Garage Door Won't Open and Your Car Is Stuck Inside? What to Do

You need to leave, the car is in the garage, and the door will not move. At this point the goal is not to fix the door — it is to get your car out without anyone getting hurt, and without turning a small repair into a big one.

The whole decision comes down to one question: is anything broken that holds the door's weight? Answer that first and the rest is simple.

Step 1: Check whether a spring or cable has broken

With the door closed, look up at the bar above it. Most doors in Philadelphia and South Jersey use a torsion spring mounted on that bar. A broken one shows a clear gap of a couple of inches in the coil. Older doors may have extension springs running alongside the horizontal tracks instead — look for one that is snapped or stretched far longer than the other.

Then look at the thin steel cables at the bottom corners of the door. Both should be tight. A cable that is slack, hanging, or off its drum — or a door that sits crooked — means the door's support has failed.

A loud bang from the garage earlier, often described as sounding like a gunshot, almost always means a spring broke.

If you find any of these, skip to Step 4. A door with a broken spring or cable puts its weight on the opener and on whoever tries to lift it — neither is built to carry it.

Step 2: The two-minute checks

If nothing looks broken, the cause is usually small:

• Power. Is the opener's light on? Check the outlet it plugs into and the breaker. A tripped GFCI outlet in the garage is a common culprit.
• Lock mode. If the wall button works but none of the remotes do, the wall console is probably in Lock or Vacation mode. Press Lock again to switch it off.
• The wall button. Try it even if you normally use the remote. If the door opens from the wall button, the problem is the remote — a battery or pairing issue you can deal with later.
• The motor runs but the door doesn't move. Someone may have pulled the release cord, or the opener's drive gear may have stripped. Our guide to why a garage door won't open covers how to tell the two apart, and so does what it means when the opener hums but the door won't move.

Step 3: Opening the door by hand — only when it is safe

If the door is fully closed and you have found no sign of a broken spring or cable, you can disconnect the opener and lift the door manually:

1. Make sure the door is all the way down and nobody is standing near it.
2. Pull the red release cord hanging from the opener rail. This disconnects the door from the motor.
3. Lift from the handle or the middle of the bottom section, keeping your fingers clear of the joints between panels.
4. A door with healthy springs rises smoothly with moderate effort. If it feels extremely heavy, stop lifting and let it back down under control — the springs are not doing their job, and forcing it is how people get hurt.
5. Before you drive out, make sure the door is fully open and stays put. If it drifts down on its own, do not drive under it.
6. Once the car is out, lower the door fully and leave it closed until it has been checked. Many doors have a slide lock on the inside — use it while the opener is disconnected.

Step 4: If a spring or cable is broken

Leave the door closed. Do not try to lift it, do not use the opener, and do not let anyone else try.

Garage doors are heavy — a double door can weigh several hundred pounds — and the springs normally carry nearly all of that weight. With a spring or cable gone, running the opener strains the motor and can pull the cables off their drums, and lifting by hand puts that weight on you.

For the car, the practical answer is to get a ride for now and have the door repaired first. Broken springs are the most common repair we see, so it is rarely a long wait. Our guide on what to do when a garage door spring breaks goes through the next hour step by step.

What not to do

• Don't pull the release cord on a door that is open or part-way open.
• Don't prop a stuck door with wood or a car jack to squeeze the car out.
• Don't drive under a door that isn't fully open or that drifts down on its own.
• Don't touch the springs, the cables or the bottom brackets. The bottom brackets carry full spring tension whenever the door is closed.
• Don't keep pressing the button. If the door hasn't moved after two or three tries, repeating it won't help and can damage the opener.

Getting help in Philadelphia and South Jersey

We run 24/7 emergency service with an average response under 60 minutes across Philadelphia and South Jersey. Call and describe what you see — the spring above the door, the cables, whether the motor hums — and we will tell you over the phone whether it is safe to open the door yourself or whether it needs a technician.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I open my garage door manually if the power is out?

Yes, if the door is fully closed and the springs and cables are intact. Pull the red release cord to disconnect the opener and lift the door by hand; it should rise smoothly with moderate effort. If it feels very heavy, stop — the springs are not balancing it. Our power outage guide also covers opening from outside and reconnecting the opener afterwards.

Can I lift a garage door with a broken spring to get my car out?

We strongly advise against it. The springs carry nearly all of the door's weight; with one broken, that weight is on you. Leave the door closed and have the spring replaced first.

Why does my garage door open from the wall button but not the remote?

Most often a dead remote battery, a remote that has lost its pairing, or the wall console's Lock or Vacation mode, which disables the remotes while leaving the wall button working.

Is it safe to pull the red emergency release cord?

Only when the door is fully closed and you have no reason to suspect a broken spring or cable. On a door that is open or part-way open, the opener may be the only thing holding it up, and releasing it can let the door fall.

How quickly can someone come out?

We answer 24/7. Across Philadelphia and South Jersey our average emergency response is under 60 minutes; the Pennsylvania suburbs can take longer.