Old Buick Century Question

[GrtArtiste]

My 86 yr old mother still drives and this is her (1998) car. She also has a state handicap placard which she keeps in the tilt-down glove compartment. The problem is the last time she put it away, she made a mistake. Instead of actually putting it IN THE GLOVE COMPARTMENT, she accidentally put it on the lid of the compartment...and then it slid down inside the instrument panel when she closed the glove compartment.

If I could somehow pop the entire glove box out...or remove the gray-black fascia (I hope that's the correct description) beneath it, I could probably reach down-up-in to retrieve the placard...but I don't see any blatantly obvious way to do either one and I prefer to not damage anything if I can possibly avoid it. Can either of these be done?
Thanks for any assistance.

GrtArtiste

 

[Trav]

You can remove the glove box, there are some screws on the bottom and some inside above the opening.

 

[eljefino]

Typically there's a tab on the side of the glove box you can flex inwards to give it more than the factory amount of drop.

 

[WobblyElvis]

Originally Posted by eljefino
Typically there's a tab on the side of the glove box you can flex inwards to give it more than the factory amount of drop.


My Chevy Malibu, you push in both sides of the box at the same time. If you look with a flashlight, you can see the nubs that stop the box from opening all the way.

 

[Dave9]

Yeah, you need a decent flashlight. Occasionally instead of stop-tabs on the side to push in, there will be a cord limiting swing travel and that gets unhooked or unscrewed.

If she lives a significant distance away and it's more feasible to do so, you can have her just fill out a replacement handicap placard form and mail it in or take to the local DMV if they offer a replacement service there.. Some states don't even charge a fee for a replacement, though it may take a few weeks... government and snail mail and all.