how to remove factory seat covers?

in particular I'm stuck on trying to remove the left side panel of the driver seat, where it has the lever and knob. I need to remove the lever and knob first but I can't seem to make them budge and I don't wan to break them, how are these supposed to come off?

The knob has a c clip hidden on the plastic shaft. I used a small flat head screw driver to pop it off.

The lever slides off the metal lever underneath it. Sort of have to lift up on it and give it a yank.

The easiest way to remove the clip that's hidden behind the knob is by holding two corners of a rag and running the center of the rag across the backside of the knob (think of the rag as floss), the rag will catch an end of the clip and pull it off.

The reclining lever is pressed on. . If it's difficult to move, try heating it with a heat gun or hair dryer

Oh, the backside of the seatback is designed funny. . . To remove the cover, ideally you need to remove the headrest adjuster/inserts (whatever those things are called) before you can pull the cover off but unfortunately to access those, the cover needs to be removed.

If it's possible to remove these inserts before the seatback cover, I haven't found a way. What I ended up doing was bending the spring loaded lever until there was enough room to pull the cover off.