect. Should keep prying eyes out.
Good tip on the mirror tinting Daniel!
~ Bryan
Great info. The Powell flag was a added bonus!!
Eric, glad someone who knows what that is picked up on it :) Still one of my favorite pieces of art from back in the day!
~ Bryan
too funny…first thing i noticed was the old school p/p bones poster…
Because of you Bryan, my family and I can sleep better at night. Thank you sir!
Appreciate the kind words Brandon, that’s what ITS is all about.
Stay safe,
~ Bryan
Good eye Eric S. You beat me to the Powell Peralta comment!
One of these days I’ll get around to hanging up old skate decks :)
Thanks for the tip ITS! Just found your website today and already learned something to help make my home safer for myself and the family!
James, thanks for the great feedback. Glad the information has helped you and your family! Welcome to ITS :)
~ Bryan
Could you post a picture of the zip tied disengaging arm? I am away from home and am having a hard time picturing exactly what you zip tied.
Chad, there are photos in the article and the higher-res versions are on our Flickr Account http://www.flickr.com/photos/itstactical/sets/72157624636407889/
Thanks,
Bryan
Thanks
Great article and now that I have a place with a garage door, I’ll be sure to take in all the lessons (especially the tinting on the window).
On a technical note, on the next video could you perhaps *face* the camera so that you’re voice isn’t so muffled and we can see what you’re doing better? Thanks.
Ditto on this one. It’d make the vid a lot easier to follow.
I thought I remembered our opener having a release shroud that would prevent this. To help me sleep easier tonight, I went out to inspect the mechanism to make sure and was promptly greeted by a spider the size of my palm. Thanks a lot pal.
This is a great safety article on how to keep your home protected from thief’s and burglars so that you can feel safe. Make sure that you keep your door from the garage to your home locked when your not there this will prevent thieves from getting access to your home.
As a doorman I come across the occasional opener that will allow the door to open by simply lifting firmly on the door. These are usually tired old openers or super bargain openers. Also I would advise to stay away from the side lock with an opener. Sooner or later someone is going to use the opener without releasing the side lock with less than ideal results. Thanks for all the great articles.
Great article Bryan. Thanks for the safety awareness. keep up the good work.
We have a garage door opener that the latch is contained withing the track. There is a pull cord hanging down but we can’t find where we would put a zip tie. Recently, someone in our neighborhood was broken into using the garage door with no visible signs of damage. The opener is made by Marantec and is 6 years old.
Thanks
Janice, if you email us a few photos I’d be happy to see if I can tell where you should secure it at.
What is the email address?
Actually, the BEST deterrent if you have windows is the metal wire through the two holes because the perp will break your little window, then reach through and pull the release handle and break the plastic tie. It won’t matter whether the windows are tinted or not.
I don’t know a lot about garage doors, but the one my parents had was far from the door, nearly the center of the garage. No coat hanger would reach that far.