Needed to remove the trim from my taillight to replace a bulb. Some of the clips that hold the trim broke off. Now what do I do? Is the only option to buy a new tail light or drive around with no trim? Seems like a poor design that this sliver of plastic will likely become brittle with age and break off and then you have to buy a whole new tail light. I've had issues with the plastic clips breaking on other trim too. There must be a better way to keep trim attached.


broken clips

 

I agree, it is a bad design! The best when removing the trim is not to pry from the outside of the trim and rather from the inside to avoid this. It does help a tone to use plastic pro tools. I found it is more gentle on plastic than metal tools.

There isn't an easy way to fix this. Something that might work but require to re-apply every time is to use very small pieces of 3M VHB tape. It's very strong and will last weather condition.
The down side, obviously, is that you have to re-apply some every time you remove the trim. Don't use large pieces or it will make the job harder to remove the next time. You want it to be easy to clean-up.


Just an idea...