stimpy84

This is not even remotely representative of how much force I needed to apply to remove the top section before giving up. I had four (!!) plastic crowbars inserted in various places and was laying on full force on two at a time. There's no way it would have come off undamaged, so I resorted to tucking in the cables best I could with the pillar attached.

Had you seen the post on page 3? https://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/442122-how-to-hardwire-a-dashcam-in-mk3-octy-in-50-easy-steps/?do=findComment&comment=5375585 The location of the clip position appears to be between the airbag and cable group. (Incidentally, by how much force I was applying on the trim, I'm fairly sure I would be scouring the internet for a replacement piece now.)

Be sure to also read the experiences by other users in that thread, for instance:

I was helped by the instructions from this post: In the end, the only way I could find to install two piggyback fuse connectors was by installing them on top of each other, one on top of the other. The first one was flipped one way, the other one flipped back; I know that's not the intention, but in the end this was the best fit. I installed it on the rear window wiper fuse (#47) and both cameras plus the rear window wiper still work.

The manual suggests that the A pillar can be removed without any prerequisite steps (see page 96 of "Karoq 2018 - General body repairs, interior - Edition 12.2017"). I'd like to see a mechanic do this, but I digress. I just finished installing everything, and getting two piggyback fuses on the rear window wiper fuse was challenging, too. My Garmin cable was only narrowly long enough to reach the rear cam. I think fiddling the string along the pillar that you can manage to pry away is maybe your best bet. The biggest concern is getting the cable, as you say, onto the windscreen side. What I did, is I used a wedge tool that has a groove, so I could catch the cable and push it behind the airbag. I don't know 100% for sure it's properly behind the airbag, but it was the best I could do. It was that, or basically running the trim along the plastic.

I have been struggling with this for weeks now and have the exact same problems. I have been documenting my journey with some pictures; find my album here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/oVNGeCUtPU8d8K9n6 In short: I have had no success removing the A pillar. I have tried everything suggested here, but my perception is that the dashboard itself needs to be removed in order to create the space needed to remove it. I'm about the furthest you can be from a car mechanic, so no doubt I'm wrong. Nevertheless, I've tried: pulling it along the pillar upwards and away from the dashboard pulling it away from the windscreen towards the driver seat using wedges to locate the clips and push away from the pillar None of this worked for me, and in fact I found that the pillar didn't budge at all. Ultimately I ran a string down the A pillar (which was a pain in itself until by luck it came out the other end), tied both USB leads for my front & rear dashcams and wiggled them back up. I would put this as an 9.5 on a 10-point frustration scale.