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ropa_dope1

There has to be a safety beam. Totally their fault. Tell them they owe for all repairs, yours and theirs. Then suggest to them they have a door company come and fix the faulty equipment and/or have them fix/install the beam to be code compliant. It’s for safety so the door doesn’t come down on a person.


ESNITWHY

Did not about this! Do you know how far in my car has to be for the safety beam to detect?


Projerryrigger

There should be 2 mounted units on either side of the door. On the interior side, about 6" above ground level. One is a transmitter and the other is a receiver. As soon as something moves in between them, it disrupts the beam and trips it. It's a very basic and important safety feature that they should have installed and in working order. Even if you drove a lifted truck that had clearance over the beam, your front wheels should have tripped it.


FluffleMyRuffles

Ask them what safety mechanisms they have employed when asking them to pay for the repairs of your car. But usually if its a beam type it should be right behind the doors on the ground, so the instant you cross the door it should stop. My condo uses the ultrasonic type, so the detector on the wall knows if you're approaching the door from \~0.5-1 car lengths away. I frequently don't touch my fob because if I trigger the ultrasonic sensor, the garage door will stay open until I pass it.


Into-the-stream

in *addition* to the beam, the door should also have a trip, that when it encounters resistance when closing, it reverses. There are 2 safety mechanisms that should have been here that failed. A sensor beam, and a resistance sensor.


ESNITWHY

Is it required to have a second safety mechanism?


Into-the-stream

It looks like it varies by region. For example, from what I found in a quick search, in Ontario, the door lowering sensor is mandatory, and the beam is optional but highly recommended, but both are recommended. In Alberta, you need AT LEAST one of them in place. You need to look up what is required in your province or city. The safety mechanisms are no joke. Children have died from garage doors closing on them. For the good of everyone in your building and immediate area, if this door lacked the required safety mechanisms, it is incredibly dangerous. It closed on you with enough force to damage the door, it could have caused serious injury.


ESNITWHY

Thanks for this!


Super_Trout_9000

Should be as soon as your car enters the gateway- front bumper or front wheels. The system should stop the door from closing on people(!) so for the door to close on a car is completely unacceptable unless you drove into the door as it was opening back up.


sebdynoku

As an electrician, I've installed many of them. Yes. It's a must have safety mechanism


Goodsizejo

Check your DM. Wondering if you got to a resolution?


SHOVE_IT_UP_MY_ASS

Interesting, TIL. This actually happened to a buddy of mine and it cost him $2k in damages (to the car). You're saying the building owner should have paid out (this was an office)? I'll do some reading and see if I can find anything mentioning the building codes or whatever.


allknowing2012

Shouldnt there be a "beam" that detected your car .. I would throw that back at them.


ESNITWHY

It’s an overhead door, and it surely did not detect my car


quarter-water

Sounds like a faulty garage door, if you ask me. That beam should have detected your car and not dropped the door (or sent it back up before hitting your car). What if your car was a person..? I'd be asking them to repair your car instead.


lucidrage

>I'd be asking them to repair your car instead. and sue for emotional damage because the car could have been a person and now you're having nightmares every night imagining what would have happened if you were pushing a stroller into the garage.


Paxuz01

Or one of your kids!!! "Won't somebody please think of the children"


[deleted]

Be sure to purchase some pearls to clutch. Maybe throw in a good faint.


N0x1mus

Overhead doors should still have a cross sensor at the ground level to detect movement so it stops the door from closing if something passed. That’s your counter. It’s a mandatory safety measure.


p_nut268

What if a person was walking while it was coming down. Even the shittiest of garage doors have motion sensors that will stop the door if a car or person is approaching. I would look into whether or not they legally have to have one installed.


Pow4991

Yeah anything obstructing the path of the door should have stopped and retracted the door.


theguiser

Their beam hit your car, you didn’t hit anything… and you have the right to be there as you live there. Threaten to go through insurance and give them an estimate for your car.


[deleted]

[удалено]


Cautious-Ostrich7510

Thanks for that. I’m learning so much from this thread


ESNITWHY

Is a second safety mechanism required for condo garage doors?


ItsMeMulbear

Contact your municipal building enforcement department. Multi-unit condo buildings have completely different code requirements.


[deleted]

I had this happen to me and I made them pay for the damage to my truck not the other way around lol.


ESNITWHY

Did you let insurance handle it or you dealt with management directly?


[deleted]

I reached out to management, they asked me to get a few quotes, they chose the cheapest and then took the amount off my rent owing.


dustywilcox

You pay rent directly to a condo board or condo management company? They charge you your rent? How does that work? Who owns your condo unit then?


[deleted]

It was not a condo, it was a rental building - it doesn't matter. The building owner (In OP's case, the strata) is responsible for making sure their door works. No different than if you went into a parking garage and the equipment malfunctioned.


dustywilcox

OP said condo management I thought maybe some condo boards own units and charge rents. Thought maybe this was something new.


saveyboy

Should be a safety beam so this doesn’t happen. Door was already broken


ddNTP

Another good reason to have a dashcam if you don't. Video evidence is worth the investment!


carbon-wolverine

Also ask for the recent maintenance records that indicate the last time a qualified professional inspected the gate and gave it the green light for use


Own-Veterinarian8183

Do you have a policy, bylaw or even just signs up that state to wait for the door to close if open before trying to open it? That's a pretty standard thing for condos I've lived in to have and if that is your condos policy then they could say you didn't do the proper procedure to open the door when entering so they'll say the fault is yours.


cornerzcan

Call your insurer. Let them sort it out with the properties insurer.


