Mandatory pet restraints?

[Saeleofu]

Wow, scary!!!!! I never even thought they could do MORE damage! Bodhi travels in the boot (trunk?).... I couldn't fit a crate in there.

Honestly if he's in the trunk, that's probably as safe as he can get. The one thing I'd worry about is getting rear-ended and smashing in the back of the car. And with the weather here, getting too hot. The last sedan I had had a hatch from the back seat into the trunk, so leaving that open would solve the heat issue...and then bring up a restraint issue.

My dogs never ever ride in the cargo area of my hatchback. It's either the back seat with a hammock seat cover and zip line, or the front seat buckled in with the airbags off. Clearly after seeing these videos that's not as safe as I once thought, but it's more likely a dog will need restraint during quick stops and lighter hits, and my current systems keeps them comfortable and restrained in those cases. I really don't see any practical AND effective restraint for major crashes now, unfortunately. I am really wondering how the Roadie holds up, though. Currently Gavroche wears an Easy Rider and Logan wears his leather working harness in the car.

I would think the chance for this sort of thing happening with a small dog is less. There's not as much mass there to fling around. When I had Tango I had him in a floatation vest with a traffic loop attached in the car. Not sure how safe that could possibly have been, but it was all that would stay on him without slipping since he's a tripod. A crate was not practical with my setup at the time (though he did ride in a crate until he was healed from surgery).

 

[crysania]

The reality is that in MAJOR crashes people still die with seatbelts and airbags. I'm not sure how fast the collision was tested at in these videos. Does anyone know? If they're all high speed crashes I'd like to see how these hold up under lower speed crashses, the type that are more common.

I use a harness and a restraint, though I don't always. Seeing this high speed crashes where one dog even got decapitated by the harness makes me think my dog may be safer no safer with, than without.

 

[PWCorgi]

Another vote here for wanting this to be done with a Roadie.
Roadie is my ultimate goal with Frodo, and I know that my current seat belt system is not crash tested, so I'm assuming it would end up just like this. Mrrg, anxiety

 

[Danefied]

I’m a bad mom. My dogs ride loose in the car. I don’t know what else to do though. A dane sized crate doesn’t fit even in the minivan, and having them sit on the seat so I can harness them won’t work either because they’re too tall to sit in a seat. The only safety precaution I take is to make sure they are wearing collars with tags when in the car so if they were to get loose or injured in a crash, they would be traceable to me and/or my vet.

 

[sassafras]

I’m a bad mom. My dogs ride loose in the car. I don’t know what else to do though. A dane sized crate doesn’t fit even in the minivan, and having them sit on the seat so I can harness them won’t work either because they’re too tall to sit in a seat. The only safety precaution I take is to make sure they are wearing collars with tags when in the car so if they were to get loose or injured in a crash, they would be traceable to me and/or my vet.

Me, too. There's no way crates will fit in my car, and I've never cared for harness restraints much. Maybe if this crash testing leads to more effective restraints I'll change my mind.

 

[crysania]

I’m a bad mom. My dogs ride loose in the car. I don’t know what else to do though. A dane sized crate doesn’t fit even in the minivan, and having them sit on the seat so I can harness them won’t work either because they’re too tall to sit in a seat. The only safety precaution I take is to make sure they are wearing collars with tags when in the car so if they were to get loose or injured in a crash, they would be traceable to me and/or my vet.

I can't fit a crate for my 50 pound dog in my little car so I sympathize with that! Dahlia often rides loose and I feel wicked guilty about it. But the car is tiny, the back seats are right up against the front seats so there isn't far to go. There are no back doors so the windows are too tiny for her to fly out of back there. Since she lies lengthwise on the back seat I just hope if anything happens, she'll get bounced around a bit (she would wearing a harness like those ones anyway). She does always wear a collar in the car for the same reason. And there's a card in my wallet with the name of our vet and their phone number on it.

 

[stardogs]

From the child restraint testing guidelines, it would appear the testing was done at either 20 or 30 mph. So def not high speed.

 

[JessLough]

I’m a bad mom. My dogs ride loose in the car. I don’t know what else to do though. A dane sized crate doesn’t fit even in the minivan, and having them sit on the seat so I can harness them won’t work either because they’re too tall to sit in a seat. The only safety precaution I take is to make sure they are wearing collars with tags when in the car so if they were to get loose or injured in a crash, they would be traceable to me and/or my vet.

Yep. Loose in the back seat with somebody holding her leash (so she doesn't try to jump in the front) or if alone with the driver, just loose in the passenger seat.

Though she doesn't really go for car rides, maybe just around the block or to the vet a few blocks away. Furthest would be once a year to the groomer

 

[crysania]

Where on earth did you find them? I've been looking everywhere for it.

I'm surprised they would test at such a low speed and I'm also surprised a dog could be decapitated at such a speed.

 

[stardogs]

They reference the guidelines they used in the full report I shared on Four Paw Drive:

"Since standardized testing does not exist for this class of pet product, a test referenced by canine safety harness manufacturers is the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) 213 (FMVSS 1999) for child restraint systems. Using FMVSS 213 we tested a control group of readily available canine automotive restraints (Size: large)."

I looked up FMVSS 213 and found this information:

"(1) Test Configuration I, are at a velocity change of 48 km/h with the ac- celeration of the test platform entirely within the curve shown in Figure 2 (for child restraints manufactured before August 1, 2005) or in Figure 2A (for child restraints manufactured on or after August 1, 2005), or for the specific vehicle test with the deceleration pro- duced in a 48 km/h frontal barrier crash.

(2) Test Configuration II, are set at a velocity change of 32 km/h with the acceleration of the test platform entirely within the curve shown in Figure 3, or for the specific vehicle test, with the deceleration produced in a 32 km/h frontal barrier crash."

(from: http://www.carseat.org/Legal/0_legalIP.htm)

48km/h = just under 30mph, 32km/h - just under 20mph

 

[crysania]

I tried looking up the test too but couldn't find that specific information. Thanks!

In looking I also found this: http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/6/prweb9608954.htm I've never heard of the "Sleepy pod."

(As I look, these are designed for pets 15 pounds and under so they may be ideal for small dogs or cats.)

 

[Bailey08]

Bailey really, really hates the Roadie. They both have Champions now, and ride in the backseat, which hopefully does some good. TBH, though, B doesn't always have to follows these rules as they can make him even more anxious than his usual car riding anxiety. Grace always, does, though, or she'd be all over the place!

 

[JacksonsMom]

Not sure if this was posted yet, but I came across this option today, that has a video from a crash test:

http://www.rcpets.com/rcpets/index.php/browse/category/id/302#main_panel

http://youtu.be/ZnTFgfbl0tk