3 On Your Side: Crash Tests Find Many Pet Restraints Unsafe
By Jim Donovan
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- For years information gathered from crash tests has been used to curb injuries and deaths in auto accidents. Test dummies are used, taking the place of real-life children and adults. Well now there's a new breed of test dummy, crash test dogs. As 3 On Your Side Consumer Reporter Jim Donovan finds, they're helping expose serious flaws with many popular pet restraints now on the market.
It several weeks ago that Eugene Kattak's car was broadsided when returning home from a trip to have his dogs groomed. According to Kattak, "We were whipped into a telephone poll. The airbags had all deployed. " Kattak's two dogs, Mike and Mojo were thrown from the rear seat. Mojo partially paralyzed when his car restraint failed to hold him in place. "He wasn't moving and then my heart sank, " says Kattak.
"He has what's called a type-3 cervical disc injury," says Dr. Karyn Collier, a veterinarian with Swedesboro Animal Hospital. Adding, "that pet's small enough to really be thrown forcefully."
"I cried, I was pretty devastated. He looked very pathetic," said Eugene's wife Chris. She had thought that car restraint would offer her pets more protection. She says, "I mean we bought them to keep the dogs safe."
Little did she know that isn't always the case. "We were seeing connection point failures, we were seeing harnesses break, we were seeing buckles snap on a regular basis," says Lindsey Wolko. Wolko runs the Center for Pet Safety, a non-profit advocacy group she founded after her dog Maggie was injured in a car crash. "She suffered a strained spine and strained hips because she was hog-tied from behind and she just flew forward while that held her legs in place," says Wolko.
Wolko is now working to establish standardized testing for pet harnesses. She says, "A lot of pet advocates are out there claiming that these products can prevent injury to your pet in case of an accident without any scientific knowledge about what would happen."
Now, in independently funded tests the Center is using the same standards that assess child safety seats to test dog harnesses and car restraints.
"The manufacturer either had to claim crash testing or crash protection in order to qualify for the study," says Wolko.
Only three of 20 harnesses offered maximum protection, and they were all from one manufacturer. "The Sleepypod Clickit Utility was our top performer," said Wolko.
Six other harnesses and restraints had catastrophic failure where the dummy dog was released or became a projectile.
After weeks of rehab, Mojo is on the mend. "It could have been much worse," says Chris Kattak
Mojo's owners and veterinarian agree, restraining a pet is still the safer way to go. "The question we'll have to answer in time is you know what's the best way to restrain them," says Dr. Collier.
That's a question that the Center for Pet Safety intends to answer. For now they recommend against using long extension tethers and zip line style products which could allow a dog to launch off the seat.
To check out the full Center for Pet Safety 2013 Harness Crashworthiness Study Rankings visit: http://bit.ly/HS1cAO
The top performing harness in the Center for Pet Safety tests can be found here:
