My husband and I take turns driving our Prius. Dan's taller than I so after getting into the car we both change the seat and rear view mirror positions back to what we prefer. Yesterday morning opened the garage door, entered, and got into Foxy. Made the usual seat adjustment, put her in reverse. Heard the annoying but familiar beep that signalled the car was indeed in reverse and began backing up. Glanced up in the mirror, grabbed and tilted it to better suit my height and continued backing. But there was a noise, an unfamiliar one. I wouldn't have noticed it above radio chatter but the radio was off. Put my foot back on the brake, stopped and looked around in the garage. Nothing was moving around the car. the sound continued but couldn't locate the source. Shrugged and prepared to continue backing by glancing in the rear view mirror. Saw, reflected, the lower edge of the garage door coming down! I'd activated the garage door while adjusting the rear view mirror. Might have had the garage door come down on top of poor Foxy! Dan installed a laser sensor at knee level that stops the door motor automatically but I might have bashed Foxy's trunk or roof into the half-closed door. Grateful for good hearing, a car that starts silently, and automatic use of safety precautions (like using rear view mirror, stopping whenever in doubt, turning off radio when leaving the highway and entering traffic in town). Will be doubly careful when handling mirror with electronic control buttons and warned Dan of same.
Most garage doors openers are equipped with an auto-reverse feature that will reverse the door if it feels a certain amount of resistance... hence your car. Also the doors usually have a rubber strip on the end. Assuming these two items in place, I doubt if your car would have even gotten a scratch... unless it landed on the antenna.
Scary!!! Thank goodness you were paying attention (now if only most drivers were as attentive as you )
Yeah, that knee-level is a good thing. My auto-reverse is pretty close to the ground - like around four inches. Makes it convenient for stepping over when running out of the garage, but would certainly allow the door to come down on the back bumper before the tires trip it. Good catch. Glad to hear there were no injuries.
