Don't buy their self-propelled mower!
Dear Honda,
I'm very disappointed in the Honda self-propelled lawn mower I recently purchased. The particular reason for my disappointment is the poor design used to engage the blade. While I'm sure you're following some (asnine, inane, expletive deleted) consumer safety regulation, having a lawn mower that can't keep the blade engaged really defeats the purpose for having a lawn mower in the first place.
A couple of suggestions:
Change the pawl design - it really is inadequate since it takes several tries to engage in the first place and if you hit a bump, bush or tree limb it disengages much too easily.
Make it a one step process to engage the blade. Having to hold down one handle and then move a second lever to engage the pawl that keeps the blade engaged must have looked good on paper but in but it fails in practice. Everything disengages with a single handle so it should engage that way too.
I design tools for a living. If my designs forced users to consider disabling safety features in order to use the tool effectively for it's intended purpose then I've failed in my job as a designer. Since I finally disabled your safety features to accomplish mowing my yard I submit that your design is a failure and that the tool is inherently unsafe both due to it's faulty design and the ease in bypassing the safety features.
A final thought before I go. I have always paid the extra money for well designed products. The Honda name used to justify the expense, but the poor design of this one feature has changed my perception of the Honda brand. You can bet that my next lawn mower purchase won't be a Honda.
Signed,
A disappointed customer.