SaferProducts incident

Failure type

Fire / ignition

Incident narrative

SaferProducts.gov consumer incident report 20200915-2E520-2147369782. Severity: Incident, No Injury. Product: Marantec Drive Technology Marantec M4500e (Marantec Drive Technology Marantec model M4500e electric garage door opener for residential use. UPC 09717200036380 The portion that failed is the red, braided synthetic pull cord attached to the emergency release mechanism that allows the "trolley" to disengage from the belt drive. The release allows the door to be raised manually in the event of a power outage or motor drive failure.). Incident: I attempted to test the emergency release pull cord for the garage door opener at my elderly father's home. The opener unit, and the original factory installed release cord are about 7 years old and in otherwise excellent condition. The pull cord immediately broke about 2 inches above the "T" handle. I grabbed the remaining cord and tried again. The cord broke a second time, and the remaining cord is about 7 feet off the floor, the same height as the garage door,. This is a health and safety risk! We live in So. California, where wildfires and rolling blackouts can be a regular thing. This pull cord is bright red, and seems made of a synthetic fiber. While is is subject to ambient temperatures that frequently exceed 100 degrees F in the closed garage in the summer, it is never in direct sunlight and never is subject to moisture. I may in fact be the first person to ever try pulling the cord since it's original installation in about 2013. My father worked in aerospace, where nylon parachute cord was in regular use. I am an avid camper and backpacker. We both know that quality materials would not degrade as this cord has. Yet had I not tested it, my father, or others like him, could have become entrapped in their own homes without means to evacuate in an emergency because of this kind of defect. The garage door opener is a Marantec 4500e.