Pasadena Company Introduces the Most Advanced Crash Test Dog Ever

Sleepypod, a Pasadena-based company known for redefining pet products, unveiled Tuesday its newest crash test dog that provides Sleepypod engineers with measurable data to enable them to create safer car restraints for pets.

The new model, DUKE 2.0, is equipped with new instrumentation and has better biofidelity than any of the company’s previous crash test pets. Sleepypod calls it the most advanced crash test dog ever.

DUKE 2.0 weighs 75 pounds and can be compared to a large-sized dog. A camera mounted in his head records point of view video footage of a crash.

The company said DUKE 2.0 has improved weight distribution than his predecessor, DUKE 1.0, and has new articulated joints that allow the legs and waist to bend. A realistic neck and spinal structure flexes and compresses like the spine of a real dog, helping Sleepypod to assess whiplash.

Load cells are integrated into the highly vulnerable chest area to measure forces when moving forward in a collision.

After a test crash, accurate and verifiable data collected from DUKE 2.0 is downloaded to a computer for analysis. The data is then used to determine which pet safety restraint designs will lower the damaging forces on a dog during a crash.

“A poorly engineered passenger restraint system can cause more harm than good,” Michael Leung, co-founder of Sleepypod and lead product designer, said. “A good restraint system needs to be able to absorb kinetic energy while keeping the pet from accelerating forward and leaving the seat.”

Leung adds that DUKE 2.0 enables Sleepypod “to measure the impact of a collision, thereby allowing Sleepypod to design pet safety restraints that reduce injuries.”

Sleepypod designs pet carriers and car safety harnesses that have earned numerous awards and accolades for safety and design innovation. The company says every pet product has been certified with a top safety rating from the Center for Pet Safety.

For more information, visit www.Sleepypod.com.