Securing Crate On Back Seat Of Car

[GretchSS]

We're planning on getting a puppy soon so thinking about all the bits and pieces we need. We have a small 3 door hatchback. I think the whole of the boot would be a crumple zone so the puppy can't travel in the boot area. Whilst he is a puppy we'd like to put him in a crate secured to the back seat. I have read that plastic travel crates secured with a seatbelt through the designated top/handle area can explode if there is a high-speed impact. So, we would probably want to use a steel crate. I'm wondering if there is a standard procedure to secure a steel crate to the back car seat area? Or do you just have to get creative with it and do something like feeding straps through some bars on the crate and securing to baby seat anchor points?

[Kavik]

How big is the crate? When I had a sedan, I just put the plastic airline crate sideways (door of crate facing door of car) and this wedged nicely between front seat and back seat, so it didn't move around. I would move the front seat forward to get it in, then back til it would wedge it securely.

[Gallomph]

I put my crate sideways on the seat, then feed the seatbelt through the side bars and buckle it up. I also wedge something under the crate on the "downhill" side, so that it's sitting level.

[GretchSS]

How big is the crate? When I had a sedan, I just put the plastic airline crate sideways (door of crate facing door of car) and this wedged nicely between front seat and back seat, so it didn't move around. I would move the front seat forward to get it in, then back til it would wedge it securely.

We haven't decided on crate size as yet. I don't think it would be advisable to put a crate on the floor between front and back seats as our car has no air-conditioning and I would want the puppy up near window level to be sure he is cool enough. Besides that, there really isn't much floorspace (small car) so I don't think we'd fit a crate down there anyway. However, maybe we should measure up the space when the front passenger seat is all the way back on it's track and perhaps we could choose a crate size that will wedge into the space between front and back car seats.

[GretchSS]

I put my crate sideways on the seat, then feed the seatbelt through the side bars and buckle it up. I also wedge something under the crate on the "downhill" side, so that it's sitting level.

Thanks - that sounds about how I was thinking.

[Kavik]

Sorry, I wasn't clear enough :laugh:

I put the crate on the back seat with the front seat back to wedge it in. Hope that is clearer.

[GretchSS]

Sorry, I wasn't clear enough :laugh:

I put the crate on the back seat with the front seat back to wedge it in. Hope that is clearer.

Thanks. Gotcha now. So, sounds like what I ended up describing anyway...

[RiverStar-Aura]

You can also use those bungee cords to feed around the bars and the headrest to help secure it. My small crate seems to fit quite snugly on the front passenger seat and it's also secured with bungee cords around the top and bottom of the seat.

[denali]

Just be careful of any foldable wire crates, i saw some horrific pictures of some after a crash and they were not pretty

[RuralPug]

There are a couple of ways that I secure crates. I use doggy seatbelts to extend the seatbelts so they fasten around/over the crate, for small and medium crates on the back seat.

I have a wagon with a dog barrier so larger crates are secured with bungee straps to the dog barrier. If you have airbags in the front passenger side, it is best to avoid placing a crate on the front passenger seat. The back seat airbags are not such a problem.

[GretchSS]

You can also use those bungee cords to feed around the bars and the headrest to help secure it. My small crate seems to fit quite snugly on the front passenger seat and it's also secured with bungee cords around the top and bottom of the seat.

There are a couple of ways that I secure crates. I use doggy seatbelts to extend the seatbelts so they fasten around/over the crate, for small and medium crates on the back seat.

I have a wagon with a dog barrier so larger crates are secured with bungee straps to the dog barrier. If you have airbags in the front passenger side, it is best to avoid placing a crate on the front passenger seat. The back seat airbags are not such a problem.

Thanks. Bungee cords sound like a good way to really lock the crate into position - although will probably still go for seatbelt and doggy seatbelt to anchor it down seeing as they are not stretch.

Just be careful of any foldable wire crates, i saw some horrific pictures of some after a crash and they were not pretty

Thanks for this. We will avoid foldable. I'm glad I started to think about how we'll use a crate before going out and buying one.