What's the easiest way to remove tail lights on the hatchback?
 

Manual says remove the plastic pieces, and then remove the lights, but didn't clearly say how and which piece to remove [?|]

Has anyone changed bulbs or remove the tail lights before? care to share your experience? thanks!

Up for answers :) I'm sure someone else has swapped tail lights before.

What are you trying to swap them to? I didn't even know there were taillights other than OEM offered yet...

He might be tinting them.

On actually I'm just trying to change the bulbs to brighter ones...instruction manual says to remove the light housing first...but I have difficulty understanding which plastic panels that need to be removed.

Anyone has experienced?

You shouldn't have to remove the housings to get at the lights. Look in your trunk/hatch and there should be removable panels near the taillights. All it should take is reaching a hand back there to get to the bulbs... I may be wrong as I haven't done it, but that's normally how it works.

Open the small covers in the trunk behind the tail lights. (hatch)
Inside there are 2 Grey plastic wingnuts.
You have to look carefully with a torch to find them.
Get someone to hold the tail light so it cannot fall on the floor.
Remove the wingnuts.
Warning (Installing higher wattage globes may melt your plasting housing)

Hi all, im new to the forum, this is my first post... Im actually looking to remove the whole taillight. Its cracked and needs replacing. (my wife thought the new focus was able to reverse through walls).

I couldnt find any other threads with the answer but this one i thought was relevant enough... any help would be much appreciated.

Do Not--I repeat--Do Not drop the plastic retaining nuts inside the interior trim panel!
Once you get the nuts removed, the locating pi will still be holding the taillight in place. Give it a good, firm tug, and the light will separate from the body. Then disconnect the wiring harness. Did I mention not to drop the wing nuts?

On page 131 of the owners manual it shows the removal procedure for the 5-door tail light. The basic process is described in post #7 in this thread.

Best of luck!