Floor Mat Gets Stuck and Causes a Car to Accelerate When Intending to Brake, Severely Injuring Plaintiff

Case Overview

This case involves an accident where the plaintiff was struck by a vehicle while crossing an intersection. The vehicle accelerated rapidly and ran over the plaintiff, who sustained serious injuries. Among other parties, the plaintiff sued the manufacturer of the floor mats in the vehicle because the carpet/mat underneath the driver’s foot was stuck on the gas pedal. The driver had stepped on the brake pedal, but instead of braking, powered the accelerator, possibly because of the design of the floor mats. The mats did not have any fasteners securing them in place and were OEM provided by one of the world’s largest automobile makers.

Questions to the Forensic Pathology expert and their responses

Could the design of the floor mats have played a role in the accident?

There are a number of things that could have been wrong with the floor mats including their design and the lack of fasteners.

Is there generally a mechanism in place to prevent floor mats from coiling up beneath an accelerator pedal?

Generally, floor mats have two or three fasteners that are used to prevent accidents caused by the mat.

About the expert

This expert is extremely well suited for this review, having worked extensively as a product development and design engineer on floor mats. At Lear Corporation he drove the product development activities for the floor carpet and trunk components and interior trim for the Cadillac STS platform. As a senior product engineer at Collins & Aikman, a manufacturer of automotive interior components, he led the team designing and developing floor mat and storage systems for GM, Ford, Chrysler and Honda accounts.