I agree with Lord V and others that unwitting surface rubbing is more likely the culprit, but you never can tell.. My own experience with my Colt a few years ago made me question whether mis fitting of these mouldings might be a possible cause as well. I did a repair myself but the cause was always a bit of a mystery to me.
I didn’t explain myself properly using the word ‘carpet’. Henceforth I will call it coated moulded fibreglass floor covering! On my Colt the coated moulded fibreglass floor moulding seemed to split away near the footplate edge like yours and work into a hole. Lifting the moulding up without complete removal, it seemed to have been mis aligned under the footplate and I noticed the it was thinner along all the moulded edges. It didn’t sit down into the footwell perfectly and was very taught. When I lifted it, repaired the hole and improved the figment, it didn’t seem to wear again. I did notice that the localised area near the footplate on my Colt could get quite warm when driving, either due to the position of the exhaust pipe or possibly the floor air con vents. I wondered whether heat was a factor as well, but as it didn’t happen on the passenger side, I decided heat wasn’t a main cause. I repaired the Colts hole/ split myself by glueing a piece of surplus from under the passenger seat. I poked it through and under the hole as an underneath patch, and touched in the edges with acrylic paints to blend the edges with the slightly speckled surface colouring of the Colts floor moulding. I sanded the edge of the patch a bit thinner before fitting to make it look less sunken. I was going to use a file on the underneath to sand the undersurface to make a key for the glue, but saw that it was already rubbed away quite thin on the lower surface. I initially thought I must be rubbing it with my shoe. However I tend to rest my left foot on in front of the clutch leaving a dent in the velour mats I buy for all my cars. Hence it is the surface of velour mats I wear down in front of the clutch and accelerator, not the side by the footplate which I never use. (I have small feet) My son had a Colt as well and I drove his quite a bit, about a quarter of the time in all. His Colt had 40k on the clock when bought and 175k on it when sold but his moulded floor covering was pretty pristine. So I thought why has my floor moulding slowly worked into a hole, but I haven’t done it to his car when they are identical models. Hence my suggestion to seek a second opinion from a professional car trimmer before giving up on it as driver inflicted.
You mentioned Honda Bristol, near to where I am based. I can’t recommend anyone these days as a professional trimmer. However when I had a classic car there was a trimmer in Claverham called Pritchard who was very helpful and could sort out anything car trimming and floor covering wise. However that was 30 years ago, but they usually have a child that takes over! Also Honda Bristol have an independent car repairer body shop on site who brings their used cars up to A1 condition. If you contact Honda and ask to speak to Lewis in the body shop he is very knowledgable and may have some opinions on cause and cure. Even if he can’t personally intervene/ assist, he may be able to advise you on someone capable of economical repair in your locality. He has done great bodywork jobs on a number of my cars with a previous firm over the years and now based at Honda to keep my cars in A1 appearance without breaking my meagre bank balance! Good Luck again
