Manufacturers of high-quality automotive lifting products are always looking for better, more secure lifting methods. As a result, many excellent automotive lift safety features are now offered to the consumer.

Two-post parking lifts employ swing arm assemblies that allow the operator to change the arm configuration to suit a wide range of vehicles. It is important that swing arm lifts employ restraint devices to prevent arms from shifting or dislodging after a car or truck is already mounted and raised. Higher-quality two-post car lifts will feature this safety critical element, typically a gear mechanism that automatically secures the arms into place whenever the lift begins to rise. The automatic gear arm restraints will only disengage again when the lift is in a safe, lowered state.

Four-post car lifts are principally suspension lifts that rely on their columns to contain the lifting structure via cables or chains, while simultaneously bearing the load equally between them. Since the four-post scissor car elevator is not a rigid structure, it was once common for lifts to sway slightly during raising or lowering operations. Anti-sway blocks are one method of minimizing sway and maintaining proper spacing. This is especially important to ensure that safety locks are always engaged and that each post or column is holding 1/4th of the overall weight.

The auto car hoist is equipped with manual wheel chocks as the primary means to restrain vehicles from inadvertently rolling off either end of the runways. Automatic stops on the approach end and fixed stops up front should be provided on runway lifts as a secondary means to restraint.

Hydraulic car lifts that are designed with safety in mind use specialized hydraulic flow restrictors or velocity fuses integrated into the hydraulic cylinders or hydraulic circuit to control sudden, rapid decent in the event of a hydraulic component failure. These essential safety devices can dramatically reduce or stop downward travel in a free-fall situation due to a hydraulic system failure other than the cylinders themselves.