Legroom hack

I really miss the little foot space above the dead pedal in the footwell of our old B6 Passats. It's a spot you can use on long drives when your dodgy knees start to cramp from being bent for too long.

My wife's MY22 Tiguan also has this space, but for some reason the Arteon is covered in - may be considered more 'luxury' to induce knee cramps =P

Replacing the dead pedal with a smaller (and prettier) "GTI" version, helped a bit, but I still couldn't straighten my legs properly without some twisting/contortion ... so, I bought a spare underdash cover from a B8 Passat to cut/trim - part# 3G2-863-081 BC/BE . There appears to be another Passat version that's half-width and doesn't cover the dead-pedal side, which may be better to use, but I didn't want to chance it.

I also checked that there were no major parts or obstructions that I may accidentally kick before starting the mod. This was done when I first removed the panel to find part numbers.

Here are the two underdash covers - (original vs modified)

Attachment 54706

After carefully dremelling out the hole (leaving the steering column guard fully intact) and installing it, I found that I could safely trim more plastic around the air vents to provide a more roomier foot space. I also discovered that tin snips were quicker, easier and much cleaner than the dremel

Attachment 54707 Attachment 54708

There's some more I can trim away still to clean it up a bit (visible in the 2nd photo), but probably won't notice any difference - it has plenty of stretching space now and driving is much more comfortable.