Good afternoon,

recently lost my mailbox key to the gear shift housing. Someone knocked it into the depressed area as I was shifting and it hasn't reappeared since. That being said I have a 2006 Lexus IS350. What is the path to least resistance to obtain the key again by removing the wood grain portion of the center console area. I looked for post already within the forum and have been unsuccessful sourcing a previous guide. So my apologies in advance if it escaped me. Ideally a video tutorial would be amazing, but am open to anything. Thank you

 

Put car into neutral, have parking brake on (just have the car ignition 'On' but not running). Twist the shifter **** to the left to remove it, may need a little force if it's never been removed. Pull on the silver trim pieces near the radio unit, they'll pull right out. Scoot the center console armrest open. Then, you can just pull up on the cup holder lid and it'll lift out. There are some wires hooked up, so don't get too crazy when you lift it out (you can remove them if you have to, it should just be the shifter LED and the cigarette lighter if I recall correctly). Reinstall in reverse when you find your key.

 

Look up shifter slide plate replacement guides on youtube, that'll show you how to get under the center area. One tip I'll give you that I didn't see in any guides is that when pulling up the silver side pieces don't pull straight up, pull it up but also towards the rear of the car. Felt like I was about to break mine before I figured that out.

 

Thank you both for the information.