My GF has a 2000 V40 with a failing driver seat armrest. Will only latch in the upright position once in every 50 tries, and once there won't stay put. I've scoured the web trying to determine how to remove the bloody thing and rid us of the annoying contraption, which in its best days was dreadful. But NO, no one has documented how to remove this spawn of the devil. With a look at the Volvo parts blowup I discovered how it was attached, so, here's how to "detach" it. "Devilishly" simple, really:

- Locate the plastic "C" shaped clip that snaps over the bar between the armrest and the driver seatback.

- Pull the C clip out by lifting straight up. You'll notice it has a pin in its center that goes into the support bar on the seat and the pin from the seatback, which locks the armrest in place.

- Move the passenger seat back as far as it will go, if necessary move the driver seat forward until there's room for the armrest to pull out of the support bar.

- The armrest just pulls straight out, but it's a tight fit. I couldn't get it to budge, so I resorted to a large, rather long screwdriver and pried between the armrest and the driver seatback. With a few attempts it levered right out.

Voila, armrest is out. I popped the "C" clip back in to hide the ugly metal mount protruding from the seatback. One coul possibly cover it with a plastic chair tip, etc.

Oh, one last step:

- Throw armrest in nearest rubbish bin, or place in time capsule containing examples of Swedish automotive engineering gone wrong.

Hope this helps!