Updated Review & Giveaway: How to Pet-Proof your Vehicle with 4Knines® Seat Covers

Dogs are man's (and definitely woman's) best friend and we take them everywhere we can. To get them to fun destinations, a vehicle is usually involved and with dogs being dogs, things can get pretty dirty. Let's say you take a trip to the dog park and your dog is completely filthy after romping around with his buddies in the mud. You look at your dog, you look at your car. A towel on the seat isn't going to cut it this time. What's a dog parent to do? Thankfully, 4Knines® has you and your car seats covered so you don't have to fret over muddy pawprints.

UPDATE: We originally reviewed 4Knines® back in December 2016, and we now have the opportunity to review them again now in 2020. Our original cover was lost during our recent move and we also have a different vehicle so what better time to try a new car cover!

4Knines® was started by Jim and Maggie with their two Dobermans, Ares and Ana. There wasn't a car liner that could stand up to their pups so they created their own! I had heard about 4Knines for a couple of years thanks to other pet bloggers and was so excited to meet them at BlogPaws 2016. I got to see their liners in person and I was impressed. Thankfully, we got to work with them and test out their Fitted Rear Bench Seat Cover.

Jada ready to roll at BlogPaws 2016

4Knines Fitted Rear Bench Seat Cover

On the package, it states that the car seat cover has a non-slip backing with seat anchors, heavy-duty waterproof material, a lifetime warranty, and installs in less than 40 seconds. Plus, with every unit sold $1 is donated to the ASPCA.

UPDATE: Now, 4Knines donates a percentage of every sale to many different pet-based charities!

So I have a 2003 Ford Focus (also known as the Mutt Mobile) and I cleaned it really nice for this review. Cleaning it took forever, but the installation was very quick! 

UPDATE: R.I.P. Mutt Mobile! I got into an accident that totaled my car (I didn't have the girls with me). Funnily enough, the seat cover was unscathed. 

"Are we going for a ride yet, Mama?"

From the instructions I posted above, it can seem kinda confusing, but it really isn't. If you have headrests, you strap the cover onto them, but if you don't, you might have these little places on the back of your seat where you can wrap the strap around or use a carabiner. The picture below is seen from my trunk. I tightened those straps up, stuck the seat anchors (strap with the PVC pipe-looking plastic bit on it) in between the top and bottom of the seats, pulled my seat belt buckles out,  and I was done!

The fabric is really nice and thick. High-quality and durable. Usually, things that are waterproof are slick, but this is a nice combination of comfortable and tough fabric. So let's test it out!

I took Jada to our local dirty place which is a lake with a lot of ducks! She had a blast smelling all the smells and wading in the water.

By the time we got to the car, Jada was mostly dried off so not a lot got on the liner. What did get on the liner was easily cleaned off. You would want to spot clean 4Knines liners and if they do get super dirty you can put them in the washing machine. 

When I didn't have dogs in the backseat and instead had people, I didn't have to take the liner off or anything and my guests actually told me how comfy it was to sit on compared to no liner! Gotta love that quilted fabric.

Split Rear Seat Cover with Hammock

So I now have an even more compact car, a Chevy Spark. I've only had it for maybe 6 months and living in an area with red clay while not having a cover with cloth seats gave me insane anxiety!

I decided to get the regular size and try out the hammock to keep the girls more contained during car rides. Even though it is rare for me to do so, one of the seats does arch forward to allow more space in the trunk. I have done this a couple of times for large objects, so I chose to get the split rear seat cover so I wouldn't have to remove part of the cover.

Again, super easy installation! I had an idea of what to do, but if you ever get confused, 4Knines has handy videos on their website. For me, the hardest part was inserting the seat anchors which go in between the top and bottom portions of the seat. Mine were very tight, but I managed it! You can see that the cover has a nice rubber backing to keep things in place in addition to the seat anchor.

The straps are easily adjustable and have clasps to quickly remove or adjust the cover. Because I have such a small car, the hammock wasn't taut enough and there was a big overlap in the middle. I talked to 4Knines about this, and they suggested attaching the cover to the outermost posts of the headrest. This worked like a charm!

The quilted fabric is very luxurious and stylish, yet super durable. A really nice feature is the velcro openings for the seatbelts. Having velcro really helps prevent dirt and dog hair from getting to the seat underneath! The split part of the cover works really well and it has a zipper on both sides so it can work for whatever seat configuration you have. 

I also really enjoy that the cover extends on the sides. No mud is getting on my seats! The hammock is also optional, so if you don't need it or have human guests riding along you can unbuckle the straps and have it in the floorboard.

What about durability?

So last time, we took the girls to the lake and tested out how easy it was to clean by using lake mud. It didn't get as dirty as I'd like and since we are reviewing 4Knines again I wanted to up the difficulty a bit. 

For our first test, I took some planting soil and mixed it with warm water to make some nice mud. You should have seen my fiance's face when I came into the office with a plastic container filled with mud! Fun stuff. I took the 4Knines cover off my vehicle (it literally took only a minute) and laid it out in our backyard with my fresh mud. Jada happily paw-painted the mud onto the cover for the sake of science and we let it dry.

I was so hesitant to do this, but like I said, we are cursed with red clay. This stuff does not come out of clothing or carpet very well and it is the worst part of our house, especially when you live in Georgia and it rains so much. I took some freshly dug-up clay (thanks, Jada) and mixed it with water being very careful not to spill a drop. Jada, being the artist she is, made an abstract mud painting on our 4Knines cover. I held my breath and waited for it to dry.

After sitting in the hot sun for a bit, you can see that the planting soil mud on the bottom is barely noticeable. 4Knines says that you can use a wet cloth to clean the majority of messes, but you can also machine wash it on gentle (hang to dry) if needed. 

I took a wet kitchen towel and went to work. The planting soil was gone, but then the dreaded red clay was next. I did a little bit at a time and I was seriously impressed!

Using only the wet towel, I was able to get 98% of the icky mud and the only parts that were really difficult were where Jada really dug into the quilted fabric. I was SO shocked! It cleaned up so well that I didn't need to put it in the washer.

Before

After

In a nutshell...

• 4Knines® was created by Jim and Maggie because they couldn't find a durable car liner for their two Dobermans
• The material is waterproof, durable, and washable
• Installation is very quick and easy
• There are many styles of liners to choose from to fit any size vehicle. From your front seats to your back-they can cover it!
• You can find 4Knines car seat covers online on their website or at Amazon.com

I really love the quality 4Knines® car liners! The fabric is durable, yet comfortable, and super easy to clean. Since I started using it, I haven't had any problems and my car is finally protected. I can see this being in my car for a very very long time and through many adventures. It is so nice to not have to worry about getting my car covered in dirt and dog hair because all I have to do now is wipe it all away! 

"Again, again!"

Do you go on adventures with your pet?

Let us know in the comments!

"Ready to go!"

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