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-   -   Shocking incident - Blame it on 3D Mats?? (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/street-experiences/108733-shocking-incident-blame-3d-mats.html)

Friends,

I would like to share a totally shocking and unexpected incident that I experienced while I was dirving to work this morning in my ANHC. I had installed 3D Kagu mats (Beige) for my ANHC last month and was enjoying the feel of it during my drives until today when I got the shock of my life.

I had made a U-turn near Marathhalli Multiplex towards K.R.Puram and had hardly passed the marathhalli bridge at 50Kmph when all of a sudden the gas pedal got stuck and lay pressed which caused the car to zoom off giving me a shocker.

I immediately took my leg off the pedal and hit the clutch and brake due to which the engine started roaring with the pedal still being stuck. I looked in the rear view mirror to make sure nobody was coming behind me and pulled over to the left with the warning lights and left indicator on and quickly changed the gear from 4 to neutral, switched off the engine and engaged hand brake. After the car had stopped, I got down to check the cause of this unexpected behaviour and it was then I found that the gas pedal had got stuck under the edge of the 3D Mat (the edges are quite thick so there are chances of the pedal getting stuck incase the Mats have moved a bit forward from their initial alignment.

I re-aligned the mat by pulling it back and making sure that the edges are nowhere near the movement of gas pedal by pressing the pedal to the max and releasing it and only after testing so many times I resumed my ride to work.

I would suggest you folks to check the positioning of 3D mats before driving out everyday and ensure that the mat is secured correctly in its position and there is enough gap such that it does not affect the pedal movement.

Hope this info helps you all and wish you a safe ride.

God Bless

Kiran

Being harder than regular mat is an issue. If the mat was 'softer' I guess it wont have got stuck or might have got back to normal position pretty soon.

IMHO, take the mat off if you are scared. Drive in peace.

I am not scared dude. If I were scared, I would have panicked in the 1st place which would have blocked my thinking capability and would have hit somebody in front of me.

Its only that this took me by surprise and that too when you are least expecting that such a thing would also happen :)

Are the mats worth this effort that is to be made everyday? I've only seen pics of such mats on the net so not sure if they are that good that one would keep on checking the mat placement every now and then.

This reminds me of that scene from Final Destination-2 movie when a water bottle rolls and gets stuck underneath the brake.

:D The Kagu mats are no doubt good compared to the rubber ones. But there is a saying which goes, with all good stuff comes xxxxx well I don't remember. The bottom line is however good a stuff is, there is always a negative aspect that also comes with it which may not be visible until one experiences it.

Overall the 3D Kagu mats do a great job in holding the dust so that we can either throw them or vacuum them with very less effort. But at the same time, they also want us to ensure that they are properly treated by aligning them as they are supposed to be. They do tend to move forward a bit due to our frequent ABC movements which we need to be careful and monitor frequently if not everyday.

I had faced similar incident my civic ones! Now, the aftermarket mats are only for the passengers seats.
I have seen Hyundai cars with some locking arrangement of the mats but they don't last long due to continuous feet movement. The Velcro that comes with the mat does nothing.

Initially, Toyota blamed the auto acceleration of its cars in the US on the gas pedal getting stuck in the mat.

Wow, thats a scary incident there, Kiran. Glad that nothing unfortunate happened. This was a recepie for disaster for sure.

Would normal mats have avoided this? As, even normal mats do move from their fixed place, unless secured with a lock, like the fabric mats.

Would it make a difference for cars like VW's or Skoda's where the accelarator is placed on the footwell and pressed down (unlike the one's in, say City).

Or should this be considered as a 'one off incident'?

This is shocking information, than god you are safe and had a presence of mind to pull off the road and inpect. One question though did the mat not cover the footwell completely or did it mat slid down and caused the pedal to get stuck. Is there any way of fastening the mat so that this incident does not happen again.

No point in going for the branded mats (read costly) if it hampers the safety of the car.

Kiran, Good to know that there were no incidents because of the mats issue.
Could you please post some pictures if possible so that we can take care of this kind of problems.
Is there any way the floor mats can be fixed to the floor so that they do not move while we are driving?
After all when we pay such premium for the products, why should safety aspects be compromised?

HC

Now, this is why its very important to have driver side mats, which have locks in them. They prevent from moving forward, which is a tremendous risk!!

If there is no lock, please install one.

Atleast tag it like this:


Pic Source: Our Tundra Zip Tie Experience -- Toyota's Floor Mat Fix | Used Vehicles Blog & Discussions at Truck Trend Magazine

^^Mats or any other object (such as bottles/ shoes etc) can be a risk.

@kirantp, it was fortunate for you that there were no vehicles immediately around you. I shudder to think what would happen if something like this occurs in city traffic or on busy roads. You may want to cut off the upward protruding part of the 3D mat near the pedals, though this will not then work to its full functionality.
Perhaps these mats should be fastened with velcro strips?

If it happened once, it can happen again. Do be careful and get the mats refitted or changed if needed.

Are you sure it is a mat problem? My Accent had started doing this- racing loudly with no accelerator input- and they diagnosed it as some problem, don't remember what, and got it changed under warranty.

My OE Vento plastic mats have a cut-out portion so that the throttle pedal is uncovered plus spikes to keep them firmly in position. Have heard great things about Kagu but don't recall reading about this particular issue from anyone before. Will keep an eye on this thread!

ANHC recall!! Blame Honda for faulty gas pedal. Set up a enquiry. Honda will have a have full blown crisis in their Hands and they will take the help of our scientists from ISRO to investigate the if this had anything to do with faulty coding. After a detailed investigation everyone is clueless. :D

On a serious note. Cars and mats should have slots to hold the mats.

Normal mats (rubber/fabric) are not thick when compared to the Kagu mats and due to this, the accelerator does not even come in contact with them even if they move thus rendering them safe.

However with the kagu mats, its not the case as I have found out today :D. So a little extra care/monitoring is required to avoid any kind of mishaps and also at the same time enjoy the comfort that they bring in with them