Why was the Saker Ascension revoked from Center for Pet Safety?
The revocation that happened on May 1st 2023 is due to different factors:
- Säker did a post on social media that has put CPS reputation at risk
- Säker failed to provide the first sample from bulk production to the CPS
- Säker failed multiple retests (solved since May 4th 2023)
The reasons above are the main reasons why Center for Pet Safety decided to revoke their certification.
Since then, Säker has done all the tests again through Calspan facilities and have got a 5-stars result. The standards for the CPS tests and the Calspan tests are the same.
Säker did a post on social media that has put CPS reputation at risk
Basically, what happened is that after the successful results of the Säker Ascension harness in November 2022, a problem was discovered on the buckles of the harnesses. Their buckles would accidentally release when a branch or other items would hit the gold ears of the buckles.
Following this incident, Säker worked with the CPS to solve this buckle issue and go through the tests again. The first re-test was a failure.
Säker had to remanufacture more parts to make the harness compliant. While waiting for the new test results, the social media manager at Säker did a post in their Facebook group saying that they would start to ship the replacement parts and bare the risks of a failed test because customers had waited long enough. Through that, Säker was taking the risks to have to pay for shipping twice if the tests failed again. According to CPS, this has put their reputation at risk.
*Important notice: No harnesses were actually shipped until the re-tests were succesfully completed.
Säker failed to provide the first sample from bulk production to the CPS
This goes back to February 2023. According to the contract between Säker and Center for Pet Safety, Säker had to send the first bulk production samples to CPS. Säker failed to do so and only shipped units later. Säker takes the entire responsability for this mistake.
Säker failed multiple retests (solved since May 4th 2023)
Through the process of developing new buckles that would not be affected by the accidental-release issue, Säker had to proceed to retests through CPS.
There was one round of tests in April 2023 that were failed. Säker went on to develop new parts that would succeeded those tests.
The final hardware passed the test in front of CPS in early May. Yet, they did not change their decision of revoking us on May 1st. Because CPS remains the owner of this footage, those tests cannot be shared to the public.
This is why Säker has since then conducted tests with Calspan. Those tests resulted in a 5-stars result. You can watch the footage here.
In summary
The Center for Pet Safety tests dog products in accordance to the Federal Motor Vehicule Safety Standards (FMVSS No.213) which is the standards to be met by child seats. After the revocation, Säker took the Ascension harness with the final parts and got it tested successfully according the same standards by Calspan.
It is very sad that CPS decided to stay on their decision to revoked Säkereven though the last test with them was successful.
