Finally got my car to the dealership to take care of that light bulb and some other things. The car will be ready tomorrow or Friday. I'm going to quiz the service technician on the process to change out the bulb. When I dropped the car off, he didn't know exactly how it was done. Thought it was a simple matter of removing that large grey fabric covered piece in the liftgate. Said it was held by a number of metal clips, but he wasn't certain. Stay tuned.
The bottom cover on the tail/liftgate is held down with plastic ball and socket clips.
Just got back from the dealership and talked to the customer service rep re: replacing the taillight. He talked to the service tecnician about replacing the light. Here's what he told me:
You first have to remove the felt covered piece on the interior of the tailgate. If you look closely, there's a felt covered tab in the center. You pop that off first. After that, you have to slowly work your way around the felt covered piece and carefully take it out. Apparently, there are a number of clips around the perimeter that hold it in place. Once the entire felt piece is removed, you have to remove the large plastic piece above it to get to the light bulb.
I guess I was pretty lucky because I have a good relationship with the service rep. He didn't charge me for replacing the bulb. Of course, I also spent a bundle on new front/rear brakes and the 60,000 maintnenance, so they made their margin on their other services.
Hope that helps.
wwest: I noticed in a previous reply that you said you had manuals. Is it possible to post a pic for illustration purposes so that others could view "the plastic ball and socket clips?"