I'm just snake bit when it comes to car repairs.

[Rich Engelhardt]

A guy pulled up beside me yesterday and yelled that my brake lights were out.
I get home and check and sure enough, the ones on the sides of the van rear don't work, but, the center one in the door does.

I track it down to two burned out bulbs (I think they're burned out) and not a fuse or switch.
I go the Autozone to get a couple of bulbs after watching a video on how the remove the covers to get at the bulbs.

It's a 2010 Toyota Sienna van.

You open the rear door, remove the two bolts and pull the whole assembly out so you can access the back of it.
I do that, give a mighty yank & nearly skin the flesh off my fingers. The thing doesn't budge a fraction of an inch.
I try it again, this time giving it a little up and down wiggle.

Naturally -I'm rewarded with the sound of snapping plastic as it snaps off the plastic pin that hold the piece in place.
Great - back home I go and find a place on line that sells a replacement tail light assembly.
$67 and change and it should be here by the middle of next week....

I should have known better that to try to fix this myself...
Me and car repairs just don't mix...

[George Bokros]

Today's cars use a lot plastic clips, plastic pins etc. I had a Jeep Liberty and had to change a bulb. Took out the screws and does not pull out. I ask a guy that works in a body shop and he also drove a Liberty, he was no help. I wiggled the light and it came out fortunately not breaking any thing. It has to metal pins molded into the plastic light housing they went into clips in the holes in the rear quarter.

Used to be much easier to change bulbs, reach into the trunk, twist the socket and pull it out. On one of my trucks I had to take the battery out to gain access to change a headlight bulb without fileting my hands.

[Mike Wilkins]

Auto manufacturers design vehicles so you have to take them back to the dealership to have even simple things repaired. Case in point: my '06 Silverado has power windows. The switch controlling the drivers' side window is working whenever it feels like it. Take it to a body shop, who plan to replace just the one switch. Get a call the next day stating one switch cannot be replaced; all 4 window control switches are mounted to one switch block, which must be replaced just to correct one bad switch. $375 instead of $80. I could almost hear GM saying 'GOTCHA' when I paid the bill.
With the cost of auto repairs these days, I commend you for even trying to replace a bad bulb.

[Jason Roehl]

It's not so much about designing FOR expensive service as it is that they design for fewer parts that are more quickly installed and have fewer opportunities for the installer at the factory to make mistakes. I.e., one wiring harness all molded together instead of a bunch of intermediate connections that can be missed or misconnected.

One thing I've found, Rich, is that if you know you're going to encounter plastic clips or connections, do all you can to get the vehicle into a warm work area first. I've broken a LOT of plastic stuff trying to fix it in the winter outside.

[Mike Lassiter]

It's not so much about designing FOR expensive service as it is that they design for fewer parts that are more quickly installed and have fewer opportunities for the installer at the factory to make mistakes. I.e., one wiring harness all molded together instead of a bunch of intermediate connections that can be missed or misconnected.

One thing I've found, Rich, is that if you know you're going to encounter plastic clips or connections, do all you can to get the vehicle into a warm work area first. I've broken a LOT of plastic stuff trying to fix it in the winter outside.

Plastic becomes brittle with age and heat too. Ford plastic dash panels used to be horrible to take apart and put back in. The plastic around the screws would break out and the screws had nothing to tighten up to. You would get them apart fairly well, but when reassembling them and tightening the screws the area under the countersunk screws would crack and break. Some will say you tightened the screws too tight. OK, common sense goes a long way here and I agree that CAN do it, but I have broken and saw others break them just by snuggling the screws down before really every starting to tighten them.
Much plastic trim has clips and hidden screws that you wouldn't expect to be were they are. I have saw plastic door panels broken because someone was pulling or prying on them. Push in plastic pins holding panel at the top part, but the bottom part had tabs or hooks that slide into notches in the door at the bottom and you had to slide the panel UP after removing it with a trim tool at the top.
Don't beat yourself up - these things happen to "professionals" too. Often the first time doing something new results in problems. While common sense goes a long way in the repair part - that also goes a long way in the way something is built too. Things aren't designed to be easy to work on or repair - they are designed to be quickly assembled when being built.

[Rich Engelhardt]

LOL! ( in a gallows humor sort of way)
This whole fiasco just gets better and better!!

Sunday afternoon we go to my brother and sister in laws to celebrate the niece's birthday.
My brother in law manages a Lube Stop.
I'm telling him about the mess I caused and he tells me, "You should have just gone to Lube Stop. We replace bulbs for $9.98".

Nice....

Especially since Autozone want's the exact same price for just the bulbs!

I could have just had them do it & if they would have busted the plastic it'd be on them.

[David Weaver]

I think a lot of that stuff is designed for assembly and installation (like Jason said) and the repairability is second, at least in terms of reasonable repairs. Instead, you get to learn a trick every time you have to gain access to something in your car.

The last car I got was an '08 XB. After years of getting more expensive and complicated cars, I'm going for cheap and simple (at least as simple as possible) from now on.

[Matt Meiser]

Last tailight bulb I bought the guy at Autozone said he could change it for me. I looked out at the dark rainy night and said sure. 10 minutes later I was all set.

[Rich Engelhardt]

I knew I should have just tried to play on their sympathy @ Autozone....

I busted the plastic cover in their parking lot. I was going to take the bulb out so I could make sure I was getting the right one.

[Matt Meiser]

I'd sue. Having a parking lot at an auto parts store is just asking for trouble.