One in Four Pet Parents Leave their Dog Home Due to Car Safety Worries

(ROCKLEIGH, N.J.) In a wide ranging survey of Americans, more than a third (38 percent) of millennial pet parents worry about driving with their dog. Among all demographics, nearly a quarter (24 percent) of pet parents leave their dog home because they worry the car is not safe enough for Fido.

The full results are published in Volvo Reports: Dogs, Cars and the People Who Love Them.  Volvo Car USA teamed up with Harris Poll to release the first in a series of Volvo Reports that explore the ever-changing relationship between Americans and their cars.

“Our survey showed that pet parents want to travel with their furry friends, but worry about safety,” said Jim Nichols, Product and Technology Communications Manager for Volvo Car USA. “Volvo is the only manufacturer that has been developing protective steel grills and dog gates for over 20 years to keep pets in place in the event of an accident.”

Many of those surveyed indicated they lack knowledge about the safest ways to drive and travel with their four-legged friends. A few additional highlights include: 

• A majority of Americans (69%) see their pets as “family members”
• 97% of pet owners drive with their dogs, but many practice unsafe driving habits, including:
  • 48% do not own any safety driving gear for their dogs
  • 41% let their dogs ride in the front seat
  • 23% buckle their dogs in to standard seatbelts
  • Only 5% have a built-in pet safety system in their vehicle
• Of the parents who do leave their pets behind when they are traveling—38% of millennials and 24% of pet parents in general—do so because they are worried their cars are not safe enough for their pets.
• 46% say vehicle manufacturers that do not have built-in dog safety features do not care enough about pet safety.
  • 71% of pet owners agree that vehicle manufacturers should proactively build more dog safety features into their vehicles.

Volvo Cars is the only vehicle manufacturer to develop pet-safety accessories that directly tie into the car, including a dog harness, load compartment divider, dog gate and protective steel grille, available at any one of Volvo’s  more than 300 retailers in the U.S. and Canada, or at www.volvocarspets.com.

Volvo Car USA recently expanded its presence in the pet community through a one-of-a-kind partnership with the Petfinder Foundation. For every pet accessory sold, Volvo will donate a portion of the proceeds to The Petfinder Foundation, an adoption organization that raises money to support animal shelters and rescue groups. 

This report is the first in a series of Volvo Reports from Volvo Car USA and Harris Poll designed to uncover insights into the American opinion across four core themes: design, safety, technology and environment. Volvo Reports will distill and share these insights on a different topic each month.

Methodology

The national survey, Volvo Reports: Dogs, Cars and the People Who Love Them was conducted online by Harris Poll on behalf of Volvo among 2,000 U.S. adults ages 18+, including 1,342 pet owners from February 8 - February 11, 2018.

About Volvo Car USA

Volvo Car USA, LLC, (www.volvocars.com/us) is a subsidiary of Volvo Car Group of Gothenburg, Sweden. VCUSA provides marketing, sales, parts, service, technology and training support to Volvo automobile retailers in the United States. For more information please refer to the VCUSA media website at: http://www.media.volvocars.com/us.