I am trying to remove the sagging headliner from my V50. Everything up top is removed so far except these 2 guys on each side in the rear. I was going at them until I saw the air bag inside... Any ideas on how to safely remove them?

 

After some trying finally managed to get the headliner out. The process is the same for S40 in the front. When it comes to the rear though it differs. These two plastic panels have airbags behind them be careful and disconnect battery and the juice drain. The covers on the panels can be popped off with a finger nail. The more rear one labeled IC airbag was more stuck so I lifted the outer edge of the whole panel to push the smaller cover out. Once the covers are out use a 13 mm socket to remove the bolt and the panels will be loose. They are still attached to a plastic bracket via tabs that sits between the headliner and roof. The headliner is only attached at this point by the rear covers. First loosen the panel by pulling or prying that is AC for the back. Next loosen the more rear panel so it can wiggle the headliner out. The center most rear panel needs to come fully out and takes some will power to remove. Some pics of the panels are included

corner panel with tab holding headliner, need to loosen rear ac panel and lower corner panel to remove this guy

corner panel needs to removed

Panel with 13 mm bolt that I originally posted about, 4 in total, 2 rear ones cover needs to be pushed from inside

Center rear panel with light, does not come off easy

 

How do you plan on replacing the headliner? I have mine removed and was thinking of leaving as is but am wondering what your plans are and how difficult it was to get up a new headliner, where you purchased it from, etc.?

 

I haven't gotten that far yet, going to soundproof the ceiling first waiting on parts. Trying to decide if I should run the wires between the metal and sound proof or between the headliner and sound proofing? Leaning towards between metal and sound proofing for the extra adhesion. Getting fabric from Joanns

 

FWIW, I did the headliner in my Jeep Cherokee. Probably a pretty similar effort. I also got some headliner fabric, as well as the adhesive from JoAnn's, and both worked very well.

Really, it's just a matter of pulling the old fabric off the (somewhat fragile) form, and then scraping off as much of the old adhesive as possible (IIRC, I used a wire brush). Then spray the form AND the fabric, wait the prescribed amount of time, and carefully start laying it down (really helps to have an extra set of hands so you can smooth it down as the headliner is drooped onto the form. I did this over 10 years ago, and the headliner still looks like new.

And you're going to want to NOT have those wires in contact with the fabric - they'll be VERY obvious. I'd tack them up out of the way, making sure they can't rattle so that the headliner isn't responsible for keeping them in place.

 

Can you say more about how you worked around all of the plastic pieces?—did you cut the fabric around them, or unscrew/detach and then screw back in through the fabric. Cutting holes in the fabric to fit would seem very difficult.

 

The headliner I did was on my Jeep. No plastic pieces to worry about.