I am trying to replace the star shape steering damper for my Prius 2012. It's a right hand drive model. Stuck at the step to remove the knee airbag panel. According to manual, to remove that panel, there are 4 bolts to be removed. 3 of them I can acccess. But the last one is located behind panel #2 as shown in the picture. However, to remove panel #2 I have to remove surrounding panels which includes the whole center console panels #3, #4, and #5. Including the headunit. I am trying to avoid that and see if anyone have a hack method to remove that bolt without remove the whole trims. Thanks.
Posting here what I did for reference. I just went under and used an open wrench to loosen it then use finger to unbolt it. It is not easy but less work than removing the whole center console. Installation will be even harder. I can just leave it unbolted as the other 3 is enough to tighten this knee airbag panel. However, I tried using a shorter bolt and using a ratchet combination wrench and it works. Manage to tighten it back.
The dashboard on the gen 3 prius is probably designed by Lego. You can disassemble it in a few minutes.
