Car Trapped in the Garage: How to Get It Out Safely
If your car is trapped by a garage door that will not open, pull the manual release cord to disconnect the opener, then lift the door by hand with a second person. If the door is extremely heavy or will not move, a spring has broken and the door must be propped securely rather than held. Do not use the opener at any point.
First, work out what has failed
Look along the shaft above the door opening. If you can see a torsion spring with a visible gap in the coil, that is your answer and it changes what you should do next.
If the springs look intact, the problem is more likely the opener, and the door will lift normally by hand once it is disconnected.
If the springs are intact
- Make sure the door is fully closed.
- Pull the red manual release handle down and back. It should click.
- Lift the door by hand. With working springs it should feel like twenty or thirty pounds, not two hundred.
- It should stay up on its own. If it does, drive out.
- Close it by hand and leave the opener disconnected until it is fixed.
If a spring has broken
This is the situation that needs care, because there is nothing holding the door up except you.
- Do not use the opener. Not once, not to see if it helps.
- Get a second person. A residential door without spring support is 130 to 350 pounds.
- Lift together, evenly, hands flat on the bottom section and clear of the joints between sections. Fingers get caught in section joints, which is a real and common injury.
- Prop it. Not with a broom. Use something that will hold that weight if you let go: a pair of stepladders, or clamps locked onto the track below the bottom rollers on both sides.
- Move the car.
- Bring the door back down slowly, both people, and leave it closed.
If you cannot lift it, stop. Trying harder is how people get hurt. Call for emergency service and say the car is trapped, because it changes the priority.
What not to do
Do not run the opener. It will strain the motor, crease the top section, and it can pull the door off the track. It also converts a $170 to $400 spring job into a repair costing several times that.
Do not stand under a propped door any longer than you have to.
Do not touch the springs, the cables or the bottom brackets. The bottom bracket in particular is under full cable tension even when a spring has broken, and it is one of the most dangerous parts on the door.
Do not leave it propped overnight and use the garage normally around it.
What it will cost
Spring replacement is $170 to $400 per spring installed, and both together adds $150 to $300 rather than doubling.
Emergency or after-hours dispatch adds $200 to $350. If the car is not needed until tomorrow and the door is safely closed, waiting until normal hours saves you that. If you need the car, or the door is stuck open and the house is exposed, it is worth paying.
Related questions
Where is the manual release cord?
A red handle hanging from the trolley on the rail, usually near the middle of the garage. Pulling it down and back disconnects the door from the opener.
Is it safe to pull the release with the door open?
No, not if a spring has broken. Without spring support, releasing a raised door lets it come down under its own weight. Only pull the release with the door closed or nearly closed.
How heavy is a garage door?
Between 130 and 350 pounds for a residential door, depending on size, material and insulation. With a working spring you barely feel it. With a broken one you feel all of it.