DOOR 'CLOSE' BUTTONS IN ELEVATORS

The door-close buttons in U.S. elevators don’t actually work. In fact, they are programmed that way.

When the Americans With Disabilities Act was first passed in 1990, certain requirements for elevators were outlined, such as the installation of raised buttons, Braille signs, and audible signals.

The act ensured that someone with a disability would have enough time to get inside, stipulating that elevator doors must remain fully open for at least three seconds and thereby preventing the button from cutting that time short. Some elevator manufacturers took it one step further by deactivating the button entirely.

Since the life span of an elevator is about 25 years and the Disabilities Act has been around for 28 years, it’s safe to assume that most of the elevators in operation today do not have a functioning ‘close door’ button. Only firefighters are able to close elevator doors manually through the use of a key.