Detroit Free Press
A global auto supplier and a small nonprofit organization have joined forces to make cars safer for man’s — and in this case, a woman’s — best friend.
A dozen engineers and workers at Johnson Controls in Plymouth, Mich., are studying dogs of various breeds and sizes and how they travel in cars — hoping to engineer safe seats for them.
For the moment, the engineers are using their own dogs as subjects.
In many ways, Johnson Controls engineers said this is the next step in vehicle safety, and a new, largely unstudied area in which there isn’t much data — and no government or industry standards. More than 43 million households have dogs and 36 million have cats, according to the American Veterinary Medical Association.
“Cars are developed for people; they aren’t developed for dogs,” said Lindsey Wolko of the Center for Pet Safety in Reston, Va. “We have to get to the point we can have solutions that work for both. Dogs are the No. 1 traveling companion, and they have little protection in the marketplace.”
Wolko estimated there are millions of dogs — and cats — nationwide that could be saved from injury and death with more research, testing and better safety devices engineered specifically for pets.
Wolko founded the center in 2011 after her own dog, Maggie, an English cocker spaniel, was injured when the car she was in made an abrupt stop.
Even though Maggie was wearing a protective harness, the dog was badly injured.
After that experience, Wolko said, she realized many products don’t work as advertised, and that there was limited research being done to keep pets — particularly dogs, which tend to be bigger and move around more in cars than cats — safe in vehicles.
In 2013, Subaru partnered with the nonprofit Center for Pet Safety to test dog safety harnesses.
And last year, Consumer Reports published the findings of a study by the center: “Many owners who are buckling up their dogs may not be using a harness that will keep the animals or passengers safe.”
Of all the restraints tested, only one provided adequate protection.
Johnson Controlssaid it aims to spend at least a year studying dogs and coming up with designs and standards that could help make vehicles safer for pets, especially as more self-driving technology is integrated into cars.
— Detroit Free Press
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