You are right, if those things are true (IF the dog seated facing
backwards, and IF crash is a tidy 'head first' collision) then maybe the
dog would be okay. I'm not trying to predict the future, but there are
many times when crashes involve swerving and rotational forces and other
weirdness, and animals break their necks when then slam into some part
of the interior of the car.

Nothing conclusive, just being the safety dork, since no one else
grabbed that banner.

Bringing ideas to life,

G. Matthew Bulley
Bulley-Hewlett
 <http://bulley-hewlett.com/> www.bulley-hewlett.com
AIM = IExplain4u
+1.919.658.1278

"Fax mentis incendium gloria culpum"

-----Original Message-----
From: George Thorburn [mailto:thorgk@accesscomm.ca]
Sent: Saturday, November 09, 2002 12:48 PM
To: Vanagon Mailing List
Cc: gmbulley@BULLEY-HEWLETT.COM
Subject: Re: Need Jumpseat

G. Matthew

If the dog is sitting in a backward facing jump seat and the collision
is something like head-on, then the dog will be pressed into the back of
the seat for the initial impact.  This seems like a lot better situation
than being launched off the back seat.  Our dog often travels in a
plastic kennel that is either in the hatch area with sleeping bags,
overnight bags etc. or on the floor behind the passenger seat.

George

'85 Westfalia