I'm not sure it's the safest solution but my dogs usually ride in the backseat uncrated, with a pet barricade keeping them out of the front. Side impacts would be the most dangerous probably, or rolling, but then that'd be the case for me as well.

Maybe the safest would be secured crates in the back of a pickup with a strong camper shell?

Following up on my post above...

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OK after seeing the aftermath of an accident with a rolled over car by my sister's house last night, I'm re-thinking my non-use of crates in the car. The logistics are the tricky part so if anyone has any suggestions, I'd love to hear them. Specifically, my two dogs are 70 lbs and 45 lbs (actually I have a 3rd too, but she very rarely goes out with the other two). They each have these plastic varikennels: http://www.petmate.com/vari-kennel-ultra-large-pet And my two vehicles are similar in interior design to each other; one is a mid-90s jeep grand cherokee and the other is a small wagon. For the sake of this discussion, I'll just use the jeep as my example.

The trouble is, if I put the varikennel perpendicular to the vehicle so that the kennel's door faces the backseat door, I can only fit one kennel in the backseat. If I lay the backseat down and put the kennels parallel with the vehicle, I can fit both side-by-side, but then the dogs can't enter through the backseat doors - they have to enter through the very back cargo area. This isn't practical if you have gear in the cargo area and it also makes closing the crate doors difficult b/c they're hard to reach. Really what I need are verikennels with a side opening. I imagine the wire crates with side openings might work, and the dogs would probably be a bit happier in them since it's more like what they're used to (riding loose in the backseat), but I think the hard plastic crates are probably safer.

Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.

JMO, but I'm thinking that If the main goal is to keep the dog from becoming a projectile, and I think it is, then the wire crates with side openings would be pretty good.

OK I found the ultimate safety crate on Clean Run:
https://www.cleanrun.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=product.display&Product_ID=3272

Lots more interesting info about it here: http://www.cleanrun.com/images/productfiles/VarioCage_FAQS.pdf

Of course it costs about as much as my jeep is worth!

Fascinating read though. I'd always heard and thought that the center of the vehicle in the passenger seats was the safest place for the dogs to ride. After reading the info about the different construction of cars' front & rear seats, that's apparently not true (if you have one of these crates, of course)

Holey moley you're right that is an expensive crate. Worth though if it saves the dogs life in a crash though.

10% off and free shipping here:
http://www.mightymitedoggear.com/MIM_Variocage_crash_tested_Dog_Car_Crate.html

I think I'll have to move my spare tire to my Yakima roof rack to be able to fit this thing in the back of my Jeep. I like the fact that I can fold the seats down and have them enter/exit through the passenger doors rather than having to always enter/exit through the back. The biggest question I have at the moment (besides how to pay for it!) is how easy is it to transfer from vehicle to vehicle? I would need to swap it between my car and my jeep fairly regularly and I sure wouldn't want to have to buy two.

 Quote: Matt Lang

OK I found the ultimate safety crate on Clean Run:
https://www.cleanrun.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=product.display&Product_ID=3272

Lots more interesting info about it here: http://www.cleanrun.com/images/productfiles/VarioCage_FAQS.pdf

Of course it costs about as much as my jeep is worth!

Fascinating read though. I'd always heard and thought that the center of the vehicle in the passenger seats was the safest place for the dogs to ride. After reading the info about the different construction of cars' front & rear seats, that's apparently not true (if you have one of these crates, of course)

Kasey would have to get a job to pay for one of those...