Check your floor mats!

[Hokiefyd]

Last Thursday, someone here in the office wrecked one of the GSA Fusion Hybrids because the floor mat was bunched up under the brake pedal and it would not depress all the way. He rear-ended a Honda Accord at about 25mph. The driver side airbag and knee blocker bag deployed, but nobody was sitting in the passenger seat, so the car was smart enough to not deploy that one. The driver is okay and nobody sustained any major injuries.

But please, check those floor mats! The Fusion has clips for the mats, but for some reason, these were not clipped in.

 

[renegade_987]

Thanks for the warning. The F150 has the same type of clip-on floor mats, so I will keep an eye on them.

 

[hate2work]

Wasn't this where the initial blame was placed for the Toyotas speeding out of control?

 

[CivicFan]

Will we see mass hysteria about the unreliability of Fords now?

 

[mpvue]

I had a '02 Saturn L200 5 speed. rare car, not many made w/ the manual trans and they didn't anticipate floor mat problems (no clips) and working the clutch would slowly move the mat forward until the one time you press the clutch in the mat would keep it from returning.
so I got in the habit of pulling the mat rearward whenever I got in the car.

 

[ahoier]

I just don't do floor mats.


But I suppose up north, with the snow, ice, and "slush" you all get during the winters, it's a Must......

 

[daves87rs]

Originally Posted By: mpvue
I had a '02 Saturn L200 5 speed. rare car, not many made w/ the manual trans and they didn't anticipate floor mat problems (no clips) and working the clutch would slowly move the mat forward until the one time you press the clutch in the mat would keep it from returning.
so I got in the habit of pulling the mat rearward whenever I got in the car.


Yikes!

 

[Kira]

Hello, Same story, different car. A foam backed floor mat buckled severly in my Mom's 1999 Saab. It would crawl under the pedals as if it had a mind of it's own. The good news is a local parts store sells individual, heavy rubber, "MacNiel" styled rubber mats. Kira

 

[440Magnum]

I've been driving since 1978... NEVER driven a car without floor mats of all different types, and NEVER had one even come close to getting into a brake or accelerator pedal.

Call me a suspicious paranoid, but it seems to me that floor mats are an easy excuse to cover for a driver doing something stupid or a manufacturer covering up a flaw...

 

[Hokiefyd]

My old Dodge Dakota (1997) had floor mats that would slide all over the place. When the Toyota floor mat thing was big in the news, I tried successfully to stick the Dakota's accelerator pedal with the floor mat (engine off, in the driveway), but never thought to bunch it up under the brake. I'm pretty OCD on mats, and would always slide them back when I got in, so I never had an issue, but a driver who was less attentive could certainly stick something up.

In the case of this Fusion, one of the accident photos by our safety officer shows the interior (blown air bags) and the mat is indeed not clipped into the clips, and the back edge of the mat is about 8" forward of where it should be, mostly obscured by the knee air bag. This is not really something that could be "staged".

I think floor mats truly are a potential issue. When used properly (clipped into their clips when provided), they're fine. But when used improperly (such as not being clipped in, or double stacked, or wrong ones, etc), they can be a real liability.

 

[bigmike]

I have really thick rubber mats. They simply cannot move, no matter what you do with your feet. No clips necessary.

 

[Pop_Rivit]

Every vehicle I own has mats, and each drivers side has cable ties holding them back.

Maybe they wouldn't slide forward without the cable ties, but I don't care to find out.

 

[PF52]

Originally Posted By: 440Magnum
I've been driving since 1978... NEVER driven a car without floor mats of all different types, and NEVER had one even come close to getting into a brake or accelerator...


I'm with you. I've not had a car where the mats move around, ever. Maybe my feet are just heavy and make the mats stay put?

 

[90Notch]

I've been using these digital fit rubber all weather mats from weathertech and they are custom contoured to the foot well area so they never move. You have to remove the original mats but they've been awesome

 

[mpvue]

Originally Posted By: daves87rs
Originally Posted By: mpvue
I had a '02 Saturn L200 5 speed. rare car, not many made w/ the manual trans and they didn't anticipate floor mat problems (no clips) and working the clutch would slowly move the mat forward until the one time you press the clutch in the mat would keep it from returning.
so I got in the habit of pulling the mat rearward whenever I got in the car.


Yikes!

which part are you yikes about? the loose floor mat, or the fact I had a saturn L series?

it was actually a pretty good car; ECOTEC and a 5 speed, lots of room, handled well, 34mpg and cheap!

 

[ffhdriver]

Pep Boys used to sell a clip and pin combination that fastened to the rear of a mat and attached to the carpet. They worked fine and the mat wouldn't move.

 

[The Critic]

Originally Posted By: Hokiefyd
Last Thursday, someone here in the office wrecked one of the GSA Fusion Hybrids because the floor mat was bunched up under the brake pedal and it would not depress all the way. He rear-ended a Honda Accord at about 25mph. The driver side airbag and knee blocker bag deployed, but nobody was sitting in the passenger seat, so the car was smart enough to not deploy that one. The driver is okay and nobody sustained any major injuries.

But please, check those floor mats! The Fusion has clips for the mats, but for some reason, these were not clipped in.


It also happened to Edmunds:

http://blogs.insideline.com/roadtests/20...s-for-real.html

 

[Hokiefyd]

Thanks for posting that. This is a real issue. It's not a Ford issue or a Toyota issue. It can happen in any vehicle and vigilence by the owner/operator is the most effective mitigation.

Once again, friends, please check your floor mats!