Has anyone removed what I assume are useless plastic tubs on each side of cargo area- they look like they are part of wheel wells but they’re not
is there anything under them or could they be removed to give you more cargo space?

 

Theres a little bit of room in them, not much. I wanted to pull the inserts out and make or find a nice self closing lid for each side. (future project).

Here's a pic of when I had my rear panels out to soundproof everything.

 

What year? 08-09 have a whole AC unit on the passenger side.

 

On the 2008/2009, the right side cargo area has AC components with limited room available.