All vehicle mats

Abstract

A pair of cut-to-fit universal vehicle floor mats have bodies which, as untrimmed, have margins which are neither identical to each other nor mirror images of each other. Each mat body has peripheral cells defined by indented trim lines. A consumer may selectively trim away these cells to fit a particular vehicle. Some of the cells in the driver's side mat are not present in the passenger's side mat, or vice versa. For example, only the driver's side mat may have a deadpedal array of cells and/or a gas pedal array of cells. Conversely, only the passenger's side mat may have arcuate wheel well trim lines and/or arcuate transmission tunnel trim lines.

We claim: 
     
         1 . A pair of cut-to-fit floor mats for use in any of a plurality of different vehicles, the mats comprising:
 a driver's side floor mat and a passenger's side floor mat each having an untrimmed mat body with forward, outboard, aft and inboard margins, each of the floor mats having a plurality of trim lines, each trim line formed as an elongate indentation in one of the mat bodies, the trim lines defining a plurality of peripheral cells located at or near at least one of the margins, each of the cells adapted to be selectively trimmed off of a respective mat by a consumer to fit a particular vehicle foot well;   the driver's side floor mat and the passenger's side floor mat being of different shapes such that the margins of the driver's side floor mat are not identical to the margins of the passenger's side floor mat and such that the margins of the driver's side floor mat are not a mirror image of the margins of the passenger's side floor mat;   a deadpedal notch formed at the junction of the forward margin and the outboard margin of the driver's side floor mat, the deadpedal notch dimensioned to be fitted around a raised deadpedal in a driver's side vehicle foot well, the passenger's side floor mat not having a deadpedal notch formed at the junction of the forward margin of the passenger's side floor mat and the outboard margin of the passenger's side floor mat;   the trim lines of the driver's side floor mat having a plurality of spaced-apart parallel longitudinal trim lines and a plurality of spaced-apart parallel transverse trim lines, a deadpedal array of cells formed by intersections of the longitudinal and transverse trim lines, the deadpedal array of cells disposed to be adjacent to the deadpedal notch of the driver's side floor mat, such that the consumer may selectively trim away ones of the cells in the deadpedal array of cells to fit a deadpedal of the vehicle foot well having one of a preselected plurality of widths or lengths.   
     
     
         2 . The mats of  claim 1 , wherein the passenger's side floor mat does not have a deadpedal array of cells, formed by intersections of parallel longitudinal and transverse trim lines, near the junction of the forward and outboard margins of the passenger's side floor mat. 
     
     
         3 . The mats of  claim 1 , wherein the deadpedal array of cells is formed to be inboard of the deadpedal notch, such that the consumer may selectively trim away ones of the cells to fit a deadpedal of a driver's side vehicle foot well having one of a preselected plurality of widths. 
     
     
         4 . The mats of  claim 1 , wherein the deadpedal notch is formed by a transverse margin segment and a longitudinal margin segment, the longitudinal margin segment extending aft from the forward margin of the driver's side mat to an aft end of the longitudinal margin segment, the transverse margin segment extending in an outboard direction from the aft end of the longitudinal margin segment. 
     
     
         5 . The mats of  claim 1 , wherein the deadpedal array of cells is formed to be aft of the deadpedal notch, such that the consumer may selectively trim away ones of the cells to fit a deadpedal of a driver's side vehicle foot well having one of a preselected plurality of lengths. 
     
     
         6 . The mats of  claim 1 , wherein the driver's side floor mat further includes a plurality of release lever cells disposed near an aft and outboard corner of the driver's side floor mat, enabling the consumer to trim off selected ones of the release lever cells so that the mat as trimmed does not cover fuel filler door release and/or trunk release levers in a driver's side foot well in a particular vehicle. 
     
