Pet Safety
When Traveling with Pets

Pet safety is an important topic for all pet owners, but especially when thinking about traveling with pets. And car seat safety is usually something parents think about when it comes to their kids, so why wouldn’t it be something we pet parents think about when it comes to our dogs and cats? That’s what Sleepypod had in mind with their recently conducted simulated car crash-tests on all of their multi-functional pet carrier and pet car seat models.

Sleepypod has crash-tested their pet carriers before, compared to other soft-sided carriers, but never to such a degree as just recently. Sleepypod hired a U.S. Department of Transportation and National Highway Traffic Safety Administration crash-test facility to test all of their of pet carriers, including the Atom, Air, Mini, and original Sleepypod, alongside a standard plastic dog or cat carrier, traditional pet safety harness, and a crash-test dog riding completely unrestrained in the car ...and the company’s products passed with flying colors!

It’s no surprise because, as Greg Mote, Sleepypod co-owner and product designer, so aptly pointed out, there is nothing as important as keeping your pets safe both at home and during travel. But little did we know just how much of a priority the car seat safety was for the company until the outcome of this recent crash-testing was released.

The disturbing thing is that there are no legal requirements set for pet carriers or car restraint products. So, what did Sleepypod do? They determined that their carriers should meet the standards of car seat safety for children, which is quite the fitting analogy.

All of the Sleepypod pet carriers passed the 30-mile-per-hour frontal crash-test, which is the requirement set by the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard for child safety seats. Sleepypod’s models suffered no damage and remained in perfect working order. The comparison carrier, harness, and unrestrained crash-test dog showed that all of these methods of transporting your pets will ultimately result in your precious pet crashing into whatever is in its path after being lurched forward during impact, whether you’re using another seemingly safe way of traveling with pets or not.

All of the dog and cat carriers were crash-tested using Sleepypod's own design of MAX the Safety Dog, which looks like a cross between a Bull Terrier and a Scottish Terrier. Both the 12-pound MAX 1 and 6-pound MAX 2 were made from medium density foam and weighted with copper, which helped to provide the most accurate crash test results. The goal of MAX's custom design was to simulate your actual pet in the carrier to help the company provide the most accurate results and design the safest products.

You can see the Sleepypod crash-test results for car seat safety by visiting their website. But Michael Leung, co-owner and product designer for Sleepypod, explained that due to their design, the Sleepypod line of carriers dispersed much of the force behind the crash and kept the crash-test dogs safe and cushioned, while the other methods that claim to keep your pet safe couldn’t even remain in the seat during testing. You can see from the pictures that the before and after shots are nearly indistinguishable from one another!

What more could we ask for? The fact of the matter is, we all love our cats. Our pets are our children, whether we have human children or not, and we want them to be safe and happy at all times. That's just how parents feel. And now, with the results of the pet car seat safety testing, we can all rest assured that our pets are finally being treated as our children in regards to travel.

Leave Pet Safety and return to the Sleepypod Review


Return to The Cat Home Page

Read Dr. Neely's Profile on Google+

Copyright 2007-2013 AskTheCatDoctor.com

This site is for your information only. For medical advice about your personal pet, please see your veterinarian.