I just removed the center consol box from my 2003 LS430 and found that in addition to the 4 bolts under the AC vent there is also a black philips screw located half way between the upper 2 of those screws that must be removed.
My box was removed to repair the problem of having to push the lid forward to get it to open or close. This turned out to be caused by the 4 screws holding the lid hindge to the box comming lose. The lid needs the many small screws removed around it's perimeter to get the unholstery top off the lid to access the 4 screws. Looks like poor engineering as the attachment is made with 4 undersized screws into plastic threads. 2 of the screws were completly out and another was lose,
