Faulty door sensor is dangerous

My vehicle rolled over the sensor, but, unfortunately, the garage door started coming down at the same time and hit the top of my car. After making contact with my vehicle and scraping across the top, it reversed itself.

I am under the impression that when a vehicle rolls over the hose, the garage door should not come down at all, or if it has already started to come down, it should stop immediately.

If it does not stop, does that mean that the door has malfunctioned?

A: I’m not aware of a residential garage-door “air hose” control. If you have one inside a garage, it should be set to “close the door” on first contact. It should then switch to open the door on next contact (remember, you have two sets of wheels that cross over the hose).

There are commercial door openers that sense when there is a metallic object above a wire hidden in the concrete or asphalt approach. The hidden switch normally opens the doors for approaching vehicles, but they do not close the doors.

All garage doors should have photoelectric cells, which sense when an object is blocking the door opening. The photocells, when blocked, ensure that the door will not close on your car, a person or a pet. Garage doors have enough weight and power to suffocate a person if he is caught under the closing door.

Have the door, the door opener, hose, photocells, springs, tracks and rollers checked by a garage door company for proper and safe operation.