Pet Safety Harness Crash Testing

[arf2184]

This pilot study is two years old, but I hadn't seen it so I thought I'd share.

 

Finally! Someone is testing to see if car safety harnesses actually work. Unfortunately, the results are a bit disturbing. Not only did the ones tested not protect the pet, but they do not protect the people in the car either. So basically, at this point, they only prevent the dog from bouncing around the vehicle while driving and are not helpful in the event of an accident.

 

I hope this is just the first of many test studies and inspires someone to make a better product. I'd also like to see a study of whether or not crates are actually helpful in the event of a crash and if one type of crate is safer than another.

 

http://centerforpetsafety.org/research/

[gcv-border]

Those videos were very disturbing to watch.

 

I have never used a harness restraint like that - preferring a crate (for better or worse, I guess we don't really know). Thus, I do not know how they are supposed to perform - particularly the harnesses that appear to detach from the seat belt?

 

Jovi

[RichardH]

Allianz Insurance in Germany did a test on crates similar to this pilot. it was found that plastic crates were quite dangerous to dogs and owners. They didn't try the crash crates like these http://www.safedog.co.uk/ but it was pretty clear that a plastic airline crate was only really safe for the driver if placed behind the last row of seats with the crate door facing the rear wheel well and properly strapped down. Otherwise the dog would usually break through the door or back of the crate ( terrible to think about.

 

Here's the footage

 

 

-Rich

[Gideon's girl]

No crate is safe in the interior of the vehicle if it is not properly mounted. That being said a friend of mine used the big Kennel Aires mounted to a framework that was professionally installed in her van. When she was in a rollover accident that completely totalled her van, her dogs only had minor bumps and bruises. She was hospitalized, but they told her that because of the way the car rolled and landed, she probably would have been dead if the crates had not been mounted. She still uses those exact same crates. One has a rumple in the side, another has a dent in the top, otherwise they are just fine.

[ChantalB]

This is such a concern to me. Right now the dogs are loose trained to stay in the back. I worry about a crate impaling a dog, and a harness hindering them tied in should they make it out of a crash. I'm on a hope to god nothing bad happens, and if it does they can safely get out and aren't restrained in should the worst happen. It tears my heart and frightens me just thinking about it. Saving up to get those ultra expensive one, sigh.

[ChantalB]

http://www.newworldbasenjis.net/kennelaire.htm found this

 

I saw a video I think posted on this forum maybe a year back of a really tough plastic crate, that they tested in the video flying out of the back of the truck... Anyone know the brand in talking about?

[waffles]

I have a Corolla so no crate is going to be in my back seat. Though one might fit, I realize that a plastic crate just sitting in the seat is not going to do much good at all. I wonder about people who do have crates strapped down in the back of vans/SUVs, what happens if you get rear ended and the back gets pushed in? Your dogs will get squished since they're so close to the back end. In a roll over, a bolted down crate would be excellent but not in a bad rear end accident.

 

I had read and saw some video in regards to the harnesses about a year ago and none of them proved to be effective or safe in an accident. I thought there was one that was stating it was (wasn't sure if their claim was true) because their straps were made from the same material as regular seat belts. The problem though, the harness connected used a caribener for rock climbing. Why not make the harness out of the same seat belt material and make it have the same clip so that it could be clipped in just like a regular seat belt?

 

http://www.annarbor.com/pets/pets-seat-belt-harness-car-vehicle-safety-test-accident-crash/

 

Plastic crates can be cracked so easily and wire crates would also be useless. I have seen not so big dogs pop those open and/or bend the bars back with ease. If you have ever been in a car accident you know the force of even a low speed impact can be very powerful. If I had the money and the right car I would go with those safedog crates Richard posted. Those look promising.

[rushdoggie]

I drive a small older Civic.

 

I have a crate my small dogs share that has a nylon tie down belt strapped around it 3 times and through the handle and then the seatbelt is fed through the tie down. I don't know how it would fare in a serious crash but when I had a fender bender once in a different car the crate I had strapped in like that hadn't moved.

 

Unfortunately, the Border Collie size crate can't fit in there so he has the Ruff Rider harness. I doubt it would keep him injury free in a big crash but my hopes is in a small crash it would keep him from being tossed out of the car or escaping out of a door that pops open.

 

I'm not sure what else can be done except to never take the dogs anywhere in the car...

[WildFlower]

I wonder about people who do have crates strapped down in the back of vans/SUVs, what happens if you get rear ended and the back gets pushed in? Your dogs will get squished since they're so close to the back end. In a roll over, a bolted down crate would be excellent but not in a bad rear end accident.

