Does the elevator’s ‘door close’ button actually do anything?

(NEXSTAR) – Perhaps no button on Earth is mashed as furiously as the “door close” button in an elevator.

The button, usually denoted by a set of arrows pointing inward, is a favorite of impatient people everywhere. It’s also well-liked among those of us late for our doctors’ appointments, as well as office employees looking to avoid chit-chat with an insufferable co-worker who just started lumbering toward the elevator from down the hall.

People who mash this button, however, can likely attest that it almost feels like pushing “door close” does nothing to expedite the closing of the doors.

That’s because it doesn’t, in most cases.

Under current guidelines published by the U.S. Access Board, which were made to comply with laws established in the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), elevators installed in public or commercial spaces must operate according to a set of specification standards for accessibility. One of those specifications stipulates that elevator doors remain open for a minimum of three seconds or more, depending on how close the hallway’s call buttons are located to the elevator shafts.

“User activation of door close (or automatic operation) cannot reduce the initial opening time of doors (3 seconds minimum) or the minimum door signal timing (based on 1.5 feet/s travel speed for the distance from the hall call button to car door centerline),” reads an excerpt from current ADA Accessibility Standards.

Other types of elevators or lifts for smaller or residential spaces, like LULA (limited-use, limited-automation) elevators, must stay open for even longer — 20 seconds — or at least be available to reopen (using a call button, for example) while stationary on one floor.

After those time limits, the “door close” buttons may indeed work.

A representative for Otis Worldwide, one of the world’s largest manufacturers of elevators, also indicated that building operators can simply choose whether the “door close” button should be functional at all. The rep, though, did not detail whether a significant percentage of customers choose a nonfunctional button.

“For Otis equipment, the ‘door close’ button is optional based on customer specification and any special modes of operation required by the customer or building code. The functionality of the button — whether or not it actually closes the door sooner — is also decided by the customer,” a representative for Otis told Nexstar.

When the “door close” buttons do work, they are ADA-compliant where necessary, the Otis representative said.

The takeaway? Those “door close” buttons may indeed work, but likely not with the immediacy that impatient users hope — and with no regard for how furiously you mash.

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