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Senators are close to a deal on a bill overhauling the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), but a dispute over what kind of automatic garage door technologies should be allowed for use in the United States could present a last-minute complication.
The dispute, which has set off a lobbying fight between automatic garage door manufacturers, centers on language included in the current bill that would allow only “non-contact” technology to be used in automatic garage doors.
This would benefit Chamberlain, the leading manufacturer of door openers in the United States, which successfully lobbied for the language’s inclusion, while shutting out a rival technology backed by Marantec, which is headquartered in Germany.
The language in question “will change the way consumer technology is addressed in this country and will give a competitive advantage to one company over another,” wrote Neil Giarratana, president and CEO of Marantec America, in a letter to Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), who apparently sponsored the language.
The issue threatens to delay action on the consumer product safety bill, a key priority for Democrats ever since the flood of product recalls last year due to excessive lead levels in toys and other issues raised new consumer safety fears. The bill could receive a floor vote this week, although it is more likely to be voted on next week.
The controversy surrounding the bill up to this point has related to when consumers should be made aware of potential safety issues and whether states’ attorneys general should have the power to sue manufacturers.
It’s not uncommon, however, for major bills like the consumer product safety measure to be complicated by side interests that see the chance to attach a favorable provision late in the legislative process.
In this case, as members and staff worked on the main issues of the bill, Chamberlain successfully lobbied for its language, which it argues will ensure that the safest available technology is used in all garage doors operating in the United States.
Congress has not changed rules governing the safety of garage door openers since the early 1990s, when it overhauled the CPSC and required that garage doors use a system that prevents doors from collapsing on people or objects. That directive grew from reports of a number of children being killed by closing doors.
Generally, garage doors in operation in the United States now use infrared eyes located near the garage floor on each side of the door frame. If an object crosses the eye’s path as the door is going down, the door stops and reverses course. The eyes must be aligned for the door to work.
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