 

I remember a year or more ago a board member (apologies, don't remember who) was rear ended in her hatchback car and her dog was crated in the back. The crate was pushed in but her dog was ok.

 

I have a "dog van" with 4 crates in it - 2 open to the inside of the van and 2 open out the back. I had a platform made (really so I could more effectively store stuff in the van for traveling) and that is strapped down to the van itself. There is also a strap across the front of the box to prevent it from moving forward. The crates are also anchored to the van itself, not the box. If I was in a bad rear end accident, I would be worried about the dogs in the back. The crates are about 6 inches (or less) from the hatch door. Since they are raised on the platform, that may help prevent some injury if not hit by a truck or other large vehicle. (Sorry, I tried to attach a picture and couldn't get it to work??? Tried from flikr, snpafish, and photobucket...)

 

I guess, you just do your best for your dogs in your vehicle. There are no gaurantees.

[Debbie Meier]

With accidents you never know if how you have your dogs contained is going to be the best until after the accident happens. When we ran head on into the bull we had three in crates in the back of the truck, we had a topper on the truck and didn't have the crates strapped down. The crates all rolled end over end and smacked the front of the bed. We had no injuries but the crates did earn a few cracks.

I also had a pup sleeping on the center counsel between us, I don't know what path he took but I found him limp on the floor at my feet. He too uninjured.

In that particular accident all fared well, we talked about how different it could have been if we had had the crates strapped down, would the dogs have been catapulted through the crates? Would the crates have been crushed under the stress of the tiedowns and impact? So many what if's and really all we can do is say that we would not have wanted to change a thing based on that accident. But if the accident had been different, if we would have clipped the bull, ended up in the ditch and rolling, or if the bull had sent us into the air, would the results had been as positive?

No matter what we do we can't make the outcome positive for every situation, I think what we should do is look at what the most common type of collisions are based on what where we are going or what roads we travel and prepare the best we can for that scenario.

 

In any case, IMO, crates that are structurally able to hold up to crushing strapped down with doors facing backwards would be the best choice, but I have to say that I am guilty of not strapping crates down in our Explorer and we use plastic airline crates that are apt to be damage if strapped down, we probably need to change that...

[Syncrope]

This makes me want to throw my car harness right in the trash. I wish I had room in my tiny car for a crate that would safely fit my dog... Sigh. I guess all I can do is keep doing what I'm doing, since it's the best I can do. Guess I'll just have to wait until they come up with something more effective.

 

Thanks for the info!

[Debbie Meier]

Occasionally I go through scenarios with our dog trailer, wonder how bad it will be if were to get rear ended, side swiped, a head on collision. All I can tell myself is to drive carefully, drive defensively and keep my fingers crossed. We take precautions if there is snow in the forecast and leave the trailer home, we also are more careful if traveling when there is rain and increased traffic trying to compensate for when accident risks increase.

[nancy]

I have been using a harness since 1996, first for Fergie, now for Dixie. It is similar to the harnesses I used for my kids back in the late 60s and early 70s. Back then, car seats hung over the seats and often had plastic steering wheels, so we sure didn't want them. None of the harnesses I saw attached like ours does. Ours has a really short loop of seat-belt material on the back through which we put the actual seat belt. As long as the seat belt works, the dog can't get thrown like the ones in the videos. I know from experience that the similar ones for our kids definitely worked as we had hoped.

[rushdoggie]

I have been using a harness since 1996, first for Fergie, now for Dixie. It is similar to the harnesses I used for my kids back in the late 60s and early 70s. Back then, car seats hung over the seats and often had plastic steering wheels, so we sure didn't want them. None of the harnesses I saw attached like ours does. Ours has a really short loop of seat-belt material on the back through which we put the actual seat belt. As long as the seat belt works, the dog can't get thrown like the ones in the videos. I know from experience that the similar ones for our kids definitely worked as we had hoped.

 

although the buckles that you use to attach the harness to the dog could fail...

[Sue R]

Any form of restraint can fail. Some are doomed to fail.

 

Our dog seat belts are made of regular seat-belt materials and buckles. In theory, with them attached to the human seat belts, that should "lock" in a collision, and properly adjusted, they *should* reduce the motion that would result from a crash.

