2017 Rear inner taillight replacement

I bought a used 2017 CX-5 GT and the passenger side rear inner taillight was broken. So I've now have a replacement but I cannot find any videos showing how to switch them out. If anyone has anything to share I would greatly appreciate it! Very complicated and crap job by the Mazda engineers designing it! Love the car, hate the inner taillight:)
 
@Lbear may be able to provide some additional insight. His thread may be helpful:

 
Thanks Chocolate! I had the wrong taillight as well (must be a sport?) so now I have the correct part and install! Much Appreciated!
 
I bought a used 2017 CX-5 GT and the passenger side rear inner taillight was broken. So I've now have a replacement but I cannot find any videos showing how to switch them out. If anyone has anything to share I would greatly appreciate it! Very complicated and crap job by the Mazda engineers designing it! Love the car, hate the inner taillight:)
I am considering doing the same.
 
The main issue is taking off the outside top (right below back window) trim piece off. I ended up breaking off most if not all the plastic tabs (KB Welded them back together). Just an over-all poor design by the Mazda Engineers.
 
The main issue is taking off the outside top (right below back window) trim piece off. I ended up breaking off most if not all the plastic tabs (KB Welded them back together). Just an over-all poor design by the Mazda Engineers.

Were you following any sort of workshop manual that details the removal of the part? Or did you just start pulling?
 
I don't think I'd call that poor design. Anything will break if you don't remove it properly.

Anyway, glad you were able to get the light replaced.
 
By poor design I meant having to even remove both inside and outside trim to remove the taillight. They also have two different inner taillights (One for GT and one for the lower trimmed models) which makes no sense from a manufacturing prospective.
 
Usually they try to make bulb replacement pretty easy and have a how to section in the owners' manual.
 
Usually they try to make bulb replacement pretty easy and have a how to section in the owners' manual.

Yes but there is no bulb that needs to be regularly replaced. As mentioned there are two versions of the housing, one with an LED strip that is meant to last the lifetime of the vehicle on higher-trimmed models and a standard housing with nothing to replace. Theoretically the only time you'd need to replace it would be if it were damaged, and if a shop were to replace it, they would have access to the shop manuals detailing the procedure. Given how new this generation is and how many of them are on the road (compared to more common cars like the CR-V and RAV4), I'm not all that surprised that DIY inner tail lamp replacement hasn't been documented yet.
 
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