Bark Belt Crash Test Dummy in Crash Test

Crash Tested Dog Seat Belt Study | The Science of Pet Safety

TL;DR - How Bark Belt Testing is Working to Make Cars Safer for Dogs

Custom Crash Test Dummies: We custom built crash test dummies that were fitted with three-tri-axis accelerometers to create a full impact picture

Biomechanic Experts: Working with leading biomechanic experts, accident experts, vets and dog trainers, we designed a testing program that mirrors FMVSS 213 (Federal child-seat crash test standards).

Third Party Tested: All our testing, data capture and instrumentation was provided and handled by Calspan, a leading and accredited testing facility. 

Leading the Way: We tested more than our products, we tested top restraint styles around the industry. Comparing impact forces and protective properties.

We Learned That No Crash Tested Pet System is Perfect, Not Even the Bark Belt

Riding in the car with our dogs is part of everyday life. quick trips, long drives, windows cracked, tails tapping. But there is a simple truth that often gets left out of the conversation. Any time a dog rides in a moving car there is risk. Dogs were not built for highways, hard stops or crash forces. And no restraint system crate, harness or tether changes that reality.


Every style has strengths and limitations, especially in a frontal crash which is the most common and most severe crash configuration in FMVSS testing. The moment a car rapidly decelerates, the forces on a dog can be enormous. There is no technology in the pet world that can erase physics.


Understanding those risks helps parents choose the level of freedom, containment, and impact protection that feels right for their dog.

Visual comparison of Bark Belt, crate, and harness across safety risks.

Did you know: Within the "old" crash test standard a dog restraint can be "crash test certified" despite allowing over 10,000lbs of sustained force on a dog's body. That is similar to five giraffes!

Buyer Beware: Would you buy a bike helmet that only measured the size of dent in the concrete and not the impact on your head? That is what happens in dog crash testing right now. Read more below!

Nothing Can Protect a Dog From +2,000lbs of Force, Why is This Our Standard Test?

This testing is not meant to push one system over the other. It's meant to show that there are currently gaps in the way we test for dog safety. The most important thing is that dog parents use some way to protect their dogs; whether that is a crate, harness, Bark Belt or other.

Results from first ever data back dog crash test study
Highlights of test results showing outdated standards miss key risks.

Time to Add to the Standard: While excursion is very important, we must also test the well-being of the animal. Otherwise the test is not truly measuring for pet safety, rather a human safety test. 

Three Gaps in The Current Crash Test Standard

No Impact Measurements: Unlike human crash testing, a dog restraint can be "crash tested" without measuring the forces felt by the dog during the crash. Impact and force measurements should be mandatory for all crash testing.

Standalone Excursion Test: The main test used by pet brands only measures how far the dog dummy moves inside the car, NOT the dog's well-being or injury risk. This test is important, as it protects the human passengers, but it misrepresents safety/testing for dogs.

  • It checks distance traveled so the dog does not become a projectile inside the car
  • It does not measure how much force was exerted on the dog, if the dog would be injured or how the restraint protected them

Misleading Safety Signal: The excursion test is a test for human well-being, this is important but should not be masked as a pet safety test. Judging a dog restraint by excursion alone is like judging a bike helmet by the dent it leaves in the ground, not the head inside it.

Humans Are Desensitized to Speed, Even a "Minor" Accident Can Be Deadly for Your Dog

Infographic showing risk of unrestrained dogs in frontal crashes
900 pounds of force shown in everyday braking and swerving events.

There are no "minor" accidents for dogs: Even in an every day, hard-braking scenario, this can subject a 55lb unrestrained dog to over 500lbs of force on their body.

The Data Gap: Why We Built Our Own Dummies

As we dug deeper, we realized that the standard dog crash test dummies used across the industry lack sensors and do not collect impact data. They show movement, but not internal force. So we built our own.


Working with biomechanical engineers, we developed custom canine crash test dummies equipped with:

  • Sensors in the head, chest, and spine

  • Accelerometers to capture deceleration and impact force

  • Anatomical fidelity to better reflect real-world outcomes for dogs

These dummies allow us to measure how a restraint performs during impact — not just whether it keeps the dog in place.

Bark Belt Dog Crash Test Dummy (ATD)

With New Crash Dummies, Testing Just Our Products Wasn't Fair-So We Tested Other Top Crash Tested Dog Products

We crash tested:

  • Bark Belt (with and without our harness)

  • Leading competitor harnesses

  • Crash-rated crates

  • An unrestrained dog dummy (for baseline comparison)

And we didn’t just watch what happened — we measured it.


Even at 30mph, a restrained dog can experience forces of over 19,000 pounds. Many systems allowed direct head or chest impact with the vehicle cabin, even while technically “passing” under the old standard.

Bark Belt Crash Tested Seat Belt Study Methodology

Bark Belts Are Designed for Every Day Accidents - Not Extreme Head On Collisions

Because no restraint can protect a dog in every crash, our goal was to focus on the risks they are most likely to face. We designed the Bark Belt to manage the types of accidents that happen every day.


Bark Belt is designed for:

  • Frontal crashes, which make up roughly 62 percent of all accidents
  • Unrestrained momentum, the leading cause of injury for dogs in vehicles

Our system uses a multi point restraint and load absorbing design to slow forward motion, not just contain it. This approach helps reduce force to the chest and head during the first moments of a crash, which is where the most serious injuries begin.

Risk scale showing Bark Belt protects dogs in common crash types.

The Bark Belt Trade-Off: Freedom vs. Excursion

We built the Bark Belt because we hated seeing dogs miserable in crates or tangled in seat belts. We built the Bark Belt to balance freedom and safety—giving your dog the room to sit, stand, and get comfortable, but protecting them in moments that matter.

The Risk: Because the Bark Belt isn't locking your dog in a static position or location, they have room to move. In the safety world, we call this "excursion."

The Reality: We believe dogs should enjoy the car, it's many dog's favorite activity. To do so, that requires some freedom to move. Because the Bark Belt allows freedom of movement, it inherently poses a risk that the dog could contact a passenger in an accident.

The Decision: This is the risk to weigh dog parents must weigh. If your #1 absolute priority is ensuring the dog never touches a passenger then a crate or other harness is a better choice for you. We realize though, many dogs do not do well in crates, they do not fit in cars or they are too expensive. There should be other solutions for dog parents.

The Real Issue: The Standard Needs to Evolve

nspired by the testing framework for child car seats (FMVSS 213), we created a new set of metrics:
The B.A.R.K. Standard — Biomechanic Anthropomorphic Restraint Kinetics.

It evaluates restraints across five key safety measures:

  1. Head Injury Criterion (HIC): Measures likelihood of head trauma

  2. Whiplash Reduction: Assesses differential deceleration between head and chest

  3. No Contactable Surfaces: Ensures no hard surfaces can impact the dog during a crash

  4. Structural Integrity: Tests whether the restraint withstands sustained force

  5. Excursion Distance: Retained for context, but now one part of a more complete picture

This standard is data-backed, measurable, and repeatable — and we share it because we believe dog safety deserves the same rigor we expect for people.

Five criteria used to evaluate dog restraint safety in crashes.

How Do Pet Parents Pick Their Restraint?

Visit our blog post below that dives into the risks for each restraint system. This info should help dog parents pick the restraint system that is best for their family.
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Comments

Would you be open to or did you try testing multiple things, like the bark belt and harness with a crate? Because part of my worry about having no crate is stuff flying around the car and hitting them or stuff from the other car hitting them.

— Vivien