License Plate Lights on 2005 Subaru Outback

[rmk631]

I found the subject connector under the interior panel in the hatch not more than 12 inches from the lights. To my surprise, it was completely disconnected. I reconnected it, and the lights worked fine. It seems suspicious to me that this was disconnected. The connector wasn’t broken and snapped together firmly when I reassembled it, so it seems impossible that it would have vibrated apart. As I mentioned in the original post, the problem showed up during a safety inspection. How did it come apart? Lesson learned: do your own inspection before bringing it to the shop for the official inspection.