Raoul

The tennis ball on a string worked great for two years, I had it right in front of her face when she pulled in.
But then I gave up my space in the garage and said, " Honey, you can have the whole garage. No more squeezing in."

Well, I did not account for the curvature of her windshield. The first time she took the middle of the garage she hit the ball five inches too soon.
The door came down on the rear bumper, couple of dings and some scratches.

We've walked miles of parking lot to avoid door dings, none in 32 months.
Then we self inflect because I wasn't wearing my thinking cap.

lexusrus

Similar things happened​ to me too several years back.

First time was on our old LX470. My wife pulled in front in and hits the remote button to close the garage door. The SUV was not even half way in yet and hits the roof rack. Totally broke the garage door panels and cracked one if the rails on the SUV roof rack. The repair bill was up there.

Second time was a few months later with then our new LX570. No real damages to the SUV, but the garage door panels took a hit and buckled. This time I ask the repairman to "unbuckle and iron out the wrinkles" bc I'm not buying another whole set of garage door panels!!!

So I have a new rule.......DO NOT CLOSE THE GARAGE DOOR UNLESS YOU ARE OUTSIDE OF THE VEHICLE AND CAN VISUALLY CONFIRM DOOR CLEARANCE!!! USE THE BUTTON ON THE WALL INSTEAD!!

raylor4

We live in a senior community of single homes with garage door openers. Every door on our block has a dent from people activating the door from within the car while in the garage. You are not alone.
The new rule is "operate the garage door from the wall when the car is in the garage.
Ray A.

AZJoe

The garage door was up.... I had opened the rear passenger door to out something in the back seat. Got in the car and stared to back out and crash! the door came down ob the roof.
The emergency release cord got caught the the back door when I closed it and it worked...it released the door on the car

tus

Don't know if a professional door installer will do this because of the possible liability, but I set the safety light sensors at bumper level instead of right on the ground.

2KHarrier

I did a similar thing when I built my garage a few years ago. The sensors are about 3 feet off the ground. They can always be moved if the time ever comes that there are small kids in the vicinity of the garage, but for now, with just my wife and me at home, it works great..

Raoul

I thought about raising the sensors to bumper height but, we have two cats.

salimshah

That would protect your vehicle .... but there are regulations regarding the height of the sensor from floor. Nothing prevents garage door makers to add two beam sensors.

Salim

mcomer

My wife was backing in while the door was opening and pranged the shark fin antenna.
Popped right off exposing circuit boards and wires. Needed to pull the headliner off
to get the wiring to install the $300+ replacement! Kinda sucked because we do not
subscribe to either the Safety Connect or the XMSirius service that the antenna is for!

vlad_a

The very first thing I did when we bought our first home was to change the height of the door sensors. They are to be in-line with the vehicle bumper and not the floor.
I did this for myself at the time. Both garage doors in our current home are setup this way. It brings an extra peace of mind knowing the door will not close if the car is in the way.

Raoul, you better recheck your thinking cap placement! The 2-door garages have an arm in the middle, which slides on the rail, right smack in the middle of the garage.
If she takes 2 spaces and leaves the rear lid open, the arm may destroy the spoiler. Be sure to check for clearances.

But, all of us make mistakes. I managed to drive into the garage with the rear lid open after unloading mulch from the back. The lock area needed vacuuming, so I decided to keep it open, knowing really well that it meets all clearances inside of the garage.
Not so much for the top of the door frame!!! That made a loud bang and put a line of paint residue from the frame. I'm so glad it all polished-out.

lexusrus

Cats are FAST so they can get out of the way.

Besides, you know the saying:. Cats have NINE lives!!! LOL 😀😁👍😋🐆🐅🐹9️⃣9️⃣

kezgao

What about backing into the garage? I cheat a little because I have a backup camera. I put painter's tape (green and visible) on the garage floor. As soon as the rear bumper in the camera hits the tape I know I am positioned correctly. Do this enough times you can tell how much space is in front of the car before the door is shut. I find this the safest way.
If you're worried about backing into something, I would just buy a garage sensor from Lowes for less than $50, worth it IMO.