Open Garage Door With Coat Hanger

In just six seconds.

Open garage door with coat hanger.

All that is needed is a coat hanger and a little practice. To open up a roll up garage door all a thief needs to do is thread a coat hanger or hooked piece of wire through the top of the door and pull the emergency latch. By disengaging the safety release on your door the door can be rolled up by hand to let a thief inside and then quickly back down as if nothing were out of the ordinary. Probably the easiest fix is to remove the plastic handle on.

As you will see in the video below a burglar simply needs to slip the coat hanger through the top of the garage door and hook the release lever. It is easy to break into most home garages in just six seconds. Garage door openers are equipped with an emergency release lever which usually has a cord hanging down. Videos at youtube show how it is done.

There are some easy and low tech fixes for the garage door itself that reduce the danger of thieves using a wire coat hanger to open it. It only takes 6 seconds to do it. Pulling the lever releases the door and allows the burglar to open the door manually. Some security tips recommend using a zip tie or cutting your emergency release cord to eliminate the threat but that greatly reduces your garage door safety.

This lever is largely ignored until such time as you lose power and can no longer open the garage door automatically pull the lever down though and you can raise the door. Automatic garage door openers are a great convenience but they can also serve as a weak link in your garage security. Prevent garage door break ins.