     
         7 . The mats of  claim 1 , wherein the driver's side floor mat further includes a gas pedal array of cells formed near the junction of the forward and inboard margins of the driver's side mat, the gas pedal array of cells spaced from the deadpedal array of cells and formed by intersections of a plurality of spaced apart parallel longitudinal trim lines and a plurality of spaced-apart parallel transverse trim lines, such that the consumer may selectively trim off ones of the gas pedal array of cells to fit around a gas pedal in the driver's side vehicle foot well, the passenger's side floor mat not having such a gas pedal array of cells, as formed by intersections of spaced-apart parallel longitudinal and transverse trim lines, disposed near the junction of the forward and inboard margins of the passenger's side floor mat. 
     
     
         8 . The mats of  claim 7 , wherein the driver's side floor mat further includes, inboard from the gas pedal array of cells and adjacent a corner of the forward margin and the inboard margin of the driver's side floor mat, at least one transmission tunnel indentation cell which extends in an inboard direction to an extent greater than a remainder of the untrimmed body of the driver's side floor mat, such that the consumer may selectively trim off said at least one transmission tunnel indentation cell if his or her vehicle does not have a transmission tunnel indentation, the passenger's side floor mat not having such a transmission tunnel indentation cell, disposed near the forward and inboard margins of the passenger's side floor mat, which extends in an inboard direction farther than the remainder of the untrimmed body of the passenger's side floor mat. 
     
     
         9 . The mats of  claim 1 , wherein each mat has a central area located laterally inwardly from the peripheral cells, the central area not being crossed by any trim line, a thickness of the central area of the mat in a direction perpendicular to the mat's length and width being greater than a corresponding thickness of the peripheral cells. 
     
     
         10 . The mats of  claim 1 , wherein ones of the longitudinal and transverse trim lines terminate in curved segments. 
     
     
         11 . A pair of cut-to-fit floor mats for use in any of a plurality of different vehicles, the mats comprising:
 a driver's side floor mat and a passenger's side floor mat each having an untrimmed mat body with forward, outboard, aft and inboard margins, each of the floor mats having a plurality of trim lines, each trim line formed as an elongate indentation in one of the mat bodies, the trim lines defining a plurality of peripheral cells located at or near at least one of the margins, the cells each adapted to be selectively trimmed off of a respective mat by a consumer to fit a particular vehicle foot well;   the driver's side floor mat and the passenger's side floor mat being of different shapes such that the margins of the driver's side floor mat are not identical to the margins of the passenger's side floor mat and such that the margins of the driver's side floor mat are not a mirror image of the margins of the passenger's side floor mat;   the peripheral cells of the driver's side floor mat including a gas pedal array of cells formed near the junction of the forward and inboard margins of the driver's side mat, the gas pedal array of cells formed by intersections of a plurality of spaced apart parallel longitudinal trim lines and a plurality of spaced-apart parallel transverse trim lines, such that the consumer may selectively trim off ones of the gas pedal array of cells to fit around a gas pedal in the driver's side vehicle foot well, the passenger's side floor mat not having such a gas pedal array of cells, as formed by intersections of spaced-apart parallel longitudinal and transverse trim lines, disposed near the junction of the forward and inboard margins of the passenger's side floor mat.   
     
     
         12 . The mats of  claim 11 , wherein ones of the longitudinal trim lines terminate in curved segments. 
     
     
         13 . A pair of cut-to-fit floor mats for use in any of a plurality of different vehicles, the mats comprising:
 a driver's side floor mat and a passenger's side floor mat each having an untrimmed mat body with forward, outboard, aft and inboard margins, each of the floor mats having a plurality of trim lines, each trim line formed as an elongate indentation in one of the mat bodies, the trim lines defining a plurality of peripheral cells located at or near at least one of the margins, the cells adapted to be selectively trimmed off of a respective mat by a consumer to fit a particular vehicle foot well;   the driver's side floor mat and the passenger's side floor mat being of different shapes such that the margins of the driver's side floor mat are not identical to the margins of the passenger's side floor mat, and such that the margins of the driver's side floor mat are not a mirror image of the margins of the passenger's side floor mat;   the peripheral cells of the driver's side floor mat including, adjacent a corner of the forward margin and the inboard margin, at least one transmission tunnel indentation cell which extends in an inboard direction to an extent greater than a remainder of the untrimmed body of the driver's side floor mat, such that the consumer may selectively trim off said at least one transmission tunnel indentation cell if his or her vehicle does not have a transmission tunnel indentation, the passenger's side floor mat not having such a transmission tunnel indentation cell, disposed near the forward and inboard margins of the passenger's side floor mat, which extends in an inboard direction farther than the remainder of the untrimmed body of the passenger's side floor mat.   
     
