These are the leather panels on the outside of the hvac controls, they are held in by clips, but removal is obstructed by the lower dashboard. Any tips on removal?

Thanks in advance.

 

They'll pop out and slide backward to clear the lower dash sections. For the right side it helps to open the glove box fully. I've had both sides off on my '17 and did not have to remove any of the lower dash sections.

The key is using plastic trim pry tools, potentially also with a sheet of soft leather or something to help avoid marring the leather on the trim panels. But if you're careful it's possible to do it entirely by hand. Start that way to get a crow-bar-like trim tool under there to assist in releasing the tabs.

What're you after that requires removing these? Putting on something different?

 

Mine are pretty nicked up, so I wanted to replace them. Nothing too exciting!