Teo Taxi Modifications Removal Guide [Kia Soul EV 2016-2018]

[Tcalp]

Hi Guys,

I've started on the removal of the hardware of my new Kia Soul. I figured a guide / lessons learned might help a few people. What I say and how I've gone about things may not be 100% correct, so follow at your own risk.

(1) Removal of center trim to recover key fob / remove wiring mods / restore usb charge/aux to center console
a) Power on the car, shift the car into neutral, then power off the vehicle.
b) Pull up hard on the shifting nob (make sure your face isn't in the way or you will smash yourself in the face when it releases)
c) On each side of the main trim around the shifter, there are clips on the left and right side more or less forward and rear of the power button. I started on the right side with both hands putting inward pressure and pulling up until the trim popped up, then repeated the process on the other side. The rest of the trim clips should release easily with a bit of wiggling.
d) Lift the trim piece from the front to expose the connected wiring. You will need to disconnect two sets of wires, one goes to the power button, do it first, after that you'll have easier access to the other larger, white cable block. Once they are removed you can lift off the trim piece out and put it aside. You can also press down the white button on the care shift nob, and return the vehicle to park.
e) You (if it's there) find the extra FOB wrapped in electrical tape and green wiring. Unwrap the electrical tape, and remove your spare key fob (Woohoo!).
f) You'll find an headphone cable plugged into the console, remove it, and a white wire with two leads that is powering the tablet attached to the back seat, these should be running close together, and run under the front seat where they are zip tied/secured. Snip the power wire with wire cutters, or tin snips. Proceed to the passenger seat, push it all the way back, and you'll find both cables secured to the underbelly of the seat frame. Snip again here, and pull the front section of the cut wires free.

.... I've not gotten further than this in this area of the console, but if you wish re-attach the aux/usb panel into the trim and reconnect the wiring harnesses and re-install the trim.

A few related photos :

(under front seat)

 

[Tcalp]

Removing the Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 from the passenger seat, and restoring it for use is generally pretty simple (Yah! Free tablet!), but you'll need some tools for this one.

Tools required:
- 7/16" wrench
- Allen Key Set (or bits)
- Hex Security Bit Set

1) To start, you'll need to push the front seat to a ~45 degree angle in order to remove the headrest. There is a push button on the left for it's release, and you'll need to push forward the tablet box or wiggle it as you try to pull out as those rubber grommets are applying some force on the steel bars.
2) Remove the main two security bolts securing the tablet to the seat (I used a power drill for this as they were extremely tight), and cut the wires leading into the tablet frame. This will allow you to put it aside.
3) There should be around 8 smaller security screws holding on the tablet frame together, undo those and remove the wires plugging into the tablet. The tablet is being held in mostly by electrical tape, apply a small amount of force and it should come out of the frame/box.
4) This is where things get slightly trickier, in order to remove the frame anchor and the rest of the wiring here, you will need to remove the rear plastic cover on the passenger seat. To start, return the seat to it's upright position. To start with the clipts A guide on how to accomplish this can be found here (Step 4) : http://www.kisouman.com/front_seat_back_cover_replacement-1737.html ... You will start at the top releasing the two clamps with a flat head screw driver, it took me a while to figure out exactly how to release these properly, I used two screw drivers, one to give me some visibility and the other to press the release spring. The are about 1/2" to the left/right from the edges of the metal bracket for the tablet. Once released, there will be two plastic tabs, one on each side, in roughly the mid section of the plastic panel. Again, using the flathead, push in on each side, after this the bottom section should just lift out (there are some things that further attach this piece under the seat, but leave those in place, and just drop it to the floor.
5) You can now remove the metal bracket, you will need the Allen key set, and the 7/16" wrench for this. On the rear side of each bolt, is a lug holding it in place, use the wrench to loosen this while holding the front of the bold in place with the allen key. There will be the lug, and 3 washers that want to drop from each bolt, so be careful to catch them as recovering them from the inside of the seat is annoying (if you have big hands at least).
6) The two wires (power / aux audio) are zip tied along the left side of the inside of the seat, cut the zip ties and pull out the wires. CAUTION There is a larger black wire here, this is for the seat heating/cooling, don't cut/damage it!
7) Re-attach the rear cover starting by placing the bottom into it's seating position, then the two middle clips, and to re-secure the top, you will want to depress the spring on each side slightly (can be done one at a time) and push in.
8) Drop the seat back down, and re-insert the headrest and you are all done.

BONUS STEP) Power on your new found tablet, make sure you have a reasonable amount of battery left on it (it should, as it was plugged into the car). Press the power button / swipe the screen. Hold down the power button for 5 seconds, then confirm the power off. Holding down 'Home' button, volume up, and the power button should power up the tablet into restore/factory reset mode. You'll eventually reach a factory restore/reset screen, you might get a warning screen saying 'no instruction found', just hit the power button once and it will continue onto the standard restore screen. Use the volume up/down and power key to navigate. First wipe the cache, then factory restore/reset the tablet, then reboot. It will take 2-3 minutes for the tablet to fully boot (as it's re-installing/initializing for the first time), but after that you should have yourself a fully functional , pretty fancy looking tablet all things considered.

(spring release)

(wire removal)

 

[Neel]

thanks , its great help ,
any picture , how to remove aluminium roof bracket which used to have taxi sign ?
i am planning to buy one 2016 which comes exactly same as internal you saw but , has just removed sign , but roof bracket still there,
do i have to remove roof head liner and unscrew the mount from inside , is thats all ??