We considered safety first, so we checked the latest recommendations from the Center for Pet Safety. The CPS is the only institution that tests the claims that manufacturers make (or avoid making) about the safety of their pet products. In partnership with automaker Subaru, which sponsors the research, the CPS puts crates, kennels, and restraint harnesses through crash tests with different sizes of animal dummies to determine the safety and structural integrity of the products. Plastic crates in particular do not fare well in these tests; the plastic fractures under the forces of a crash.

Restraint harness

In a crash, an unrestrained animal can not only suffer from injuries but also fly forward like a missile, injuring the driver and passengers as well. That’s why you need a good restraint harness. The Center for Pet Safety tested the Sleepypod Clickit Sport and certified it as the safest in-car dog harness available, giving this model a five-star crash-test rating. Like Sleepypod’s popular Clickit Utility harness (which the CPS chose as a 2013 Top Performer), the Clickit Sport incorporates a wide, padded vest and provides three points of contact in the car to distribute the force of a sudden stop across a wider area of the dog’s body than other restraint harnesses, thereby reducing the chance of serious injury. Jennifer Shirley, a dog trainer at Oregon Humane Society and a former member of the OHSTAR team, recommends it highly. And an Amazon reviewer who used the Utility version gratefully notes that it worked in a real-life accident.

Personal opinion, I would never let my pet go on a ride without one of these, I mean, safety always needs to come first!