Two problems related to tail light have been reported for the 1996 Toyota Corolla. The most recently reported issues are listed below.
Same defect as 1996 Toyota camry recall- tail-light assembly melted due to overheated bulb.
The brake lights of my Toyota Corolla (1996 model) have been having some malfunctions on and off for at least a year. At first, I thought it was the bulb problem, so I checked the assembly myself. The bulbs are all ok. The bulbs will light when I touch the wires connections. The bulbs will be ok for a while (days, hours or days), but it will stop functioning some time afterwards. It seems there is a connection problem in the design of the tail light assembly. Since I am not an expert on it, I would like to report the incident. I have noticed the problem on same model cars on the road. To do a simple test, you may want to locate a 96/97 model with taillight blackouts. If the bulbs are ok, my statement will be valid.