The dealer just confirmed it. It is a whole assembly that has to be replaced. The parts guy had to go ask the techs in the garage but he said the techs knew right away that this was the case. He said the techs sounded like that has happened before on occasions. Still very disappointing. I guess for 75k miles out of a taillight i did pretty good. But not for these parts selling scheme tailights. I just hope my headlights dont go out. I would rather just wreck my car and pay my deductable to replace the parts. haha