"Rene S." wrote in message
way back, I had a minor accident. I can still hear the "clunk" of the
carrier hitting the dashboard. Fortunately, everyone, cat included,
was just fine. I worry what could have happened if I didn't have a
hard-sided carrier--he could have been flung much further in the car
with nothing to cushion the blow.

And the cat couldn't hit it's head on the inside of a hard carrier? Plastic
covered car grill, hard plastic carrier. No difference there. With some
forethought, the carrier (whatever type) should have been buckled down with
a seatbelt or some other type of restraint.