Changing rear light bulb shockingly difficult

[AntiLemon]

OK. 2004 Kia Rio needs the rear left braking light bulb replaced. I'm certain that's it because I checked the fuses and they're fine. The blinker is fine too. All light functions everywhere are fine except that rear left brake light.

So I follow the little manual. It says to just unscrew the 3 bolts from the back and the whole mounted light should come out. Trouble is it doesn't. It's like it's still hung up some how and doesn't want to pull out. So a real easy job that should only take a few minutes has me stuck by surprise.

Anyone here know what the problem is in pulling off the rear light mount? I would sure hate to schedule an appointment with a mechanic to deal with a simple light bulb change. These are the kind of jobs I should be able to do myself. The car has been fantastic otherwise. It's not like I need to do an overhaul here. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

[Raven1210]

when i replaced mine I had to remove 2 screws that where holding the light on the outside. Mine is a RX-V (Cinco) tho. After that I removed the 3 screws on the inside and really had to pull to remove it

[AdamTX]

When the bulb on my 03 Rio Cinco went out I had to remove both the outside screws and then pull off a little hatch on the inside of the car and take out anouther screw then was able to pull the light housing off from the outside. However it wasn't a "loose" pull out even after removing all the screws. It still had a plastic "screw" that didn't have threads but did have a bulge in it that also helped hold the housing on.

Like you I thought it would take about a minute total but ended up taking like 15-20 frustrating minutes.

[ESKORT27]

they are nasty to get out for some reason. If you look from the trunk, there is a little white tab that sticks out. There is a kind of dowal pin attached to the tail light and that little dowel presses into the little white tab. All i do is mangle that little white tab and it comes out. I know it sounds like thats a backyard way of doig it but i have actually broke the taillight assembly trying to get those out. Broken taillight assembly or broken white tab? Which would you prefer? By the way, the little white tab isnt really needed when you reassemble it because there are still 4 nuts that hold it in place.