You’re looking for a car crate for your dog but there are so many available and everyone claims to have the best dog travel cage. So what do you need to know before you buy?
No regulations
It’s important to know that there are no regulations governing the safety of dog car restraints, so anyone can claim that they have a safe dog travel cage, but it may not protect your dog, or yourself and your passengers in the event of an accident. And even worse, some companies will claim that their products are crash tested even though the product failed the crash test!
You get what you pay for
You get what you pay for. Performing crash tests, monitoring the results and innovating the continual improvements to make dog travel cages as safe as possible is expensive. The tests themselves in the required facilities are costly to run and the materials needed to ensure that crates are safe are high quality and high value. And the design time to innovate and improve products, ensuring that they work in conjunction with the vehicle’s crumple zone and do not compromise safety, is also a lengthy and intricate process.
So bear in mind that any product claiming to be crash tested and 100% with a price tag that doesn’t match the claim is unlikely to protect you, your family and your pet when you need it to.
Danger of road travel
We don’t want to be depressing, but we must warn you not to forget just how many people die or are seriously injured in road traffic accidents each year. The following table is taken from the National Safety Council in the US and estimates are based on data from National Centre for Health Statistics.
Figure 1
Figure 1: Mortality Data for 2019, as compiled from data provided by the 57 vital statistics jurisdictions through the Vital Statistics Cooperative Program. Population and life expectancy data are from the U.S. Census Bureau. Deaths are classified on the basis of the 10th Revision of the World Health Organization’s “The International Classification of Diseases” (ICD). Numbers following titles refer to External Cause of Morbidity and Mortality classifications in ICD-10.
With the chances of dying from a road traffic accident the 8th most likely on the list, it’s important to make sure that you protect yourself and your family as much as possible while you are travelling.
Loose pets, or pets in inadequate restraints, can become a projectile weapon when the vehicle suffers an impact or brakes sharply. For example, an unrestrained dog weighing 10 pounds will exert approximately 300 pounds of pressure in an impact at 30mph. That’s the same as being hit by a refrigerator! This is why a crash tested, safe dog travel cage is essential.
Young People
With young people even more likely to be involved in an accident than older individuals, it is well worth investing in a crash tested crate for any young drivers under the age of 25 who frequently travel with their dog.
Figure 2
Figure 2: Mortality statistics and road traffic accidents in the UK, Chart taken from the RAC Foundation pdf: road-accident-casualty-comparisons-box-110511.pdf
Why our dog travel cages are the safest
We’re the ONLY company worldwide that crash tests our crates in situ in the vehicle. This is important because anything in your vehicle needs to work in conjunction with the safety mechanisms within the vehicle itself. There is no point in having a crate that protects the dog in crash tests on its own but doesn’t take into account any of the forces or physical apparatus that are present during an impact. Dog travel crates need to work in tandem with your vehicle’s crumple zone to ensure that every member of your family, canine and human, are kept safe.
Our only focus is to produce products that protect you and we continually test, innovate and improve to ensure that this is what we do.
Our dog travel cages undergo rigorous crash tests at RISE Research Institutes of Sweden. The tests are adapted to the cage size and load without sacrificing its energy-absorbing characteristics if a collision were to occur. The robust, innovative construction ensures that our crates can withstand massive impact from all directions – we call it Safety 360°.
Read more about our safety design and crash testing on our Safety Design page
