We had a harrowing experience today.

I took the two girls in for their yearly vet visit, and we opened the back of my Element and POP, out jumped Timber. At first I thought, oh great, now she'll dangle out the back and choke herself. Also in that 2 seconds I wondered why the strap got so long, because I keep them short enough that I can open the back of the car and they CAN'T jump out and hang themselves...

But she never stopped. She popped right out and kept going. Into the parking lot. Near a busy street. After much freaking out and yelling and screaming (how come staying calm/running the other way/sitting down to get them to come back never crosses your mind in a crisis situation?!) we got her back, but we were shaking like leaves all morning. Our biggest fear almost happened... first time EVER in my 4+ years of husky ownership... Anyway.

So apparently the seat belt hook slipped off the harness hook and she got free without us realizing it. So needless to say I will be throwing THOSE away. I can't find a reference to them online, but I remember getting them from the Humane Society and I picked them because they had some good crash test rating or something. It's been a few years. But the clip isn't a carabiner or anything so maybe that's the first mistake.

Any recommendations? I'd prefer the ones that hook to their current harnesses (like a tether), rather than buying a whole new harness for the car, but I'd like to look at all options at this point. Something really really secure, obviously

Do you have anchors in the E? Or is it a seat belt clip with a tether attached?

I've used the kurgo ones before, they're nice. Ezydog probably has my favorite since its just a loop you put the seat belt through and buckle it. I feel like we have a thread on this..

I did a search and found one old one, but I thought I'd ask just in case!

Yes there are anchors, no seats, I took them out of the back.

Sorry, I meant to also say, thanks! I'll look into those two brands and see what they have that'll work!

If anyone's interested, I found the one that failed us:

http://www.etrailer.com/Hunting-and-Fishing/PetBuckle/PBF13560.html?feed=npn&gclid=CNvnwu37krYCFYKDQgodMgoAlg

If it had a carabiner clip it'd be perfect, but with that clip type it has, it slipped off her harness.

I might just get this:

http://www.properpet.com/replacement-tether-for-auto-harness.html

And use it with my own harness...

Wow that is scary! Glad you cought her!

When Hayden was a puppy he jumped out the window of my moving car (thankfully I had his leash around my wrist and he wasn't hurt). Nicky figured out how to roll the windows down and I get so freaked out by that now I just keep all my windows locked.

I haven't tried the seatbelt route yet, but highly considering it!

I'm an E owner with just one seet in. Do a search for zipline on here or just element my system should show up... on my phone on the treadmill right now. So I went to HD got some caple line to large cabiners to hook over the oh shit bars in the back and made a line across the back I then hooked 2 cabiners to the line to hook the handles of the leash to. I use their RW harness on them in the car for saftey. I'm working on getting the new RW leashes that adjust so they can't jump up front. I have not lost them yet. Hope that helps!

Found the post!
https://www.itsahuskything.com/t3577-new-zip-line-for-the-element?highlight=element+zipline

Thanks for sharing your set-up! I tried doing something similar in the past, but they just got so tangled up it was a mess :/ Hooking each dog down to an anchor and keeping their tether short so they don't get tangled seems to be the best. I usually only have 2 dogs in the car at a time, so this usually works. More than that and it's just not worth the frustration, lol.

Oh and so glad Hayden was okay! THAT is scary! My mom has a chihuahua and she'll lower the window for him, and I worry that he's going to just bounce right out. He never has. But it makes me nervous.