hot interior lights melting their plastic mounts?

Today while pulling apart my interior in my semi-annual hunt for
rust and to re-install my rear interior (baby on the way so it needs to
be more kid friendly, and less utilitarian) I found that the transfer
case shifter bulb had heat softened it's mount so much that it managed
to slump over into the wall and embed itself in hard plastic burning out
at some point (long ago)... The transmission shifter light has also heated up so much that it's mount is permanently slewed over. Also the other day I
noticed that with my instrument cluster lights on at highest setting,
that the clear lens of the cluster was hot to the touch. Opening it up and touching the metal speedo or tach face was burning
hot. What would cause these lights to get too much energy?

Light = heat. The bulbs used just create too much heat long term. This is noticable in many late model rigs.

I noticed this happened to me after I changed to colored bulbs in my adolocence days when style was more important than function. tracked it down to that some replacement bulbs run hotter than other brands, I tried a few different ones till I found one that didnt melt it. Sorry I don't knwo the brand or anything

194 and 168 bulbs are common bulb types. They are both the same size but the 168 is brighter. Brighter will equal hotter. Try a 194 where you can, a little dimmer but less heat..... Might solve some of your problems