Was vacuuming my 2014 IS350 today (for the first time) and noticed a 'hole' in the carpet at the lower left corner of dead pedal. To me, it looks like an intentional cut that someone made as some point. Not sure why though. In all the hole is about 2" in diameter. There is a bolt inside with a couple of probably ground straps attached. Has anyone ever seen a hole in the same spot? Any chance there was a fix of some sort that required it?

(1st two photos are rotated CCW 90 deg, 3rd photo is flipped 180 deg)

So... is it worth having the dealer fix this (as the car is certified)?

And... ever since I've had the car, I have not been happy with the road noise at highway speeds (on certain road surfaces... but what i would consider normal highways). In this hole, there is styrafoam looking material below it and to the right. But to the left it is just open to the sheet metal at the bottom of the car. There's not a lot of open space in there but i can move my fingers around for several inches of open space. Any chance that the road noise is worse due to this 'hole' and that there is some insulation missing? Thoughts?

Thanks in advance for the feedback.

 

Yeah that could be from a heel. Maybe Lexus will replace it. Worth a shot.

As far as road noise, these cars run on low profile and sometimes summer tires. So these tires brand new aren't the best at road noise but worn tires make it 10x worse especially performance tires. How old are your tires?

 

Thanks for the comments.
The heel theory is interesting... at first, I thought no way since this hole is right in the corner. The only way maybe for that to happen is a woman in high heels just happened to jam her heel in the corner and pushed - I guess that could be possible (but not likely to me, the way it looks).
From the Carfax history, there's no repair that would suggest anything in this area.
My tires were new when I got the car (Michelin's Pilot A/S3's) a couple thousand miles ago. Generally considered great tires I know. There are however some reports on the web where people think these tires are kind of noisey. My previous car (Audi) had Continental DWS's which are known to be quiet (and they were). Still I think this car has more road noise than I'd expect from a Lexus.

 

I'm inclined to agree with E46CT. The only thing that makes me give it a second thought is the size of the hole, which looks pretty big in the pictures, and the sharp lines surrounding the hole indicate it might have been cut...

I purchased the all-weather floor mats because I had a hole in my driver side floor mat, but it was on the right hand side by the gas pedal. I have to wear a suit most days during the week and my dress shoes caused the hole in my mat. Your hole could be larger due to a woman's heel resting right in the little gap between the floor mat and the rubber foot rest. Attached are a few of my pictures for comparison.

 

Agreed. On my BMW 3 Series, I would wear through mats like nobodys business with my dress shoes. Bought new mats from BMW and 3 months later I wore a hole through on the same spot as the above pic. Your foot pivots as you go from brake to gas and it just wears through. So it depends on the personal style/shoe choice someone uses

 

It's from a heel my wife's cars get these because she hates all season mats. The solution is a set of rubber all season mats.

 

^This. I've had my all season mats since I got the car in July last year. No damage to them whatsoever.

 

no offend but i don't buy lady driven car ! i buy car from Enthusiast because they babied their car. that hole was damaged by High Heel