rear seat armrest trim loose / falling off

[steveff4]

For some odd reason, the rear seat armrest trim - brushed aluminum in my case - is loose and flopping around. I can't quite tell what normally holds it in place, but I suspect that there are some clips that have come loose or broken. I am wary to pull on it too much as to make it worse or break it altogether.

Anybody run into this before?

[NashvegasR]

Yep. The actual trim has little "prongs" and they fit into plastic "receptors" in the actual side panel trim. Sort of a press fit arrangement. Pretty easy to figure out what's going on if you remove the trim. I'd bet either the prongs or more likely the receptors on the side panel are broken. If you use a trim tool you can pry it out just be super careful not to damage your vinyl/leather side panel.

[monterey]

i think the screws are loose. just re tighten

[steveff4]

Somebody's screw may be loose. But these are just retaining clips.

So I pulled off the trim and the small ovoid retainer clips are pulled out of the side panel, broken. I found the part number for these (51 45 8 161 557) and then found a seller on eBay that sold 20 of them for $8 with free shipping. Amazon had 8 of them for $23, although I would have them in two days. I can wait a week or two, so eBay made the sale.