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Why is my model Y interior all carpet?

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Just got my model Y and I see the interior floors, sills, all around the front and back seats are all carpet. Is it normal or I made a mistake ordering? Not talking about the carpet floor mat, but the other areas.

It seems like I have to order $500 or more plastic parts from 3rd party to cover a areas of what's being left exposed. With 2 little kids it'll be a huge mess to have a carpet covered car. Even my $20k Santa Fe has plastic around seats and next to the back seat for easier cleaning.
 
Just got my model Y and I see the interior floors, sills, all around the front and back seats are all carpet. Is it normal or I made a mistake ordering? Not talking about the carpet floor mat, but the other areas.

It seems like I have to order $500 or more plastic parts from 3rd party to cover a areas of what's being left exposed. With 2 little kids it'll be a huge mess to have a carpet covered car. Even my $20k Santa Fe has plastic around seats and next to the back seat for easier cleaning.
Yes a lot of it is carpet (more like cheap felt material). You will have to buy 3rd party coverings to make it easily cleanable.
 
We compile a list of protective accessories for Model Y carpet interiors that most Tesla owners are in trouble with because the carpets are damaged and dirty. I hope it will be helpful.
 
This makes me yearn for the days when I could just hose out my 74 Dodge Dart because it had vinyl floor coverings instead of carpet.


Ok, not really.
Sure you don't want to relive those days? Ford Lighting Pro is waiting. 😁

Screenshot 2023-09-29 at 9.24.35 AM.png
 
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I see that a lot of people here are surprised, and and some poking fun at the OP, but I think this is a legitimate issue. I will explain further:

I have a late 2021 MY and it has plastic on much of the lower door sill areas, and also covering the area between the rear door and the rear seat cushion. However, there is still a fair amount of exposed carpet even after the installation of floor mats.

This factory carpeting is not particularly robust. Maybe a year ago, a friend of mine with an M3P pointed out that the edge of his shoe was already wearing a hole in the carpeted console bulkhead next to the accelerator pedal. It doesn't take much to damage the Tesla carpet material, not to mention that carpet is also more of a dust and dirt magnet.

I searched and found the smooth silicone-like TPE covers or "kick protectors" for these lower console carpeted panels. The ones for model Y have a couple of stylish ridges molded into the design, while the ones I've seen for model 3 are completely smooth. Other than that, they are quite similar.

Warning: They stick fast to the carpet with pre-attacked Velcro-like tape; on the back side; in fact the installation takes a little getting used to because they tend to grab the carpet before you've got them lined up. You have to exercise patience and be prepared to reposition a few times to get it right. I had various ideas to cover the velcro strips with removable tape, or to cut out some poster board to insert between, to help me position the covers and then pull away to let the velcro stick. But instead I just dealt with the propensity of the protectors to grab too soon, and I got better at ripping them up and repositioning for all the installations described below. (A little cursing helps in this process, if you're not constrained to set a good example for any impressionable young helpers! ;) )

But the result is very satisfying, with a durable and easy-clean surface. Just the other day, I had to remove the passenger side console panel to service the cabin air filter, and I was able to do that job while leaving the TPE protector on the carpet panel while I removed and later replaced it.

Since I bought those, there have appeared many more such protectors for other areas of the Tesla - and as the OP says, some of these specifically address areas that are carpeted in the newer model Y but are plastic-covered for the older ones.

