Survey reveals: Pets are at risk in the car despite owners' good intentions

The dangers of not restraining your pet

Dr. Roth sees not using a safety harness and pet seatbelt system, or at least a crate designed for car travel, as the major risk for pets in the car. Letting your dog roam around can not only lead to the dog being badly hurt in a crash — it can also distract the driver, making a crash more likely.

And according to Wolko, a crash with an unrestrained pet isn't just dangerous for the animal. "We've had reports come in where we had an unrestrained 75-pound dog, a Labrador retriever, hit the back of the driver's seat." Tragically, both the driver and the dog in Wolko's story were killed, making the risk just as high for humans as it is for the pet.

According to Dr. Roth, you don't even have to be in a crash to experience a tragic pet-related accident. "I used to practice in Wyoming," he says. "Twice, I've seen someone with the dog in the bed of a pickup truck. They pass a semi and the dog gets sucked out of the bed of the truck." Even if you restrain your dog in the bed of a truck, you can't stop outside forces like passing vehicles and debris from causing serious or fatal harm.

Dogs love to put their heads out the window, but it's a serious risk

Dr. Roth and Wolko say dogs shouldn't be allowed to put their heads out the window — something 41% of drivers surveyed say they do. In addition to more serious injuries from falling out of the window, hitting an object, or distracting the driver, Dr. Roth says, "Foreign material can get in their mouth and eyes — or they can get bee stings."

An unrestrained animal with their head out the window can also fall or jump out of the car, or they may be thrown from the vehicle in a crash. They're then likely to get lost or get hit by another vehicle on the road.

Other risky behaviors when traveling with pets in the car

Traveling with an unrestrained pet encourages other behaviors that can compromise safety for both driver and pet. Our survey revealed that a significant proportion of drivers engage in distracted driving behaviors when driving with pets. While some of these actions may help calm the pet down, they should be done by a passenger rather than the driver.

Our survey also found that common risks vary by type of pet. Dog owners are more likely than cat owners to let their pets stick their heads out the window. Dog owners also keep their pet on their lap while driving twice as much as cat owners. But that doesn't mean cats are safer passengers than dogs.

In fact, Dr. Roth says that driving with an unrestrained cat in the car creates particularly serious hazards. "If you let the cat out, they tend to roam around the car. They can get behind the pedals." You can imagine the danger created by having your cat caught near the gas or brakes.

Justin Sims has traveled long distances with his cat, Simo, in the car. "Our cat does not like the car," he says. "Even when we were doing a two-minute car ride to the vet, he was freaking out. Yowling and screaming and peeing." That made it harder for Sims and his wife to drive without distractions, but they had a cross-country move planned.

"We didn't really have an option to do anything other than a long drive," he says. "We had to medicate him. We hated doing that." In the end, they decided to let the cat roam loose in the passenger area of their van and took precautions to prevent him from getting under the pedals. Still, Sims doesn't feel like it's a perfect solution. "It felt like the only option to get him in the vehicle and calm was to [leave him unrestrained], then monitor the risk accordingly."

How to properly restrain your pets in the car

The same behaviors that keep us safe — following the rules of the road and avoiding aggressive driving — also protect our animal passengers. But properly restraining your pets while they're in the car is essential to keeping them safe.

Always restrain your pets in the backseat

According to Dr. Roth, airbags pose a serious risk to pets who are in the front seat. But in our survey, only 22% reported keeping their pet in the backseat while driving. Airbags deploy enough force to hurt and even kill a pet. Like with children, restraining pets in the backseat is the recommended way to keep them safe from airbags.

If you need to put your pet in the front seat for some reason — like in a pickup truck with only one row of seats — Dr. Roth urges you not to keep your pet in your lap. An animal sitting on your lap can be hurt by the driver's airbag and prevent the airbag from protecting you. Instead, he says, put your pet in the passenger seat and use a harness designed to safely restrain them in the car. That way, "if you get into an accident, they don't fly forward," he says. "A lot of times, you can turn off the airbag on the passenger side. You want to prevent them from flying out or distracting the driver," so you can prioritize the proper restraint of your pet.

Acclimation training helps pets get used to safe car restraints

When it comes to actually using pet car safety products, Wolko stresses the importance of car training, especially for crash-rated products that can be more restrictive. "We recommend acclimation training, which is something that most pet owners just completely avoid," she says. "Acclimation training is critically important for proper use and for the pet to become more comfortable in using any travel product. You can't just take a dog and put a harness on them and expect them to travel in a relaxed mode."

Wolko suggests starting small and gradually working your way up to longer journeys. Start with two minutes of travel, work up to five minutes, and repeat. "If you have a panicky pet, put someone next to the pet while the pet is secured in the backseat to calm and reassure them," she says.

Exercising your dog before a car trip is also a good idea. "That way, he's going to be more prone to relax," says Wolko. "Maybe even sleep."

Pet health insurance as a precaution

While pet insurance can't prevent your pet from getting injured in the car, it can protect your pet and your budget if an accident happens. But as with other precautions like using a seatbelt harness, relatively few drivers in our survey (25%) carried a policy. While pet insurance policies offer varying coverage, even the most basic accident-only plans can help pay for vet bills if your pet gets injured in a car crash.

Injury bills can add up quickly for pets if you don't have insurance — Dr. Roth says, "Fractures can be $4,000–5,000." The potential for expensive treatments was the main reason that Sims and his wife got pet insurance for their cat. "We care about him. So, of course, we're going to do what needs to be done. But we want to make sure that doesn't put us in a compromised spot."