I have both a question and a comment. First the question, I have an '02 Ki Spectra that has a burned out front parking light(the signal works)an 1157A bulb. It seems the only way to get to this bulb is to dismantle the front grill to extract the entire plastic headlight housing. An incredible amount of work to replace a .99 cent bulb.
Now the comment…Is this procedure just common to import cars or are American cars this difficult too?
Sorry to inform you but many cars are like that both imports and American.
What happened to the days of the Chevelle and Mustang(both '67)?, remove 2-4 screws and presto! it’s done. All in about two minutes.
Are you sure that you can’t just twist the socket and remove it from the back of the light housing? There was some strange way that I had to remove the light housing from under the hood on my 2006 Chevrolet Uplander and then remove the socket for the parking/turning signal bulb. It took me half an hour the first time. The new bulb failed in a day, but I had the technique down so that it took only 10 minutes the second time.