Should a car floor mat go under the brake and accelorator pedals or not?
I recently changed cars and I also transferred the car floor mats. However It is too long for the car as it goes under the pedels, it seems to mean I have a lot less acceleration. Could it also affect the brake – and therefore be dangerous?
Is it worth cutting the mat or even replacing it?
July 24th, 2010 at 9:47 pm
definately it is not worth risking it
July 24th, 2010 at 9:50 pm
I removed my driver side floor mat when I purchased my car. I have had issues with them getting bunched up under my gas/brake pedals. Thus making it difficult and sometimes impossible to apply the brake. Very dangerous in my opinion.
July 24th, 2010 at 10:44 pm
You could always move the mat back and have it roll up on the seat side to keep the pedal side flat. I removed my mat because it kept moving around and folding over. The hassle wasn’t worth the benefit.
July 24th, 2010 at 10:55 pm
better safe than sorry. 86 ’em. that’s pretty much it in a nutshell.
July 24th, 2010 at 11:52 pm
Good question, because if you read your owners manual it will tell you. If it does not it should not affect the operation of the pedals but if it tells you is because your pedals are powered and can be set to the hight you want, in this case is not recommended to use mats not provided by the manufacturer…..
July 25th, 2010 at 12:45 am
Definitely get rid of them. The mfr designed the pedals to travel a specific distance for maximum operation. If you reduce that, you may not have the right amt of acceleration or braking during emergency actions, which may result in injury or death. And what happens when you are traveling down the freeway and the mat wedges the accelerator in place? You go to slow down for traffic or for exiting, and you can’t!
July 25th, 2010 at 12:49 am
The worst that can happen if you don’t use mats is that the carpet on the drivers floor might wear out faster.
The worst that could happen with an ill fitting mat is a fatal accident.
I got rid of my floor mats after one got caught up under the accelerator while I was driving. I was stopped at the lights, and the mat fell down, getting wedged. The peddle was so jarred I couldn’t pull away properly. I’d hate to think what’d happen if it had have been my break when I was on the freeway or something.
Defiantly worth replacing the mat. If you cut it, it may not fit properly.
July 25th, 2010 at 1:01 am
Your best bet is to get the floor mat that goes with the car for that one. Most after market ones tend to ride up like that and will frequently get bunched up under the brake pedal as well.
Cutting it might help, but its still better to have the factory one because they usually have a clip that will hold them in place on the driver’s side.
July 25th, 2010 at 1:53 am
if you have full travel of the pedals with the mats in place, I would leave them in tact
July 25th, 2010 at 2:21 am
YES MOST DEFINITELY IT CAN CAUSE AN ACCIDENT.