Elevator Door Close Buttons

     You get into an empty elevator, no one else is in there, you jab the close door button, the doors close and the elevator starts moving. Guess what? The close door button on an elevator doesn’t do anything...the door closes the same as if you had just waited. 

     It's true! That’s because most of the door-close buttons in U.S. elevators don’t actually work because they’re programmed that way. Why? 

     When the Americans With Disabilities Act was 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 people with disabilities would have enough time to get inside and it stipulated that elevator doors must remain open for at least three seconds and so the the door close button will not cut the time short. Many elevator manufacturers just deactivated the button entirely. 

     Here's a little known fact about elevators...their life span is about 25 years and the Act has been around longer, so 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. 

     There are exceptions to the rule. New York City elevators are required by law to have working close door buttons, but some operate on a delay that is so long that the button's use is pretty much meaningless. 

     It's not the case in England where the buttons in most elevators actually do work. Not all elevators in England have the button, but for those that do, the time it takes for the doors to shut after pressing the button varies. 

     The question is, why install a button that serves no purpose? The reason is that the buttons serve an important psychological function. As one Harvard psychologist stated, "Perceived control is very important...it diminishes stress and promotes well-being." Supposedly, believing that we are in control makes us feel better. 

     Here's another interesting fact...elevators are not the only place where "they" fool us. In similar fashion buttons on city crosswalk Walk, Don't Walk signs are often disabled and the thermostats in many office buildings don't actually change the temperature even if the numbers change. 

     In elevators it is a psychological effect at work when you push the close door button and it appears that it actually works...your brain is deceiving you. Pushing the button alleviates some of the subconscious anxiety that many people are not even aware of. 

     Some people experience anxiety stepping inside a small confined space that's hanging by cables that may lift them hundreds of feet into the air. Pushing the button gives them a false sense that they at least have a tiny bit of control.