Not many people care much about their floor mats when it comes to regular car cleaning or maintenance. However, a floor mat is not only a piece of interior decoration but also a significant accessory that affects your driving and seating experience.
In 2009, a Lexus ES crashed into another vehicle, rolled over, and burned. According to an NPR article (James, 2009), ‘a floor mat interfered with the accelerator, leading the vehicle to speed out of control, killing four people. ’ The tragedy caused deaths for off-duty California Highway Patrol officer Mark Saylor, his wife, daughter, and brother-in-law. Toyota settled a suit over this case for over $10 million (BBC News, 2010), and initiated recalls that covered over 8 million vehicles globally (Bunkley, 2010).
(An example photo of an unsecured driver-side floor mat trapping the accelerator pedal by NHTSA)
(Post-Accident Photo taken by Ottawa County sheriff’s investigators)
Safety is undoubtedly a priority for drivers and passengers. Wrong unfitted car mats are potentially dangerous for every car user. Slipping floor mat is an annoying distraction for drivers, particularly during traffic hours, when frequently switch between break and pedal. Children playing at the back seats might get themselves hurt by stepping on a slippery floor mat, causing another distraction for the driver.
A fitting and anti-slip floor mat keeps you safe by always staying in place and never slipping. It reserves just the right space for pedal and break, alines with your vehicle flooring, and keeps you away from slipping incidents.
Keeping the carpet clean is another crucial function floor mat has for you. By stepping on the floor mat, your shoe sole brought in mud, dirt, liquid, and many unknown microorganisms. With both doors and windows closed and the air condition on, those unknown microorganisms circulate in this closed interior space. They attach to your clothes and accompany you home. Therefore creates potential health issues.
Without floor mat coverage and protection, drinks and food spilling also leave unremovable stains and unpleasant smell. Moisture stain permeates flooring and makes it a permanent mark you can never rinse out.
A quality floor mat can inhibit moisture and trap all those mud, dirt, and liquid when you step on it. It can also be taken out for flush and vacuum regularly; after drying, it functions like always.
Protection for carpeting is also an important role a good floor mat plays. An extra layer of coverage helps to preserve the original carpet from wear and tear damage. Replacing car carpet is clearly a time and cost consuming project, but a good floor mat is always affordable!
When it comes to vehicle reselling, you can even bargain a better offer since you have done all the protection work to keep the carpet nice and intact.
Drive comfortably. Comfort is what a floor mat can offer to you as well. Imagine you are going on a road trip from California to Colorado, which is about 17-hour drive time. You will definitely need a nice footing floor mat to ease your foot tiredness.
Adding styles to cars is probably the most exciting topic for a new car owner. It can be realized just by a well-designed floor mat. Who doesn’t want his vehicle interior looks stylish and fancy?
Besides the five top reasons above, a well-designed car floor mat saves lots of work for you. It keeps your vehicle’s value if you select the right floor mat. So choose your floor mat cautiously and make it worth it.
Reference:
James, F. (2009, September 29). Toyota Recalls 3.8 Million Cars For Floor Mats Linked To Stuck Gas Pedals. NPR. https://choice.npr.org/index.html?origin=https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2009/09/toyota_recalls_38_million_cars.html
BBC News. (2010, December 23). Toyota pays $10m for fatal crash. https://www.bbc.com/news/business-12072394
Bunkley, N. (2010, September 18). Toyota Settles Over Death of Family in High-Speed Crash. https://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/19/business/19autos.html