Going to the Mat
in my Nissan Leaf

October 28, 2013

Mark D Larsen


In addition to its cargo cover, another original Nissan accessory that I ordered with my Leaf was a full set of carpeted floor mats. You can see the original mats in these photos:


Driver Side
(click to enlarge)

Passenger Side
(click to enlarge)

I like the mats, as they are custom made for the Leaf and match the interior very well. However, I also wanted some all-weather mats —like we have had in our Subaru “workhorses”— to protect against snow, rain, and mud during the winter months.

Unfortunately, although Nissan offered such mats for the 2011 model, they were not an exact fit for my year. Specifically, in 2012 the automaker added a small hump for a heat duct below the front edge of the passenger seat. You can see that hump in the photo above on the right, and how the carpeted mat is shaped to fit around it. Below on the left is a close up of that hump from the side, and on the right you can see the opening at the top of the hump that vents warm air underneath the seat towards the rear.


Hump
(click to enlarge)

Vent
(click to enlarge)

The 2011 all-weather mat, in contrast, lacked a cutout for that new hump, and thus its straight back edge would have to bend around it, looking like it didn’t really fit the vehicle —which, of course, it didn’t. I therefore decided to wait until Nissan released a 2012 version. The other day, I saw on Amazon that there was, in fact, a 2012 all-weather set available, so placed an order and the packaged arrived in a few days. In these photos you can see both the original mats and the all-weather versions, front and rear:


Front Comparison
(click to enlarge)

Rear Comparison
(click to enlarge)

The new mats were made of quality materials: thick, flexible rubber molded to fit around the edges of the floor and up the side walls. The shape on the driver side fits nicely below the seat with a shaped contour for the battery box, but the passenger side does not have an additional cutout for the hump, as show below. From what I have been able to find, it seems the Nissan decided to put the shaped contour on both sides for these newer mats to loosely accommodate all three years to date, i.e., the battery boxes for 2011, the boxes and the passenger side hump for 2012, and the boxes and hump on both sides for 2013.


Driver Side
(click to enlarge)

Passenger Side
(click to enlarge)

You might notice above that, due to the way it was packed, the driver side mat arrived with the outside edge bent and hanging inward toward the interior. I was not happy with that discovery. The rear mats, seemed to fit well enough, however:


Rear Left
(click to enlarge)

Rear Right
(click to enlarge)

Because of the bent edge on the driver side mat, and the fact that the passenger side didn't accommodate the additional hump, I decided to return this set. In the interim, I heard that a reputable manufacturer of all-weather mats, WeatherTech, had also recently started selling a set for the Leaf. After a bit of searching, I found the item on their website. The photos displayed were only generic examples, so I was unsure if they would fit. I therefore called their Customer Service number, and the sales rep confirmed that the item number was, indeed, a model digitally designed for the Leaf. Although these mats were more expensive, I figured that I might as well give them a try. A few days later, they arrived at my door. You can likewise see these alternatives alongside the originals below:


Front Comparison
(click to enlarge)

Rear Comparison
(click to enlarge)

You can see that the WeatherTech models are more like shells or liners than mats. They are made of a thinner, less flexible rubber, but are harder, deeper, and more precisely contoured to fit in the footwells, as shown below:


Driver Side
(click to enlarge)

Passenger Side
(click to enlarge)

The photo below on the left shows that the driver side is larger than its NIssan counterpart, actually extending up over the foot rest on the left and underneath the accelerator on the right. I really like such features and opine that Nissan should emulate the design.


Got’cha Covered
(click to enlarge)

Hump Gap
(click to enlarge)

On the other hand, because WeatherTech wanted these mats to also fit the 2013 model, that same driver side has a contoured cutout for a heat duct, which leaves a gap for that hump in my 2012 Leaf, as shown looking down in the photo on the right above. That hump gap is not that noticeable, although you can probably see it better on the left below. On the passenger side, in comparison, it fits perfectly around the duct shown below on the right. Can you tell the difference?


Driver Side
(click to enlarge)

Passenger Side
(click to enlarge)

The rear liners are also slighter larger than Nissan’s mats, and fit nicely around the walls of the footwells:


Rear Left
(click to enlarge)

Rear Right
(click to enlarge)

As much as I’d like to support my vehicle’s manufacturer, I’ll stick with these WeatherTech mats. The are easily washed when dirty, very durable, come with a 3-year warranty against faulty workmanship and materials, and fit like a glove —with the sole exception of the small hump gap noted above for the driver side.