Here's a YouTube
video showing how to replace the phone charger in the center armrest with a different one. You can save time and stop watching after the OEM charger is removed.
I hoped underneath the phone charger would be the same finished compartment as a center armrest that never had a phone charger, but it's not. I'd trade my center armrest for a chargeless center armrest but now that the word is out about how crummy the OEM charger is, I can't imagine anyone would take me up on my offer. I think a new chargeless center armrest costs something like $600.
The wireless phone charger bothered me so much, i took the plunge and bought a used center armrest without charging, in great condition on Ebay for $149. I thought i could swap out the existing armrest. After a bit of struggling and not wanting to break my wife's brand new car, i got too scared. It appears you need to completely remove the center console to get to the armrest bolts. But i was able to remove the charger which was still a big struggle. After that, it's simple to remove the plastic tray that accepts the charger, and bolt in the plain storage tray from the plain armrest.
I hate that i spent so much to obtain what looks like a $20 piece of plastic and rubber mat. If you can find a really ratty non-charging armrest with a good storage tray for a decent amount of money, it will be worth it.
I took pictures of only the hardest steps. I'll try to explain the rest.
First take a thin plastic trim tool and pry all around the edges of the charger until it pops up. Then you'll see that the charger won't come up at the back. There's a wire tie that you need to cut in the rear of the armrest. You can't cut cutters in there. You need a pointy sharp edge of a utility knife to cut the wire tie. It's white and you can see it thru 2 holes in the plastic.
Then you can raise up the charger. You'll see another wire tie underneath that you need to cut.
Then unplug the connector to the cooling fan in the armrest.
You'll see 2 wires on the bottom of the charger. You can unplug 1 - the other is soldered to the board. Both wires are bound together with this rubber thing. I cut this in half to separate the wires (because i'll cut the soldered wire further back). Use a sharp utility knife and try not to slice your fingers.
Now you can cut the soldered wire mid-span to give yourself plenty of room to solder together if you want to reconnect it (but i don't ever see me wanting to do that).
Ok now you can remove the charger! Now you have just the undertray with a bunch of holes in it, which you could bolt back down to the armrest. Just stuff the wires underneath and bolt the tray back down. If i hadn't bought the other armrest, i would have just fabricated a cover for all those holes. You can do this for a totally free mod. Note the vertical holes at the front of the tray - you need to make a cover for those too, so you don't lose things in those holes. But i had the solid storage tray and rubber mat from the other armrest, so i bolted that in (torx T-25).
Now you should disconnect the plug at the back of the console. This is easy to access - take off the cup holder at the back of the console - 2 plastic push pins on either side (down low near the floor), and one T-20 torx under the rubber cup holder mat. This involved my worst nightmare - unclipping connectors. I finally managed to figured it out after about 15 mins. Then re-install the cup holder.
Finally, i took a picture of the wire i cut - i stripped the wire so you can see what it looks like. This is on the disconnected charger. It looks like a coax type of wire - with a single center conductor surrounded by a circular shield wire.
I hate that i blew all that money on the other armrest. If i had to do it again, i would just make a cover for the bottom of the tray which remains after the charger is gone. But i'm happy. I can store things in my armrest now!
I thought everyone had that!!
