Hollywood leads us to believe in the secret life of our pets. Whilst we may plead ignorance into understanding the complexities of what goes on in the minds of our four legged friends, what is known through research is the fact that a growing majority of pet owners prefer to vacation with their dogs. Now an integral part of most family structures, there is no lack of choice from pet hotels to pet restaurants when hitting the road with your dog.
With all of this, comes the reality that travelling with a dog requires a vehicle which is suitable and sufficiently thoughtful to meet their needs of safety and comfort. Subaru has long realized this and as an auto maker focused on enriching the lives of families, their commitment to safer, more comfortable dog travel is has also become priority in vehicle design and engineering.
Here’s 5 reasons why we believe your dog would prefer to ride in a Subaru.
1. Dog harness crash testing
We often read about the latest crash tests done and the latest advancements made to protect drivers and passengers in a crash. But what about crash testing for dog safety?
Considering that in a crash, a dog who is not properly secured can become a projectile carrying significant weight, resulting in serious injury or worse for them and all other vehicle occupants.
Way back in 2013, Subaru teamed up with the Center for Pet Safety (CPS) in the US to determine which safety harnesses were most effective for use by dogs. At the time, there were no formal test rating guidelines nor any testing protocols available anywhere.
The pet harness crash test study was designed by CPS. It paralleled the tests done on child safety seats, and was conducted by MGA Research Corporation, an independent National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) contracted testing laboratory. The tests uncovered serious flaws in most currently marketed pet restraint systems, and resulted in only one harness receiving the CPS endorsement.
Following the 2013 tests, Subaru and CPS highlighted the top pet safety products in the 2015 Crate and Carrier Crashworthiness Studies again examining the effectiveness and safety of pet crates and carriers in a crash. Formal test protocols and independent ratings guidelines for pet travel carriers and crates were subsequently published by CPS in 2016. This allows for all dog owners to understand precisely how safe their harnesses really are before buying them.
Work in this field is on-going with Subaru playing a major role in funding this initiative. Subaru takes seriously the role of ensuring that not just the driver is protected in a crash, but all occupants including our furry friends.
2. Dog tested for comfort
Open any Subaru and the one thing that jumps out at you is the close to 90 degree opening angle of rear doors. This allows for dogs of all sizes to jump onto the rear seats a whole lot easier. This wider opening angle also loads you to easily load or unload a pet crate especially within tight parking spaces.
If you have bumped your head onto your vehicle roof when loading a child seat or dog crate, you will also appreciate the 2019 Forester’s squared-off roofline to avoid this.
Subaru’s typically feature generous cabin sizes. They are often rated best in class for their cabin size and space. Even the smallest Subaru XV features one of the biggest cabins within the crossover class. This allows for a medium to large dog crate to be fitted without cramping other occupants in the cabin. There’s nothing worse than having your dog cramped up with kids or other occupants over long trips.
Most models also allow for their rear seats to recline so that you can adjust the angle of the seat to fit better with the crate.
3. An extra set of eyes
We can’t help that our dogs tend to get restless in the car. Frequent breaks help, but over longer trips this is exacerbated. Often times this results in the driver getting distracted whilst keeping a second eye on the back seat.
Fortunately, Subaru’s EyeSight stereo camera system has your back. This clever system monitors the road ahead continually and is able to warn you if you might be leaving your lane or not noticing a car ahead slowing down or stopping.
Besides warning you, Eyesight will even bring your Subaru to a complete stop if you can’t respond in time. This system is worth the investment if you spend a lot of time in the car with your four paw friends.
Newly introduced, Subaru’s new driver monitoring system (in a few countries presently and hopefully reaching SA shores sometime in the future) is able to detect if the driver’s eyes are no longer focused on the path ahead. If so, the system will warn the driver to refocus on the road ahead.
All of this tech goes a long way to mitigate distracted driving and ultimately get you and your dog to where you need to. If you have been feeling like someone’s always watching, add Subaru to that list.
4. No more car hopping without noticing
Hands up if your dog has climbed into your vehicle at home when doors have been left open at home and you haven’t noticed. Yes, this is a real concern as we all know that dogs love to hop in and find a comfy spot in your vehicle. The danger of course is not knowing that your dog is in the vehicle once you drive off.
Starting with 2020 models sold overseas, select Subaru models will now feature a rear-seat reminder system. If your Subaru thinks you might have put a child or dog in the back seat, it’ll chime and display a message in the instrument panel once the vehicle is turned off.
The system can’t physically detect if a child or dog is in the rear seat. Instead, the Subaru will turn on the rear-seat reminder if “the vehicle is started within 30 minutes after a rear side door is opened and closed, a rear side door is opened and closed when the vehicle is running and stationary,” or if “the vehicle is turned off and back on again within 30 minutes, and the rear side doors remained closed. That should at least minimize the chance of not knowing your dog is in the car with you over an extended period.
Expect to see this useful feature on South African Subaru models into the future.
5. Subaru’s are simply just safer overall
Take any Subaru and pit it against its closest competitor and you will immediately notice that Subaru’s are rated top of the class when it comes to safety.
The 2019 Forester is a perfect case in point. It holds the record in Japan with the JNCAP for receiving the highest safety test scores ever tested in that country. Same with the XV and Impreza holding the record for their body size classes respectively.
The world over, Subaru models score the highest crash test ratings from the US IIHS safety institute, European based EuroNCAP, Japan’s JNCAP and ANCAP down under. This is largely based on its unique Reinforced Safety Cell which forms a barrier of protection for the cabin shielding occupants from impact forces all around the vehicle.
Subaru has boldly said that by 2030 they will eliminate traffic accident deaths including collisions between pedestrians & cyclists with Subaru vehicles.
It just doesn’t get safer than a Subaru, and when it comes to your dogs why should you compromise. Keeping them safe is the prime goal when travelling and every Subaru is built to do just that.
We love our dogs and want the best for them. We want to enjoy our down-time together with them. Travelling need not be an exception. It’s great to know that a car maker takes this seriously and that with every Subaru follows a commitment to make every car ride a safer, more comfortable space to be in. It’s part of Subaru’s four legged ‘confidence in motion’ philosophy.
We are proud to be partnering with Montego Pet Nutrition for their Field and Forest Taste of Adventure competition, with a Subaru Forester up for grabs.
Buy a bag of Field + Forest™ between May 27 and August 4, 2019, and you could win a 2019 Subaru Forester 2.0i CVT valued at R438 000!
To Enter: Venture down to your nearest participating retailer and purchase a bag of delicious, grain-free Field + Forest™, then fill in your entry form and pop it in the Taste of Adventure Competition entry form box. Remember to keep your sales receipt somewhere safe as you’ll need it to redeem your prize, should you be our lucky winner.
For more information on our Tase of Adventure promotion visit here: http://bit.do/eUg8N.