 

One thing I wondered about in the videos is the dog "model" that was used. It looked like a stuffed, life-size boxer. I wonder how differently that would "react" in a collision compared to a flesh-and-bones dog. It seemed to me that it was very soft in terms of the way the body reacted to the pressures exerted by the seat belts being tested. In addition, the seat belts that the harnesses were attached to did not seem to do their job, of locking upon impact. Was that because there was not sufficient weight in the test model dogs?

 

I do use seat belts, and have for half-a-dozen years or more now. I hit a deer broadside with my Aerostar, going 70 mph in heavy interstate traffic. The two dogs, in their seat belts, lying on the flat rear seat (it folded down to form a flat platform) came through the crash without an injury - when I was able to look back over my shoulder at them, they were just lying where they had been lying before the crash. Had they also been able to brace themselves when I saw the deer and flung out my arm in front of my daughter (in the passenger seat) and said, "Hang on!"?

 

In my youth, my mother's car was hit in the driver's side by a car that came through a stop sign, but which was just accelerating from a stop so it was not going very fast. The dog, sitting between myself and my mother, and with my arm draped around her, braced herself and was the reason that I was not catapulted out the passenger door when the car was spun around and that door (which had been locked) flew open and then shut again. I could have been gravely hurt if I hadn't had hold of Lady and she hadn't braced herself.

 

I'll continue to use my harnesses in lieu of something better because I am not, as of now, set up to use crates in my car and also simply don't have room for crates when we travel any distance as a family with our other gear in the car. They confine the dogs to their own area and have, until now, given me a level of peace of mind. I'll have to rethink that, though.

[ChantalB]

What kind of harnesses is everyone using?

 

Do you have a problem with the dog moving around and getting tangled up?

 

I'd love suggestions on what to buy

[Sue R]

I have PetBuckle and my daughter has USA K-9 Outfitters.

 

I don't generally have issues with my dogs getting tangeled but they are very seasoned seat-belt-wearing travelers. On rare occasions, one will get tangeled so I do check on them regularly.

[waffles]

I watched 2 videos the other day and thought the one used a 35 lb weighted stuffed dog and the other was a 50 lb weighted dog. I wonder if, since seat belts are designed for adults that having only 35 lbs affects the seat belt locking up?

I have been debating now getting a harness but Would want I get one that has some chance of helping.

I'm going to look into tr one you have Sue R. Thanks for the tips.

[Sue R]

I think that a vital part of using one of the harnesses is adjusting to fit the dog properly - snug but not tight - or it will just slip and slide, and maybe cause more harm than good. And I am as guilty as anyone for not making sure my harnesses are adjusted and re-adjusted.

 

I do have the PetBuckle, which are made of regular seat belt fittings, but I also liked the design of the USA K-9 that I bought for my daughter's heavily-coated dog, for whom a properly-adjusted PetBuckle might be an issue. For his coat, picture a Border Collie crossed with a Keeshond...

[Gideon's girl]

In todays cars weight should not be a factor. Babies in car seats certainly don't have the weight. The harness/seatbelt systems that I have seen are made so that the dog can sit or lie down. That's a good bit of movement. If your kid can move that much in his/her seatbelt then they aren't really safe.

[Sue R]

Baby/child car seats are also held firmly in place by the lap portion of the seat belt, which does not have the moveability of the shoulder portion of the seat belt. In our Subaru, we had anchors that we used to attach the dog seat belt harnesses and that arrangement really reduced potential for movement. In our current car, we do not and I think I need to rethink options for attachment.

[Gideon's girl]

A lot of car seats come with a metal clip that attaches the shoulder belt to the lap belt so the whole thing can't slide through the buckle. Using a clip like that might help with the dogs harness as long as you connect at the right point.

[Sue R]

A lot of car seats come with a metal clip that attaches the shoulder belt to the lap belt so the whole thing can't slide through the buckle. Using a clip like that might help with the dogs harness as long as you connect at the right point.

 

Sounds like a good idea.

[arf2184]

Not sure if this was posted elsewhere, but this study has been updated. Thanks to Suburu, they were able to do more testing and it looks like there are some good options now.

 

I think Meg might be getting a Sleepypod Clickit harness soon. It looks like it may actually give the dog a better chance in the event of an accident, in addition to keeping the dog from flying into the people in the car.

 

http://centerforpetsafety.org/research/2013-harness-study-results/

[GentleLake]

I think Meg might be getting a Sleepypod Clickit harness soon.

 

FWIW, reviews for this harness are all over the place: http://www.amazon.com/ClickIt-Utility-Dog-Safety-Harness/product-reviews/B00FQR9562