Last week at the New York Auto Show, Honda showed its Dog Friendly version of the Element. Press release and photos can be seen here:
New York 2009: Dog Friendly Honda Element Concept
Although my Rottweiler wrecking crew would surely make short work of the soft fabric crate and the cushioned pet bed, I still think it’s cool that Honda would run with a concept like this, and with features that really will be useful to many dog owners.
I seem to remember this being done before, though, but I can’t find any online references to a dog-friendly minivan done several years ago by one of the American carmakers (I want to say it was a Chevy Astro, but I’m not 100% sure on that). I didn’t save the paper article and apparently I didn’t blog about it, nor post to any forums either!
When I got my first Rottweiler Heidi, I still had a 1986 Honda Civic CRX. That would be the 2-seater hatchback. It was a good thing we had only one Rottweiler for a while. I was a bad dog owner and let her ride in the passenger seat, usually unrestrained. Fortunately she was one of those dogs that would fall asleep in the car almost immediately. I learned to fully recline the passenger seat before letting her in the car and surprisingly enough, we were both happy and comfortable and never got hurt.
That car was replaced by a Honda Civic coupe, and my husband replaced a Thunderbird with the ultimate dog-friendly vehicle, a Chevy Suburban. Shortly after Civic #2 was replaced by a Dodge Caravan minivan, he traded in the Suburban for the light truck he really wanted and ever since then, the dogs have had a Caravan as their main transportation. The newest one was just picked up in March. The middle row of seats immediately got folded into the floor, and probably won’t emerge until it’s time to sell or trade.
The Caravan was not my first choice vehicle, but it’s been a good one for us. I’d be all over the Dog Friendly Honda if it were an Odyssey though!