I went to the Kurgo site and searched the reviews. I searched them by the word "accident" and found several which credit the Kurgo for keeping their dog safe in an accident.
Then I searched the 1 star reviews and in the newer ratings I found this:
Manitoba, Canada
Review 1
Votes 0
★★★★★
★★★★★
1 out of 5 stars.
· 3 months ago
"Failed testing in CBC Marketplace report
I was a huge Kurgo fan. But, I now feel betrayed after watching a 2014 CBC Marketplace documentary (link below) on the failure of dog harnesses, including Kurgo’s Enhanced Strength Tru-Fit.
Five harnesses were tested at Kettering University's Crash Safety Center in Flint, Michigan. All five failed.
While some of the manufacturers responded to their product’s failure, Kurgo wouldn’t comment.
My only hope is that they’ve somehow made the harness safe since this 2014 report."
✘ No, I do not recommend this product.
Quality of Product
1 out of 5
Value of Product
♂
Response from kurgopet:
Customer Service · 2 months ago
"Thank you for reaching out to us with your questions regarding the safety of our harnesses. The CBC Marketplace documentary was based on a crash test done by the Center for Pet Safety. The only crash test that was conducted by the Center for Pet Safety was conducted in 2013. In the summer of 2013, the Center for Pet Safety conducted crash testing on harnesses from several manufacturers and developed their own set of standards that harnesses should meet. They tested the original version of the Enhanced Strength Tru-Fit Dog Car Harness. Since that testing, we have improved this harness by adding tubular webbing which is stronger, re-enforcing the stitching with bar tacking, and replacing the carabiner clip on the seat belt loop tether with a stronger one. We have also changed our original recommendations for use of this product. The safest way to use it is to attach the carabiner clip directly to the car’s seat belt system. Using the included tether is not the safest method. Here is a link to a recent version of the harnesses product instructions which show an illustration of the new safer recommendation.
https://www.kurgo.com/content/8_lang_instructions.pdf The improved version of the Enhanced Strength Tru-Fit Dog Car Harness was tested most recently in June 2018 at Calspan, an automotive crash testing facility, using the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards established by the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration for child restraint systems. The size large of this harness has been tested for dogs up to 75 pounds. Please see link below for crash test videos and results:
https://www.kurgo.com/dog-harness-crash-testing-methodology/ We do not know if CPS plans to re-test harnesses that have been improved or developed since their testing. We hope they do because we know that many manufacturers like ourselves made improvements and are committed to safety. We would welcome the opportunity to participate. If you have any other questions, please contact us at
[email protected]."
In their video the seatbelts don't fly freely as they do in the CPS video and the test dog is built differently, but the Kurgo looks promising to me.