A garage overhead door fails to reverse when its path is obstructed during closing. This belongs in the report as:

Garage door entrapment protection exists because overhead doors have killed and seriously injured children. Openers are required to have a means of reversing when the door meets an obstruction, and modern installations add photoelectric sensors across the opening as a second, non-contact layer. A door that continues closing against an obstruction has lost that protection, and the failure is silent — the door still opens and closes normally, so an occupant has no reason to suspect anything until the moment it matters. That combination of severe consequence and no warning is what makes it a safety defect rather than a maintenance item, and the inspector reports it as such with a recommendation for correction before use.

Failure to reverse on obstruction means the entrapment protection is inoperative, which is a safety defect. The severity comes from what the system exists to prevent, and the door's otherwise normal operation gives the occupant no warning.

Automatic garage door openers include entrapment protection, commonly both a force-reversing mechanism and photoelectric sensors mounted near the floor across the opening. Home inspectors test the reversing function and report failures as safety items.

It Reverses or It Is a Defect. The door working normally proves nothing — the safety system only shows itself when something is in the way.

Check the photo-eyes as well as the reversing force, and note their mounting height. Sensors mounted too high are a commonly tested defect because they leave a child-height gap unprotected.

• •Deferring a life-safety device failure as routine maintenance
• •Assuming normal open and close operation means the safety system works
• •Reporting balance or equipment wear instead of the protection failure