PROBLEM STATEMENT: Unrestrained animals in cars can become projectiles, increasing the severity of the accident resulting in potential driver and animal death. The issue is that the restraints available may not provide crash-test protection, as there exists no formal regulations or standardization for the design of these products. There is a need to address the lack of accountability in the pet products industry and increase public awareness regarding the use of animal restraints.

FUTURE WORK: Capstone teams may expand upon the work of our project by (1) Developing a 3D Model and Finite Element Analysis simulation of the crash-test and ATDs. (2) Refine ATD sizes, geometry and materials selection to be more inclusive of various dog sizes and restraint types. (3) Design a restraint system with human factors considerations.

SOLUTION: TEST METHOD 491The team developed a formal test method for manufacturers to evaluate theperformance of their restraints.

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CANINE ANTHROPOMORPHIC TEST DEvICES (ATD)To develop ATD size categories (Extra-Small, Small, Medium, and Large), information was consulted and integrated from the following sources:

– Canadian & American Kennel Clubs to select representative breeds for each category from lists of popular registered breeds

– Transport Canada to determine which sizes of dogs are suitable to use a harness-restraint system in a vehicle from standard seat geometry

– Canadian, American & International Breed Associations for quantitative and qualitative size information of representative breeds

– veterinary Research for information regarding canine body mass distribution and weight bias variation in seated, standing, and laying down positions

– PetSmart to match harness and ATD size category names to popular pet product sizes consumers are familiar with

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TEST PLATFORM & DEvICESTo accommodate large dogs in the laying-down position, a standard rear seat assembly was selected as the test platform. This seat is equipped with lower universal anchorage points and connections for Type 1 (lap belt) and Type 2 (three-point) seat belt assemblies. For the purpose of testing the integrity of canine vehicle harnesses, the centre rear seat in a vehicle represents the worst-case scenario in the event of harness failure. The centre rear seat also protects the dog from side air bag inflation.

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POSITIONING OF ATD ON TEST PLATFORMThere were two positions included in our protocol for positioning the ATD in a vehicle: seated; facing forward, torso at 60 degrees to horizontal plane of seat assembly, and laying down; facing right, torso flush with horizontal plane of seat assembly.

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CANINE RESTRAINT SYSTEMSThe team focused on developing a method to test harness-style restraints. This style of restraint fits the largest range of dog sizes and is a popular restraint choice for pet product consumers.

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DESIGN RECOMMENDATIONSThe following recommendations for the design of canine restraint systems have been developed according to the results of simulations and research conducted for this project. A canine restraint system should: – Provide a means of attaching the harness into a seat belt buckle – Provide a means of securing a dog close to their centre of gravity – Maintain a fixed attachment length while the vehicle is in motion – Keep the dog in contact with the seat as much as possible – Perform according to the theoretical tensile performance values

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TEST PROCEDURE, ACCELERATION, AND CONDITIONSTo simulate the conditions for a front-impact vehicle collision and to work with the existing framework of restraint evaluation protocols, Transport Canada’s Test Method 213 for infant car and child booster seats was used as a benchmark to guide the development of Test Method 491 for canine restraint systems. Test Method 491 includes the same test procedure and peak test acceleration of 25g(245 m/s2) as Test Method 213.

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Pictured Above (Centre):Solidworks representation of a large canine ATD seated on a standard test platform

with a sample of one harness-style restraint combination that illustrates the design

reccomendations.

ATD Position I:Seated

ATD Position II:Laying Down

WORKING MODEL 2D INvESTIGATION OF RESTRAINT GEOMETRY& POSITIONING ON ATDS

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2D simulations were developed to represent the interactions between the dog, the restraint, and the vehicle in a front-impact collision. The goal of these simulations was to determine restraint geometry and optimal attachment points for the restraint to the vehicle and onto the dog.

[TABLET GOES HERE]Table 1. ATD and Harness Size Cateogories.

ATD & Harness Size Category

Weight (kg)

Height (mm)

Length (mm)

Chest Girth (mm)

Neck Girth (mm)

Neck Length (mm)

Head Weight (kg)

MIN MAX MIN MAX MAX MIN MAX MIN MAX MIN MAX MIN MAX

LARGE Average 26 39 510 595 653 801 935 426 686 128 179 2.6 5.8

Stand. Dev. 5 8 87 135 149 136 212 48 51 22 41 0.5 1.2

MEDIUM Average 23 32 485 540 594 762 848 379 608 121 162 2.3 4.7

Stand. Dev. 2 5 76 109 119 119 171 48 126 19 33 0.2 0.7

SMALL Average 5 9 287 345 380 450 542 254 356 72 104 0.5 1.3

Stand. Dev. 1 3 51 69 76 81 109 0 0 13 21 0.1 0.5

EXTRA-SMALL

Average 1 3 150 203 223 236 318 180 305 38 61 0.1 0.4

Stand. Dev. 1 0 0 39 43 0 61 0 0 0 12 0 0

DEvELOPMENT OF A PERFORMANCE STANDARD FORCANINE RESTRAINT SYSTEMS FOR USE IN MOTOR vEHICLES

Client: Gael Ross of Buckle Up Animal Restraint Control (BARC) Supervisor: Professor Greg Jamieson Team: Brittany Tyler, Ashley Seow, Amanda Santos, Edmond MokAcknowledgements: Farzan Sasangohar (Communication Instructor), David Begleigter (General Motors), and Lindsey Wolko (Center for Pet Safety)