sudeepg

Then I would use a multi tester without ignition turned on (wait a few minutes) and see which fuses are live. In the Kodiaq sold here, the 12V is always live and we found that using multi tester and also the dealership/service confirmed that.

Check Fuse #40 - the 12V power supply socket fuses. They are hot all the time in my test.

OK, so here we go with the difficult part of removing the tail gate trim. The first two pictures are from the lower part of the tail gate trim. The lock shown is near the top, i.e. near to the glass. On all other sides except both corners, you have clips, but at the corners, you have these "overengineered" locks which are extremely difficult to remove because you cannot see it. You risk breaking it if you apply too much force. Worse, without removing this, you cannot remove the top trim to thread the wires through the grommet. The bottom two pictures show the space into which the bottom tail gate trim locks into. You will have to remove the clips of the bottom tailgate trim from the sides, somehow peep into the corners and then find and pinch the locks to release them. A small torch might be useful. If you can't, you really need to apply force just enough to wiggle out the lock. Be careful, it may break through or get some damage, which is unavoidable. Once this bottom trim is removed, the top one can be removed after removing the two torx screws holding it at the sides and then pull out the rest of the trims. Hope this is helpful.

Hello Everyone, We installed the DashCam (Viofo) in my friend's car yesterday. Thank you for all the advice. It was not an easy task. Removing the rear panel was the most difficult due to the overengineered lock in the bottom of the tailgate. I will share a picture soon. Below are pictures of the installation. We made a small hole at the edge to relieve the wire of stress and then sanded the cut part to prevent shafing of wires. We had a six meter cable for the rear dashcam which well short when we routed it through the door sil and via the roof liner towards the third row. So, we had to pass it via the roof liner behind the air bags. I believe we did a fairly good job keeping it out of the way in which the airbags deploy, The third picture is of the fuse that we used. We did not use parking mode. Both the marked fuses are supplied with power in accessory or when the car is powered. This is on the Kodiaqs sold in India, BTW. The power side is at the bottom of the fuse as opposed to the top as noted in this thread in an earlier reply.

You need to remove the bottom trim, starting from the bottom corners, once the corners are removed, unplug the powered tailgate switch. This is tricky. Then pop the rest of the trim out following one side at a time. Slide your trim removal tool until you find the next clip and then gently pop it out. After the bottom trim is removed, it exposes two screws on either side of the tail gate glass trim. Remove that using a torx screw driver and then you can pry the rest of the trim out. This is all documented in the manual given above.

Thank you Sven57. The 2023 Kodiaq, as you may know, also has the panoramic sunroof, and pulling a wire through the roof liner seemed tricky, but I will take your advice and route it behind the airbags, close to the metal body. (Just not sure how to secure it). Since the airbags deploy downwards, it should not be an issue I suppose. I wonder if the loose wires will move about.

This is such a well documented guide. Thank to so much for all the pictures. It has helped me a lot. Quick question - Does your installation also include a rear dashcam? I am trying to find a safe route for the rear dashcam wires and I am considering routing it via the floor panel instead of the headliner. Can't find any documentation around that. I assume you installed only the front camera?