     
         14 . The mats of  claim 13 , wherein said at least one transmission tunnel indentation cell is one of a plurality of adjoining transmission tunnel indentation cells formed adjacent an inboard margin of the driver's side mat. 
     
     
         15 . A pair of cut-to-fit floor mats for use in any of a plurality of different vehicles, the mats comprising:
 a driver's side floor mat and a passenger's side floor mat each having an untrimmed mat body with forward, outboard, aft and inboard margins, each of the floor mats having a plurality of trim lines, each trim line formed as an elongate indentation in one of the mat bodies, the trim lines defining a plurality of peripheral cells located at or near at least one of the margins, the cells adapted to be selectively trimmed off of the mat by a consumer to fit a particular vehicle foot well;   the driver's side floor mat and the passenger's side floor mat being of different shapes such that the margins of the driver's side floor mat are not identical to the margins of the passenger's side floor mat, and such that the margins of the driver's side floor mat are not a mirror image of the margins of the passenger's side floor mat;   the trim lines in the passenger's side floor mat including a plurality of transmission tunnel trim lines any of which may be selected by the consumer to form part of the inboard margin of the passenger's side floor mat as trimmed, each transmission tunnel trim line including an arc which is concave around a center of curvature that is farther away from the center of the passenger's side mat than is the respective transmission tunnel line, the driver's side floor mat not having any such transmission tunnel trim lines which are located near the inboard margin of the driver's side mat and which have an arc which is concave around a center of curvature that is farther away from the center of the driver's side mat than in the respective transmission tunnel line.   
     
     
         16 . The mats of  claim 15 , wherein the passenger's side mat has at least one longitudinal trim line disposed near the inboard margin of the passenger's side mat, each of said transmission tunnel lines having a forward end which meets the inboard margin of the passenger's side mat and an aft end which merges as a tangent with said at least one longitudinal trim line. 
     
     
         17 . The mats of  claim 16 , wherein an aft end of said at least one longitudinal trim line terminates in a curved segment. 
     
     
         18 . The mats of  claim 15 , wherein the transmission tunnel trim lines each have an inboard end located on the inboard margin of the passenger's side mat, the inboard ends being spaced apart from each other. 
     
     
         19 . A pair of cut-to-fit floor mats for use in any of a plurality of different vehicles, the mats comprising:
 a driver's side floor mat and a passenger's side floor mat each having an untrimmed mat body with forward, outboard, aft and inboard margins, each of the floor mats having a plurality of trim lines, each trim line formed as an elongate indentation in one of the mat bodies, the trim lines defining a plurality of peripheral cells located at or near at least one of the margins, the cells adapted to be selectively trimmed off of the mat by a consumer to fit a particular vehicle foot well;   the driver's side floor mat and the passenger's side floor mat being of different shapes such that the margins of the driver's side floor mat are not identical to the margins of the passenger's side floor mat, and such that the margins of the driver's side floor mat are not a mirror image of the margins of the passenger's side floor mat;   the trim lines on the passenger's side floor mat including a plurality of arcuate wheel well trim lines each of which is concavely curved around a center of curvature located farther away from a center of the passenger's side floor mat than is the respective wheel well trim line, each wheel well trim line having a forward end located on the forward margin of the passenger's side floor mat and an outboard end located on the outboard margin of the passenger's side floor mat, the driver's side floor mat not having any such arcuate wheel well trim line with a center of curvature farther away from the center of the driver's side floor mat than is the last said arcuate wheel well trim line.   
     
     
         20 . The mats of  claim 19 , wherein the arcuate wheel well trim lines of the passenger's side floor mat include a plurality of families of curved trim lines, each trim line in a trim line family either having an end which starts at a same location as an end of the other members of the family, or being formed around a common center of curvature as the other members of the family.