In September, my son purchased a 2023 Austin model Y, and I took it upon myself to contribute many accessories. During this shopping activity I discovered the wide range of these TPE protectors that are now available, and so I picked up a few more for myself as well as a quite complete selection for him:
  • Unders-seat and seat risers:Many vendors ( including Yeslak who posted above) offer multi-piece sets of TPE protectors that cover the four carpeted seat-elevation risers in the Y, extending to the carpeted under-sill area at the bottom of the doors on either side of the B pillar. However, I elected to install a variant of these, I think it's newer, that extends the coverage over the entire floor area under each seat.
    • Of all the various TPE protective carpetcovers, these shapes are the most complex. So the installation requires even more skill and patience then the aforementioned kick protectors. I'd suggest tackling some easier shapes first if you bought them. However it's really not that bad, it's not like you're going to mess anything up. You just have to work with it to get everything Velcroed down and edges neatly tucked to get a nice tight installation. If you do it right, the different pieces match up very well at the floor seams between them. When you're done, the front edges will be slightly tucked under your front floor mats, and the rear edges will lie well under your big rear mat assuming it extends under the seats.
    • I like these a lot. The only real downside is the effect on other accessories. Namely, if you have some of those plastic sliding underseat drawer bins, you'll find that they are tighter and don't slide in and out as easily as before, because the added protector thickness over the carpet compresses the foam strips they use at the sides. I have this issue but I think it will be easily solved by buying some thinner foam weatherstrip tape to replace the pieces that come attached to those drawer bins. Also, if you have one of the little rear storage bins that uses a Velcro attachment to the carpet under the rear AC vent, you'll have to change over to some double-sided tape or double-sided Velcro pieces because the carpet is now covered over.
  • "Dead-pedal" side kick protectors: Like the large console panel kick protectors mentioned earlier, these prevent the edge of your shoe from rubbing the carpeting in the front footwells - in this case the outer walls next to the driver's dead pedal and the corresponding area on the passenger side. They seem to be available in two styles, one style has a longer narrow projection that extends down to the floor. I thought I ordered that style for my car, but I received the style without that extra extension, not a great concern. These are fairly small and easy to deal with.
  • Heel kick protector under the front edge of the rear seat: this is a long strip about 5 in tall that covers that vertical carpet strip under the rear seat need bolster. It comes with a couple of extra extension pieces that help it wrap around on to the carpeted sill area below the rear door. Not too hard to install but a little tricky due to it being the full width of the car interior. I installed this for cleanliness reasons more than carpet protection, as rarely have rear seat passengers but I sometimes put things on the floor there, and I could see desert dust on the carpet already.
  • Only for the newer model Y, protectors for the carpeted area between the rear seat and the rear wheel well door area: These sometimes come bundled with narros sill covers that take care of additional carpeting under the door sills in the newer cars ( already black-plastic covered on my car).
  • Cargo compartment side panel covers: if you have a big cargo mat but want coverage for the carpeted sides in the cargo area, you can get these covers. I haven't done that so far, but I bought them for my son because his family uses that area of far more than I do.
  • Cargo hatch carpet protector panel, under the rear hatch glass: this is sort of trapezoidal in shape and has a cutout for the round LED cargo light. Most of these seem to be molded with vertical ribs instead of a smooth surface. Again I have no personal experience but my son reports it's good. I assume this may require some modification if you install one of the slightly larger and brighter aftermarket cargo lights to replace around OEM light.
  • Second row seat back covers: these things have been available for a while from some of the format manufacturers and others. I'll just mention that the first set I had was made of stiff floor mat type material (sometimes "XPE"), but I had trouble with adhesive holding the the velcro discs coming off in the heat. As an experiment, I tried a TPE set using pre attached velcro tape strips like all the other TPE stuff. They look good, but I do notice a slight bit of rubbing between the edges of the three sections when I fold the seats partially. Possibly I could try again installing them and tucking the edges better; it's not a big problem and I haven't bothered to do that yet, but be aware if you fold your sheets all the time.
The result of all this is that you can now cover a great deal of the exposed and modest-quality carpet in the interior of the model Y. Seeing the eye rolling reaction in this thread already, I realize my long write-up might not go over too well. But I think some owners would like to do this. As the OP said, it adds up to a few hundred dollars if you buy everything.

I would suggest starting with the console kick protectors (less than $50) and move on from there if you like the results. I've only done the passenger compartment areas in mine so far, but I provided my son with a complete armor plating for his brand new car, for all the adventures with very young children and lots of stuff in the cargo compartment.
 
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We compile a list of protective accessories for Model Y carpet interiors that most Tesla owners are in trouble with because the carpets are damaged and dirty. I hope it will be helpful.
Thanks! I almost got all of these already. Is there something to cover here?
 

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