I have an 02 escort mk6 van I took the facia panel off the dash to flock it and was wondering how do you remove the airbag cover without taking the dash out

 

take the glove box out mate and the air bag is held in with 4 screws undo and it will fall out then just disconnect the wires

 

the glove box and dash is one piece so if you have a passenger airbag you need to undo entire dash pulling it forward enough to access the 4 mentioned nuts holding airbag to dash then theres 2 screws underneath which can be seen when glovebox lid is open and also a 3rd screw above and behind the heater controls which the switch facia needs to be removed to gain access to, but if its just a blank panel (non airbag) then undo the 2 lower screws and the facia will seperate from dash with some elbow grease and brute careful force