Dog is man's best friend, and whether it's a quick off-road jaunt through the local state park or a full-fledge cross-country roadtrip, they're the world's happiest back-seat drivers. And now, thanks to a partnership between Subaru and the Center for Pet Safety to fund safety testing of car restraints for pets, dogs can expect safe travels too.
There's currently a lot of animal safety products on the market, but without performance or safety standards, any claim manufacturers make about the efficacy of these product doesn't mean much.
"The Center for Pet Safety conducted a pilot study which showed that the majority of pet safety restraints currently on the market do not provide acceptable protection in a crash situation," said Michael McHale, Subaru's director of corporate communications. "As many of our owners have dogs, we feel it's our responsibility to help them keep their pets as safe as possible when they journey with us."
The pilot study simulated crashes using a 55-pound dog-shaped crash dummy at 30 mph. Of four of the most popular brands of safety harnesses, not one held up. This demonstrates the imperative need for safety standards that will result from this partnership.
The Center for Pet Safety is a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit research and advocacy organization dedicated to companion animal and consumer safety. Lindsey Wolko, founder and CEO of the Center for Pet safety, says the organization gets requests from pet-safety manufacturers around the globe for guidance when developing these products. Manufacturers are also scrambling to develop reliable products, as New Jersey lawmakers begin to consider a requirement for pet restraints for animals riding in vehicles.
"Through this partnership, we can finally conduct additional testing to help develop a suitable standard, provide the needed knowledge-base to manufacturers, as well as determine the top performers," Wolko says in a release. On behalf of dogs everywhere, thank you Subaru. We look forward to taking to the roads, with our owners shot-gun, our head out the window, soaking up the joys of the open road.
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