For the few of you that have torn this apart, is it possible to get the male side (with the black plastic that needs cut off) out without removing the whole radio trim piece and HVAC unit? I took the knob off the front and tried tugging on the back but it seems to be connected somewhere.
No. At the very least you must remove the console trim. And unless you have really skinny hands I doubt you'll be able to do this modification
in situ. What you want to do is:
1. Unhook the cable on the driver side (pull the loop off the post and release the cable a few inches farther in from its clamp). In order to do this you will have to crawl in under the dash so that your head is right next to the gas pedal, then look up and to the right at the center console to see the white wheel where the cable attaches.
2. Unhook the cable on the passenger side (remove the glove box door to get access, then unhook as for the other side.) Again, you have to crawl under the dash, and this wheel is a little harder to see since it is partially behind the console.
3.
NOTE THE ROUTING OF THE CABLES ON EACH SIDE, YOU HAVE TO PUT THEM BACK THE SAME WAY! It might be helpful to tie a long piece of string to each cable loop before pulling the trim piece, so that during reassembly you can guide the cables back by just pulling on the string.
4. Pull off the console trim.
5. Release the emergency flasher switch (connector comes off the back).
At this point you should have easy access to the piece you want to work on.
To assemble, just do everything in reverse, being careful to route the cables in their original positions.