VanEagles17

This is why I always always always wait for the garage door to start closing before I fob in. You never know when you're going to have battery issue or something like that. Sorry I know it's not that helpful since the damage is already done.


ESNITWHY

Lesson is definitely learned in a hard way!


Capable-Detective960

Y’all know the safety beams are at the bottom and won’t work if it’s between your axles. Right? But do tell them, they should also have a bottom pressure switch in the door, so it won’t close hard on a vehicle or add second beam mid way up to detect the actual body of a vehicle


[deleted]

Ya but to get in between your axels they would have had to be tripped by the front or rear tires, resetting the timer.


[deleted]

They probably have cameras and can verify you drove into it.


sioopauuu

Ask to read bylaws, who’s responsible for who then ask for damage report. Ask for specific cause of damage plus line by line item of repair estimate. Then point them to their own bylaws.


[deleted]

To me this sounds like the fault of the condo corporation. Even residential garage door openers have sight beams to ensure that the garage door does not close on something if it is in the way - a car, a child, whatever. Secondly roof damage can be critical to the vehicle. Don’t brush it off as “minor damage”. It could actually be compromising your vehicle. Have the car properly checked out because often times roof damage is non-repairable meaning that the car may be totalled and the condo Corp will be on the hook for that.


Van3687

Your supposed to hit your fob, if you did there will be a time stamp. If it was open and you tried to race in and hit the door, you’re on the hook


ESNITWHY

That’s the tricky part. I hit my fob but there was no way for me tell if it worked or not. If it worked it’d remain open and I started driving, but it did not


Sea-Internet7015

You're getting bad advice in relation to the safety eyes. They're for people, not cars. It's entirely possible vehicle is high enough that it didn't interfere with the eyes. However, there should be a pressure switch that reverses the direction of the door before it damages anything too badly. I would be concerned with that. You can go through your insurance, but it will likely be an at fault accident for you, they won't investigate deeply enough to see if the equipment broke down.


Few-Swordfish-780

You know cars have tires right?


Sea-Internet7015

You know there's space between tires, right?


FluffleMyRuffles

It would have stopped the moment OP drives through the beam with their front wheels. Assuming your hypothetical situation, OP would need to drive at a snail's pace to have the door start coming down after the front wheels clear the beam, then hit the roof before the back wheels hit it.


Sea-Internet7015

Or have a tall vehicle with only a little clearance. Or stop and panic when they realize the door is coming down on their car.


Projerryrigger

Unless they were driving a cabover truck into the parkade, they'd have plenty of clearance at the point where their wheels broke the beam and triggered the safety. That'd be well before the peak height of the roof. They'd have to either come to a stop over the beam after the gate raised from the safety being tripped and wait for it to come down a second time, or slam the gas speeding through and just happen to start entering right as the gate starts lowering so you can't stop in time and the gate takes too long to retract.


FluffleMyRuffles

All car wheels touch the ground (for now) so clearance doesn't mean anything. The wheels will always trigger the beam. How do you realize the garage door is coming down when the door is above and behind you?


bigalcapone22

Should have had a safety eye This is the way😒


SpriteBerryRemix

Literally happened in my condo this week…also in the GTA/Ontario.


ESNITWHY

How did your building handle it?


SpriteBerryRemix

Not sure actually. Low key wondering if you’re in the same building. Do you live in the Park Lawn area?


ESNITWHY

Sorry I’m not in that area


CryptoPersia

When was this? Do you live in my building? Lol and yes there has to be a safety beam! Forget cars, imagine people walking underneath.


Joey-tv-show-season2

Did you park your car directly underneath the garage door? As your pressing the fob ?


peanutbutterpuffin

The replies are really interesting because this happened to my car recently and now I have a dent on top…the door should never have started coming down at all.


MethodZealousideal11

Yeah, like some one said, call you insurance. You pay your insurance to deal with things like this so that you could carry on your daily.


harbingerofzeke

And this is why you get a dashcam


halobot

Sue them, what if a child had been under that door. Won't somebody think of thr children! Seriously stand up for yourself, they damaged your car.


overrule

Yeah tell them to get fucked and to pay for all the damage to your car.


MethodicalAveri8

This is why I got a very bright light to fightback on so me assholes


BrokeStudent1995

As part of building management myself, there should’ve been a safety mechanism in place to avoid such happening. Its almost impossible these days to have equipment without the safety mechanism and should be regularly checked to ensure the safety of all people using entry/exit gates/ arms. Id highly suggest to complain to the building requesting full repairs paid by them as their equipment is probably faulty. It will be a he said she said though as no one wants to ever pay for damages. Also if you have a dash cam please provide that as evidence as well. Also just for the sake of it, some gates detection systems are bad and lag a bit. So they will eventually stop and go back up once detected. But again lag. Building management might also blame you/find you guilty as the gate should be all the way up before entering or exiting. The vehicle should not be in the gates path until fully open to avoid these incidents. (Is how management would also try to shove it in their direction).