Bed Mat Theft Prevention?

The drain holes are on the front right and front left of the bed, not the center.

 

Ive had Tacoma trucks since 2005, all of them with bed mats and never even considered someone would steal it. Been all over California, Nevada, Oregon etc and it just stays in the back no issues.

 

Same here with older compact toyota 4x4 pickups. Been all over the east coast and parts of the midwest with an open bed. No one i know of was ever interested in a bed mat. Tools, and my bike gear a different story.

 

The dog poo bed mat mod is taking off!
Invest wisely my friends.

 

Bed mats getting heisted?
Dealers charging to "install" (simple drop in place) it?

For what they cost (because it's "branded"), I will make my own. I have the perfect material on-hand.
Factory, (and others?) are likely cut/notched around the tie-downs.
That said, it can not be secured to the bed, unless it gets drilled/bolted elsewhere.

Mine is going to be 2-piece, split in the middle, fastened "under" the rear factory loops, so it can be flipped to the sides for easy cleaning underneath.

 

These things are heavy. I mean heavy and awkward to handle. It's a huge pain the the ass when you go to wash the truck to take the mat out and out in back in and that's with the gate down. with a locked tailgate? probably not worth the struggle to steal when it's the only decently priced OEM accessory. worst case you just buy another.

 

Wow, a nine page thread on rubber bed mat theft! We truly have reached the end of the internet!

 

Nah. Not even close. This is more like a continental shelf or the edge of a plateau. It might look like the edge of the world, but there is far more weirdness that lurks below. Specifically the threads that dwell in the Dumbgeon. Dont read those. They'll change your opinion on life itself.

 

After reading all the comments, I am glad I don't have a mat. The beds composite. I would worry about the tailgate before the mat.

 

Hence why OP was almost charged $20 to install it.

I wonder how he got it home?
Did he throw it IN the truck? or transport in the bed, but in the shipping packaging? [I don't know how they come to the dealer].

I would have 'installed' it right in the dealership lot, in full view of everyone there. Maybe light a cigar with that $20 as I was installing it.

 

Am I the only person to do this?

 

I did the same. The air dryer at the car wash blows them out. I figured this out the hard way.

Now, I have a ReTrax tonneau and that solves that.

 

The problem is things slide around on the composite bed and the mat is grippy rubber. And it keeps it from getting scratches.

 

I just got a stainless steel bolt and nylock nut and drilled a hole in the mat from underneath where the middle drain hole is. . I got someone to hold a board on top of it. So now it just has one bolt in the middle at the front.

 

It comes rolled up and in a plastic bag with a tie on it. I was able to put my passenger seat down and put it up front with me, but I brought a tow strap just in case. It is kind of springy so it wants to unroll on its own, so don't take it out of the bag until you have it in the bed. They are nice high quality rubber, but smell bad. Like rubber bad.

 

I wasn't thinking about that. Yeah I just put a bolt through the center drain hole.

 

Well that is how I got a discount. I asked if the $129 included installation. They said it did. So I asked for a discount to just take it and install it myself. So they lowered the price to $109. I just took it home in the bag and did the install myself. The hard part was securing it. I had to get a helper to get the nylock nut on.

 

All the local dealerships were charging over $100. And the cheap places online were either charging $50 shipping or had complaints that the mats looked like seconds with problems in manufacturing or handling damage.

 

Glad you resolved your issue.

 

Price of ammo, hell, good luck finding any at all.