Has anyone installed the footwell illumination kit themselves? If so, any tips? My kit arrived today and the instructions had many more trim removal steps than I was anticipating. Any help would be appreciated!
I searched the forums and couldn’t find a write up about it. Thought I might after a couple years. Rather than starting a new thread, I’ll just post here from my experience. I didn’t plan on doing a write up, but as I got going I thought it could be a good idea for others. I purchased the Subaru Footwell Illumination Kit. I can’t recall which site I got the instructions from, but I know one of the parts purchase sites has the instructions attached for many accessories. This was from the previous part #:
SubaruPartsDeal.com offers the lowest price for genuine Subaru Accessories, H461SXC000. FOOTWELL ILLUMINATION KIT for $114.04. All parts are backed by the Subaru’s warranty.
www.subarupartsdeal.com
As has been mentioned, make sure to have trim removal tools. The most time consuming part was getting the factory illumination control harness unplugged. It was a pain. I could push the tiny button in as hard as I wanted, but it just didn’t seem to be enough. Of course, I didn’t want to damage any of the wires, or housing for it either, so it was a process of being gentle, yet firm to provide counter support. Miraculously something different eventually happened as I was about to say screw it and quit. It came free. The dash pieces were easy to remove. Be careful when removing the inner glove box frame- the molded clips are easily bent as the plastic is soft. The kick panel and side sill plate are secured by the green clips. Under the side sill, I had 2 stay in the metal. These had to be pried out gently and placed back into the side sill before replacing it.
Most of the installation trim removal is so the wire can be secured behind the dash. I suppose, it could be installed by just removing the lower driver’s panel and the lower passenger trim panel. The driver’s panel needs to be removed so one can access the power supply. The lower passenger trim needs to be removed because that is where it mounts. The wire could be zip tied behind the head unit/HVAC instead of needing to remove all of the panels.
Pardon the cell phone quality pictures.
Removing the driver’s side, side trim:
The backside of the lower drivers dash piece. There is one screw on the lower right that has to be removed for it to come free. The rest are all of the clips similar to the above trim piece. Finally got the pesky plug out!:
Passenger trim piece removed showing the clips used in the trim panels:
Side Sill Trim removed to allow kick panel to be removed:
Clips in the side sill plate:
Kick panel clips and behind the panel. This is removed to help remove the glove box inner frame.
This shows behind the kick panel, and it shows the passenger lower trim removed. (This trim piece is what the passenger side light mounts onto)
The light mounted on the lower passenger trim piece. The clips to the trim are ones that can just be pushed to release. They are visible from the outside of the trim piece. These could be broken easily if pulled on. The light (blue casing below) mounts in a twist in place prefab hole.
I didn’t get pictures of the glove box frame removed, but the glove box needs to be removed: Open the glove box, pull off the plunger and squeeze the sides together to free the glove box. It will open wide and can be gently pulled off the hinge. There are 6 Phillips head screws that need to be removed. Don’t forget to remove the glove box light. The light wiring can be fed from the driver’s side through to the passenger side just behind the HVAC system. There are wire groups that the light wire can be zip tied to. (Sorry I didn’t get pictures of this step. Wasn’t planning to do a write up until the passenger side was put together).
