by Lauren Arcuri, Contributor

It’s an iconic image: a dog with its head out the car window, ears and tongue flapping in the wind, a huge doggy smile plastered on its face.

It’s also incredibly unsafe for the dog, the owner, other passengers in the car, and other people on the road. Enthusiastic canines who bounce around the car unrestrained can be a dangerous distraction for the driver, increasing your risk of an accident. An unsecured dog in a vehicle becomes a dangerous projectile in the event of an accident and can cause injury or death to others in the car—not to mention the dog itself.

Even if unharmed in a crash, a loose dog who escapes a car accident usually runs away, scared and disoriented, and can be killed or injured on the road or never found again. They can also hinder emergency responders, preventing them from helping the humans injured in the accident.

According to a survey by the American Automobile Association, over 80 percent of dog owners drive with their dogs in the car, but only 16 percent use proper safety restraints for their pets.

What’s a responsible dog owner to do? There are a number of options available to secure dogs in vehicles. Many pet product manufacturers sell crates, harnesses, and carriers for travel. But there’s a catch: most of these products do not undergo any kind of crash testing. The United States government does not regulate pet products, including travel products. Yet many manufacturers slap a label on the box that says their harness is “crash tested.” It can be impossible to find out what this means, if anything. It could have been “crash tested” and failed, or passed marginally but still caused injury. While any harness or crate will keep a dog from distracting you, it won’t keep the dog—or you and your passengers—safe if it disintegrates in an accident.

Enter the Center for Pet Safety

A few years ago, a nonprofit organization called the Center for Pet Safety (CPS) began testing harnesses, crates, and carriers for dogs, using a mobile test sled and a test (stuffed, not live!) dog under the same conditions that the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard has established for child safety seats. The test impact happens at 30 miles per hour.

In 2011, CPS conducted a pilot study to look at the general effectiveness of canine automotive restraints with these conditions. This pilot study had a 100 percent failure rate! None of the tested harnesses were deemed safe enough to protect the dog and human occupants in a crash.

After that failure, CPS conducted additional harness testing in 2013 and 2015, testing new products that had been designed to better restrain dogs and to hold up in a crash. The new CPS Certified Program resulted from those tests, based on independent safety standards developed by CPS. If the product passes testing in the laboratory, product manufacturers then pay to have their product certified by the program. In 2015, CPS developed certifications for travel carriers and crates as well as harnesses.

There has been some criticism of CPS’s crash-testing methodology and their resulting recommendations. The CPS test sled and seatback is longer than the cargo area of most SUVs except for the largest ones (like a Suburban). The way the crate is positioned in the test sled is not reflective of a real-world situation, says Michael Miskulin of ismypetsafe.com. The D-rings used in the test sled to tie down the crate are far more securely anchored than a typical D-ring in the cargo area of a car or SUV, he says. Most cargo D-rings are not made to secure a heavy dog crate and dog and could very likely break free in an accident.

CPS’s testing methodology doesn’t look at what happens to a dog in any restraint during a rear-end collision or rollover.

European Products and Crash Testing

If a pet owner looks beyond the United States, they’ll find that European manufacturers have been crash testing products for years. The MIM Safe Variocage is a dog crate that has been tested in front, rear, and rollover impacts. It failed CPS’s testing because it detached from the test sled, but passed European safety tests. Confused yet?

The MIM Safe Variocage is designed with a crumple zone that is intended to protect your dog in a collision as well as an escape hatch to remove the dog after a collision.

The Allsafe Harness by Kleinmetall also passed rigorous European crash testing. It failed CPS’s testing when used with the six-inch tether that is provided with it, but passed when the seatbelt was threaded directly through the back of the harness.

Harnesses That Protect

While no testing is foolproof, it’s safe to say that if you want to protect yourself and your dog, your best bet is looking for a product that has undergone independent crash testing, whether by CPS or a European agency. Be sure to evaluate claims of crash testing as carefully as you can. CPS provides crash-test videos on their website, so you can see the effects of impact on the test dog. But remember that a crash test is reflective of an approximation of real-world conditions—and it may not reflect all possibilities.

Please remember that the back seat is always the safest place for a dog.

Sleepypod ClickIt Sport: CPS has only one crash test-certified harness currently: the Sleepypod ClickIt Sport. I have personally used this harness with my 45-pound and 80-pound Lab mixes and it’s fairly easy to use, adjust, and buckle.

Allsafe Harness by Kleinmetall: Although not CPS Certified, this harness did really well in the crash-testing CPS conducted and has passed European safety testing. For maximum protection, thread the seatbelt through the back of the harness or use the seatbelt clip provided with the harness to ensure your dog can’t be thrown too far forward in an accident.

Crates and Carriers That Protect

Only one crate and one carrier passed CPS’s testing; however, pet owners may consider real-world conditions and conclude that the MIM Safe Variocage is also a safe choice, having passed stringent European crash test conditions.

MIM Safe Variocage: Again, this crate passed Swedish crash test simulations of frontal and rear impacts as well as rollovers.

Gunner Kennel G1 Intermediate with Strength Rated Anchor Straps: This crate is CPS Certified, with a dual-locking door that helps provide structural support to the door in a collision. The strength-rated tie-down straps help keep the crate secure in the cargo area (but remember, cargo tie-downs have to hold fast in an accident for that to matter).

Sleepypod Carriers: This is the only CPS Certified line of Pet Travel Carriers. All of the Sleepypod carriers—the Air, Atom, Mini with PPRS Handilock, and Mobile Pet Bed with PPRS Handilock—meet the CPS Certified crash test requirements.

Keeping Yourself and Your Dog Safe

While it can seem overwhelming to sort through the options, keep in mind that the most important choice you can make is to secure your dog while you travel with a crash-tested product. Many of the above options—specifically, the crates—are expensive. A crash-tested harness is a relatively easy way to secure your dog in the back seat and fits within the budgets of most pet owners.

You’ll have to acclimate your dog to the harness and to being secured in the vehicle. Start by offering treats for just looking at the harness. Then give treats freely while putting the harness on. While buckling your dog in the car, offer treats again. Take the process slowly and positively and your dog will become used to the new car ride. Sure, he won’t be able to pant in the breeze, but he can still take in the scenery—safe and secure from harm.