A New California Law Requires that All Automatic Garage Doors Have a Backup Battery Installed
At Dynamic Garage Door we are proud to create beautiful custom garage doors that fit in with any style of home. We work tirelessly to ensure that our clients are wowed by the work we do. However, style and beauty are not our only priorities – we also work to ensure that every garage door we install is as safe as possible.
Last year we told you about the customized fire-retardant garage doors we can build and install. Today we are here to talk about the steps we are taking to be compliant with a new California law that will require all automatic garage doors to have a backup battery installed.
More About the Law Itself
Senate Bill 969, which has been officially signed into law by Governor Brown, requires that any automatic garage door sold in California after July 1, 2019 will be required to have a backup battery so that it can operate even if power is lost. The bill includes a $1,000 penalty that can be incurred for each garage door opener that is not compliant.
The purpose of this law is to ensure that in the event of an emergency, a person does not become trapped in their garage with an opener that does not have power – or trapped at their home because they cannot get their vehicle out of their garage to make a getaway. It may seem that this is an unlikely scenario, but in the 2017 Northern California wildfires, at least five people died as a result of their garage doors not opening after power was lost.
This Isn’t an Instant Fix but It Is a Step in the Right Direction
While it is true that many electric garage door openers can still be opened when there is no power, many people are incapable of doing so. The Bill cited a report that covered elderly people who did not have the physical ability to open the door, as well as the mother of a disabled son who was almost unable to get her son into a car when her garage wouldn’t open to give access to their custom van.
This is not a retroactive law, which means you do not need to have your older garage door opener replaced before July 1, 2019. This also means that it will take a number of years for all garage door openers to have these backup batteries.
We Are Doing Our Part Ahead of Schedule
We have kept up with the Bill and are implementing battery backup installation on all new garage door openers. Despite the fact that the law itself will not be enforced until July 1, 2019, we have taken the proper steps to ensure we will be complaint with the law and that we can do our part to keep our customers safe.
