Dog + airbags + front end hit = ???

I see a lot of dogs happily riding in a car or truck, sitting or with their heads out the window. What happens to them if there is a front end hit? Daddy hits the brakes, dog is thrown forward then airbag deploys. Will the dog survive? Anybody have any experience with this? Just seems like bad things will happen.

I don't have any experience but I do worry about this all of the time when I take my pug mix to doggie daycare. We bought a harness that hooks into the seat belt but it didn't really work right

It's kids of the 1970's all over again!

Previously, a perfectly normal occurrence.

It may be interesting to count just how many more modern "violations" we can find in that photo.
Sample: father subjecting kids to second hand smoke.

My beagle mix would just stretch out on the back seat/

In my Chevy work van the passenger side airbag can be switched off.I think this available on more than few full size trucks, but not other vehicles.

HappyAndy wrote: In my Chevy work van the passenger side airbag can be switched off.I think this available on more than few full size trucks, but not other vehicles.

Don't a lot of them have a switch that only turns it on when there is over a certain weight limit on the seat? I could be wrong, no idea

I think the dog harnesses are meant for the back seat. We've all seen the person with the little dog on their lap as they drive. (These people should be ticketed for distracted driving) Collision with airbag deployment is gonna be real bad for fluffy.

I have seen quite a few people with little dogs on there laps. I can only imagine what a mess that would make if the airbag goes off.

This! Muffy and Beatrice will meld into one grotesque creature like Jeff Goldblum in The Fly.

Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition and most people do not expect to be in accident, so they don't think too much about driving with little Fluffy on their lap.

Yes, technically the airbag, if it goes off will be very bad for your dog. Yes, most airbags have sensors so below a certain weight they will not deploy.

The harnesses have been tested and the majority of them have been found to be more of a danger to a dog than being unharnessed.

We do transports for rescue dogs, although we don't always follow it really the only safe way to transport a dog is in a kennel. Everything else is an accident waiting to happen.

I put the dog in the back seat, crack the passenger windows so he can sniff and not be behind me, and try not to think about it.

I've seen them get killed and seen them come out fine. I've also heard of them becoming flying objects from the back seat and hit the person in front, though I've never seen them hurt a passenger.

We had a Blue Healer/Australian Shepard mix. Big, hairy, Luden's cough drop. We put him in the bed of a 76 Chevy dually, and drove from Montana to Chicago with him tied to the bed. He would stand on the gang box with his head above the cab. 80pmh and loving it.

This adds nothing to the discussion, but I loved that dog.

There are decent harnesses out there but they're mostly for keeping the dog from becoming a distraction or projectile. See the work Volvo has been doing with understanding this problem. As was already said dogs should be in aircraft quality crate and the crate needs to be secured in the vehicle. Wire crates collapse horribly and those cheap barriers you can install do nothing to save your pet or keep them contained under a real impact. Again they only keep the dog in the wayback. We have what we belive to be the best harness on the market for our whippet and use it to secure her to the anchors in the floor of the Astro van. She has terrible anxiety and cannot do a crate for long. The Salukis are in crates.

Seriously, if you care enough to put your kid in a safety seat you should do the same for your dog. And keep the window closed enough so the dog can't stick its head out. That glass can become a nice guillotine.