I am stripping my interior for my restoration and can’t figure out how to get the trunk release button out of the dash. It has 3 wings that open up on the back that hold in place. There was probably a fourth at one time. A simple pair of pliers only compress two of the three and I can’t push it through the hole. I tried finding a washer to slide over the wings and compress but they keep wiggling loose.

any ideas or techniques?

 

You squeeze those tabs around the button. Try starting two tabs on one side first. Then the other side. They will be very very brittle though. Might be easier to get a new one. Already broken.

 

They probably came in a tube with the ears pinched. Insert, yank tube, installed, next vehicle. You either need a tube, or compress two on one side like suggested, then push out on that side so it sits cockeyed and the edge of the hole traps two, then pinch the other and push out at that cockeyed angle to get them all going, then square up and remove.

Edit, looking at it further, they may have put those clips on after putting it through the hole, instead of what I just said. Maybe those black clips unclip off the body?

 

Warming it up may also help preserve the clips when they get bent for removal

 

Try using a small hose clamp to compress the wings and push through.

 

Wrap a zip-tie around it. You can slowly tighten it until they are squeezed in enough to remove the button. In theory the zip-tie should be loose enough to slide off the back of the switch. If you have to tighten it almost all the way, just cut it off. Either way, this is the easiest way of compressing all the little wing tabs at once.
I did custom car audio and electronics for over a decade. I've had to remove tons of switches just like this. The other option is to squeeze-in the ones you can easily get it, while pushing from the back. The button should slide out enough to hold them there, then squeeze in the remaining tabs.