Rear Seat Belt Access 2001 Avensis

[adman]

Recently discovered that my 2001 2.0 D4d has had a leak allowing water to gather under the spare wheel / rear wings. I think the water may be coming in near the top of the boot hatch / hinge area and seeping down behind the trim. The reason for this is that the rear seatbelts (which are hardly ever used) had mould / mildew on them when I pulled them out.

I put the rear seatbacks down to try and look at them, there is a small plastic cover about 5 inches wide that comes off allowing you to shine a torch in and see the mechanism. The bolts etc holding the seatbelt winder in place were all rusted as if they had been wet. I'd like to get a better look at them to try and lube them up a bit, but don't know how to get to them.

Does anyone know how to get all the trim off? There is a narrow strip of cushioning at either side of the seat backs that stays in place when the seats are put down - how do I take this off? I kind of think it should all just pop off but am wary about snapping things that won't then go back on.

Cheers fellow Avensers!

[branni908]

The narrow strip at each side of the rear seats are held in place by a bolt at the botton, lift seat base and pull carpet back to expose bolt, once loosened you just push the narrow strip of seat in and up as all thats holding it in place is a metal hook and latch. once of plastic should come away quite easily by hand as they are held in place by plastic clips..

[adman]

Thanks branni, I will try that this weekend and report back.