New Land Rover Defender is 'DOG-PROOF' - for a decade

New Land Rover Defender is ‘DOG-PROOF’

Jaguar Land Rover has developed a 3D-Printed dog paw to test the new Land Rover Defender’s dog-proof abilities to withstand scratches from claws.

If you’re a dog owner, you probably do what many of us do every day and drive your dog off to local woods or fields for a good run. Good for you and good for your dog too.

And unless your dog is very small, or getting on a bit, you probably open the tailgate, say “in”, and let your dog jump in to the back. And then hope the marks and scratches it leaves behind as it clambers in will polish out along with the muddy paw prints.

But now, if you’re going to grab the newly revealed Land Rover Defender for your outings in to the green stuff, you won’t have to worry as much as JLR has gone to some lengths to make sure your new Defender is as dog-proof as possible.

With help from Yogi the Lab (pictured above), JLR had Yogi jump in and out of the Defender and recorded every step and scramble using pressure mapping technology, with the garnered data enabling the creation of a 3D-printed spring-loaded robotic claw which they used 5,000 times to mimic the dog’s actions in and out.

As a result of Yogi’s help, and the 3D paw, JLR are confident that the back bumper of your new Land Rover Defender can survive your dog’s clambering for more than a decade. Julie Nicholls, a JLR materials engineer, said:

Our performance testing covers plenty of scenarios that our cosmetic parts are exposed to, but sometimes we have to think outside the laboratory to come up with bespoke solutions. Creating globally renowned vehicles means applying a quality mindset at every stage of a product’s lifecycle to ensure we meet the needs of our customers’ lifestyles. In this case we were able to achieve it by getting a dog, printing a paw and using a robot.

So there you have it; the new Land Rover Defender is dog-proof. Well, the back bumper is.