What is the purpose of a car floor mat?

13 Apr.,2024

 

Muddy shoes, spilled coffee, food crumbs… As your home away from home, your car is most likely subjected to all sorts of hazards on a daily basis. As one of our prized possessions, it’s important to look after it and that’s where interior floor mats come in.

Here are five reasons why investing in a set of well-fitted and relatively low-cost floor mats is essential to looking after you and your car:

1. Protection against stains and dirt

Since we get into our vehicle with our shoes, the probability of the floor of your car getting dirty is very high. Floor mats add another layer of protection, preventing dirt, mud, dust, and other debris from rubbing into the car's original carpet.

Accidental spills such as drinks, food, or any other liquid, can happen anytime especially when you have children or pets. Floor mats are an effective barrier at preventing those spills from seeping into the carpet and causing permanent stains.

Properly-fitted rubber mats with raised edges that lock in place are particularly good at trapping and containing liquids, and are very practical if you spend a bit of time in rural areas.

2. Keep you safe

A floor mat is not only interior decoration, it’s also a significant accessory that affects your driving experience. A genuine, high-quality fitted floor mat keeps you safe by staying in place especially on the driver’s side (keeping clear of the pedals) and never slipping. Look for mats that lock into position and have an anti-slip backing that doesn’t poke holes into the car’s interior. Mats that match the contours of your car, like these genuine ones suited to Suzukis, won’t move or fold up when you are driving or slip as you get in and out of your vehicle.

3. Easier to clean and they look good

Taking a rubber or carpet floor mat out of the car to clean is easier, faster, and more cost-effective than cleaning the car floor. When you use genuine floor mats that specifically fit the front and rear footwells of your car, you help keep your carpet cleaner by eliminating the gaps. As they are designed to fit in the exact space, they tend to look tidier and smarter too.

4. Save money for bigger repairs

Keeping your car on the road isn’t cheap with repairs, maintenance, and insurance all contributing to the running costs. Installing floor mats is a simple way to dress up and protect the interior of your car without spending a ton of time or money.

Over time if you don’t have floor mats, you are likely to wear a hole in the carpet on the driver’s side. Likewise, the passenger carpets will eventually wear through, especially if you carry passengers all the time. The cost to replace floor mats is considerably less than repairing or replacing the car’s floor, making them a worthwhile investment in the long-run.

5. Protect the value of your car

It pays to think ahead to the day you might sell your car and a spotless carpet is an excellent selling benefit. By simply adding a set of floor mats, you’ll keep the interior cleaner and in the best condition possible, making it more attractive to potential buyers. The better the car looks, the higher the potential resale value could be.

From safety to saving money, it’s never too late to show your car some love and protect your asset with floor mats that are fit your car perfectly.

If your car needs more than just floor mats and you are considering buying a new one, get all the information you need to get started from our Guide to Buying a New Car.


  • Posted by Haiheng Rubber

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

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