I own a 2008 that has a burnt out license plate light. The interior hatch panel is one solid piece . No small removable compartment to easily access the light bulb. How does the rear panel detach or come apart so that I can replace the bulb, I do not see a clear way to take off the panel. Appreciate your input
The rear inner hatch is held together by 11 clips. Start on one corner of the hatch and pull hard downward and the interior piece will just come off. This may hurt your hand a bit as the clips are held on pretty tight. But that's all there is to it, it will feel like it's gonna break, but it really doesn't. There are other's that have a picture diagram of this hatch piece you are removing. It's on a few threads if you would like to search.
There is a panel removal tool that I have that helps with this. If it is very cold out, you may break a clip. Plastic gets brittle when its cold. It is indeed a pain in the butt to take of the whole plastic panel to change the stupid lp illum bulbs but, that is the only way to do it unfortunately.
Also when replacing these bulbs, don't change out just the burnt one, make sure you do both at the same time......
