History Main / AutomaticDoorMalfunction

-->--''Website/TheOnion''

Technology has proven to be quite useful over the years, and none more so than the automatic door, which has helped remove the need for people to physically open doors. However, like all technology, automatic doors have an opportunity of going wrong at the worst times, usually by opening or closing when they are not intended to or just refusing to open at all when they should.

* In ''Manga/JojosBizarreAdventureStoneOcean'', upon [[spoiler:Pucci achieving [[TimeMaster Made In Heaven]]]], as Ermes steps into a nearby building, the automatic doors open and shut so quickly, her foot was nearly crushed.

This can be PlayedForLaughs by having someone suffer AmusingInjuries by virtue of being in the way of the doors when they close on them. However, this can also be PlayedForDrama, either by having the person suffer serious injury (usually by having their [[{{Fingore}} fingers seriously harmed from within the door]]) trapping them in a dangerous location, or even outright killing them depending on the force of the door closing. The exact reason for this varies -- sometimes, it's a simple malfunction, but other times, it may be engineered by a third party, usually either to cause mayhem, trap the person in a needed location, or as a way of killing them. Sometimes, the doors may get broken as a result of a person not realizing that they're automatic and [[DoorDumb trying to force them open manually]].

[[folder:Animation]]
* ''Animation/{{Booba}}'': In "Supermarket", Booba tries to leave the supermarket, but the automatic doors leading out refuse to open for them. The doors themselves seem to be sentient, having picked up that he was trying to grab a block of cheese without paying, and even seems to be laughing at his misfortune. It isn't until he exercises the cheese away that they open up.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Films -- Animation]]
* ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory2'': Not technically a malfunction, as the door works as intended, but the toys who go to Al's Toy Barn to attempt to rescue Woody discover they can't open the automatic door, as they are too light for the pressure pad that activates it. Buzz has the idea for them all to jump at the same time, which activates it.
* While WesternAnimation/WallE stalks EVE in a supermarket, he clumsily knocks over a bunch of trolleys that start rolling in his direction. He tries to escape through an automatic door but it fails on him and so he gets crushed by the trolleys. Then the door opens for extra mockery.

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]

* In ''Film/LaChevre'', the BornUnlucky hero detective Perrin runs into a sliding door at the airport that [[https://youtu.be/QQFgQ1uBQtk?t=87 fails to open]]. This slapstick scene becomes a plot point when Perrin learns from the airport nurse that the missing girl he is after had the same happening to her which provides a lead for him to follow.

* ''Series/TheBrittasEmpire'': In "[[Recap/TheBrittasEmpireS1E2OpeningDay Opening Day]]", the automated doors leading to the centre begin to malfunction, closing and opening when they shouldn't and at one point trapping the baby carriage containing Carole's son Ben between the doors. It's a bit of a problem as it's meant to be the opening day for the Leisure Centre and it's not helped when Brittas kicks out the person meant to fix it under the belief that he was Laura's friend Michael with a grubby dress sense. Eventually, Michael does show up, gets trapped within the doors, and gets electrocuted trying to reach the opening mechanisms for the door, trapping everyone inside as a result.

* This is a recurring obstacle in the Franchise/DeadSpace games, requiring Isaac to use his Stasis module to slow said malfunctioning doors down, lest he risk being smashed to pieces by them.

* While WesternAnimation/WallE stalks EVE in a supermarket, he clumsily knocks over a bunch of trolleys that start rolling in his direction. He tries to escape through an automatic door but it fails on him and so he gets crushed by the trolleys. Then the door opens to rub it in.

* ''Film/{{Gremlins}}'': The {{novelization}} mentions that the Gremlins messed with automatic doors in some stores by making them open normally but then slam shut with enough speed and force to injure people.
* ''Film/Gremlins2TheNewBatch'': The Clamp Entrymatic, the automatic revolving door to the Clamp Building, malfunctions as a person tries to go through it, suddenly spinning at a fast speed that causes the person to get thrown into another.

** ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'': In "Contagion", the ''Enterprise'' crew witnesses its sister ship, the ''Yamato'', explode with all hands lost due to a failure of its antimatter fuel containment.[[note]]Antimatter + Matter + No way to keep them from contacting each other = boom.[[/note]] The clue leading them to the cause is within the ''Yamato'' Captain's personal log; a long-abandoned planet known as Iconia, and an alien scanning probe that the ship encountered while in orbit. As the ''Enterprise'' travels towards Iconia, they begin having systems problems, including the invoked trope of the automatic doors failing at random times. When they arrive, the ''Enterprise'' encounters an identical probe launched from the surface, and Captain Picard plans to tractor it into the ship to study it. Geordi, suddenly discovering the cause of the malfunctions, desperately tries to hail the bridge, but the communication systems go down at that very moment. The trope is then invoked for drama, as he also tries to use a turbolift in Main Engineering to quickly get to the bridge, but the doors fail to open there as well. Geordi is only able to just get to the bridge in time, after being thrown about in the malfunctioning turbolift on his way, to warn Picard and the bridge crew of the danger that the probe poses.

[[folder:Film -- Animation]]

[[folder:Film -- Live-Action]]

* ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'': In "Contagion", the ''Enterprise'' crew witnesses its sister ship, the ''Yamato'', explode with all hands lost due to a failure of its antimatter fuel containment.[[note]]Antimatter + Matter + No way to keep them from contacting each other = boom.[[/note]] The clue leading them to the cause is within the ''Yamato'' Captain's personal log; a long-abandoned planet known as Iconia, and an alien scanning probe that the ship encountered while in orbit. As the ''Enterprise'' travels towards Iconia, they begin having systems problems, including the invoked trope of the automatic doors failing at random times. When they arrive, the ''Enterprise'' encounters an identical probe launched from the surface, and Captain Picard plans to tractor it into the ship to study it. Geordi, suddenly discovering the cause of the malfunctions, desperately tries to hail the bridge, but the communication systems go down at that very moment. The trope is then invoked for drama, as he also tries to use a turbolift in Main Engineering to quickly get to the bridge, but the doors fail to open there as well. Geordi is only able to just get to the bridge in time, after being thrown about in the malfunctioning turbolift on his way, to warn Picard and the bridge crew of the danger that the probe poses.
* An episode of ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'' has Seven of Nine make some modifications to Voyager's computer, causing a number of malfunctions on board the ship. One of these involves Chakotay having trouble leaving his quarters, where the doors to his quarters keep opening and closing randomly, so he has to leap through the doors in order to leave his quarters.

Compare DoorSlamsYou. May also be exploited by someone as a form of DoorJudo, TacticalDoorUse or TaeKwonDoor. If the automatic doors belong to an elevator, it may lead to ElevatorFailure.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': In "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS7E4BartSellsHisSoul Bart Sells His Soul]]", Bart tries to get into the automatic doors of the Kwik-E-Mart, but finds that they won't open for him. The fact that it opens up for everyone else however leads Bart to become convinced that he really has sold his soul away.

* ''Film/ToyStory 2'' not technically a malfunction as the door works as intended, but the rescue group of toys who go to Al's Toy Barn to attempt to rescue Woody discover they can't open the automatic door as they are too light for the pressure pad that activates it - Buzz has the idea for them all to jump at the same time which activates it.

This can be PlayedForLaughs by having someone suffer AmusingInjuries by virtue of being in the way of the doors when they close on them. However, this can also be PlayedForDrama, either by having the person suffer serious injury (usually by having their [[{{Fingore}} fingers seriously harmed from within the door]]) trapping them in a dangerous location, or even outright killing them depending on the force of the door closing. The exact reason for this varies - sometimes, it's a simple malfunction, but other times, it may be engineered by a third party, usually either to cause mayhem, trap the person in a needed location, or as a way of killing them. Sometimes, the doors may get broken as a result of a person not realizing that they're automatic and [[DoorDumb trying to force them open manually]].

[[folder:Film -- Live Action]]

* ''Film/ToyStory2'' not technically a malfunction as the door works as intended, but the rescue group of toys who go to Al's Toy Barn to attempt to rescue Woody discover they can't open the automatic door as they are too light for the pressure pad that activates it - Buzz has the idea for them all to jump at the same time which activates it.

Technology has proven to be quite useful over the years, and none more so than the automatic door, which has helped remove the need for people to physically open doors. However, like all technology, automatic doors have an opportunity of going wrong at the worst times, usually by opening or closing when they are not intended to.

[[/folder]]