Redd

Hand-assembled harnesses for each car. And to think, they get it right more often than not. Those must be some incredibly focused people, that kind of assembly is generally considered mind-numbing and prone to error. Which is why so many others just pay for unused wire and have a looming machine "do it all" and do it that way every time.

I can see a "properly" advanced designed allowing engines, etc. to be picked and used in random sequence on one line, but hand wiring...maybe that explains the shriveled finger I found under the wiring harness? (G)

spijun-
Now that you've done the hard part, my computer is just teasing me instead of opening files. I suspect a stiff putty knife will be involved.(G)

Ah, now they open. It appears that two screws concealed in the arm rest hinge allow it to be removed, and that perhaps one must first remove the rear trim panel by unscrewing four(?) screws from the luggage compartment side, on the back of the rear seatbacks?

I am forced to wonder if Audi employs illustrators with ADD or ADHD, who simply zone out and forget to show these details. Or perhaps, they decide not to show them simply because "that's boring". It would be so much simpler to know "this is held on my a (screw? bastard clip?) which is accessed from (this? that?) compartment of the vehicle with a (screwdriver? wedge? blowtorch?)"

With your help, gentlemen, we shall teach this recalcitrant 4400 pound beast some obedience lessons.(G) It may outweigh may, it may outrun me, but let's see who's the boss when it needs gasoline and I refuse to fill it.(G)

[AND LATER]
And, the trim panel behind the armrest simply pulls out, snugly. That exposes two star-shaped screws at the bottom of the hinge assembly, holding the armrest into the seat itself. I'll bring that into the house later on, when I have the appropriate weapons, ah, tools, at hand. And then I'm afraid it will be a putty knife to remove the cupholder frame, unless some fasteners come into view.

Redd

With no visible clue as to how the cupholder "frame" might also be removed, I went ahead and pulled the whole arm rest, easy two bolts after the rear fascia was pulled out.

And, again, there's NO obvious way to get inside from the bottom end, either! The upholstery is joined at the bottom by what looks like a black helicoil zipper--except, there is no zipper slide and both ends have been clamped off. First time I've ever seen a zipper without a slide/pull on it.

Much as I'd love to just install the unit in the apparently unoccupied bottom half of the armrest, I think that's going to mean going to an upholstery shop to find out if an entirely new and conventional zipper can be installed.

Unless either of you gents can see a better way?

Mrclopec

No zippers. The entire felt backing on the seats is glued on. If you are looking to remove the front upholstery from the back edge of the seat, it's just a plastic edge sewn onto the upholstery which sticks down into a U shaped channel and clips in. If you pull on it you can risk breaking it (the plastic channel). I used a small flat head screwdriver and stuck it in the U shaped channel under the plastic edge sewn to the leather. Then I slowly pryed upward with the screwdriver to assist the plastic edge out of the channel. Once the whole thing was removed from the channel I used a plastic mallet to *lightly* tap the metal edge of the U shaped channel to bend it back to its original shape IF it happened to bend a little. The plastic mallet was also used to tap the plastic upholstery edge back into this channel when I put it back.

Redd

Not the seat backs, but the ARM REST itself.

There is an honest to god ZIPPER, a thin black helical coil zipper similar to the one on your pants (presumably(G) at the bottom back edge of the arm rest. And oddly enough, it has no zipper slide, it has been closed and then clamped shut with a hog ring (whatever they call that in zipper-speak) at the top as well as the bottom.

The cover apparently is pulled over the assembly, and zipped shut to secure it. But the zipper "disabled" to tamper-proof it.

Redd

To the bold go the...something or other.

So, after the help advising that the rear arm rest can be easily unbolted (two T25 head bolts) after the plastic fascia plate behind it is snapped out, I kept looking at that "sealed" inside-out zipper and got bold. I popped the hog-ring off one end of it and split the zipper open. I'll replace that with a standard 8-9" men's pants zipper, right-side out with zipper pull left intact. But after opening the rear of the cover, it becomes obvious that the lower/back half of the arm rest has nothing but high density foam in it, and that conveniently is formed with a central section almost two inches thick. Five minutes of careful knifing later, and there's a large empty cavity in the lower section of my armrest, big enough to hold the picocell, leaving the cupholder intact. The power and antenna leads will exit the bottom of the armrest, hidden in the niche, and get led under the seat on their merry way. Nearly invisible and occupying "no" space.
With a little careful foam re-tucking, the armrest will also look and function exactly the same as before.
Audi, you should have learned by now. You gain nothing by irritating Yankees. We know how to put zipper pulls back on zippers!