without removing the airbag?? or is the airbag entirely attached to the vent housings?

I need to get to the vents from behind but I really don't want to mess with removing the airbag..... I hate those things.

 

You can gently pry them up from the bottom and then pull them out

 

just the vent housings on the back? aren't they screwed in from behind?

Those are what I need, I'm putting some "Little Dot" LED's in my vents.

 

The vent housing is usually plastic welded to the dash. The vent itself can be removed from the housing. The housing can be removed also if you decide to drill the plastic welds out or melt them

 

so in other words, I'm going to have to pull the airbag out to stick lights in there.

 

You could use some sticky back 3528 or 5050 LEDs. I've got a ton of RGB strip left over

 

The Little Dot's are sticky back. they're a 5050 SMD with a sticky pad on the back, but I need to be able to get into the vent to stick it to the top, and run the wire.

 

As it turns out you do need to pull out the airbag, but only a bit, it doesn't even need to be unplugged.

Once you pull the airbag out the vent housings are just held in with clips, you can easily bend the rubber trim and they come right out. In my case they fell right out in my hand probably from loosening the trim previously.

 

You should make a good How To with pics to help others out

 

airbag is not a big deal to remove.
4 10mm bolts, a dozen or so 7mm screws.
just be sure to pull the neg. batt. terminal.
you should disconnect the electric connector because it's just long enough to get your mitts in there