well the way you made it sound, it seemed the acid was soaked into the carpet and left a non-drying film on the metal. in which case, coating it in a crust of baking soda may not fully counteract the acid. this is where a solution would be more effective since it WILL wash it out of the shag of the carpet as well as rinse it from the metal and get it away from direct contact. its easier to use as a solution rather than sprinkling powder and using the hope-and-pray method that you got the neutralizer everywhere you need it.
and throwing water onto acid is a bad idea too, if its in large enough quanities. as water dillutes acid, it makes an exothermic reaction where it can give off enough heat to actually boil and/or explode. when you want to dilute acid, youre supposed to "Add Acid" to the water slowly. thats one of the things i remember from Chem... lol