Apparently, it’s easily defeated (bypassed?). The one in my '90 Civic went out a couple of years ago, and my husband took it out of commission. Car works just fine without it.
I think these switches are generally a good thing, they cover your ass in case you’re absent-minded or distracted. Unintended movement of your car is a Bad Thing. Unless you were about to get shot by a sniper and the unexpected jerk of your car moving forward made the bullet hit 6 inches behind your head.
The only problem I have noticed at the auto auctions, where 100’s of cars are started within a couple of hours is that-----
That clutch safety switch sticks sometimes on very old cars. Keep hitting the clutch with your foot over and over and eventually -------sometimes--------the damned thing will start up.
(Much better than having to push the car through the auction)
On a slight tangent…does any other non-American notice that American cars have far more audible warnings for inane things than cars elsewhere? I’ve found myself shouting back at cars - “Bong yes, I know I’ve opened the door bing yes, I know the parking brake is on brring what now, for goodness sake?”
I don’t know where was it made, but my '98 Honda Civic (bought in Florida) started while in neutral… but I always pressed the clutch, I don’t know if it would have started without the clutch pressed.
I’ll never get used to automatic, GIMME MY CLUTCH BACK!
And yes, GorillaMan, US cars tend to have more pings and lights than other cars. Nice to know I’m not the only one who goes “pong” whenever a car “pings” 
I may be insane but at least there’s other inmates in the asylum.
Merkur Scorpio. The only manual shift car that I ever drove that had a true nss. Hold the clutch pedal down all you want, if the gear shift is not in neutral, no cranking will happen. Found this out the difficult way. I read the book 
I have noticed on the Ford Ranger manual transmission models there is a lever you have to press to remove the key. Why is that?
I (a Brit) never used to engage the clutch first, until I moved to the US and found my car wouldn’t start.
That feature is found on many different makes and models of cars, with both automatic and manual transmissions. I assume it’s to prevent unwanted engagement of the steering wheel lock if you get into this situation.
Maybe on a related note, but most American car owner manuals advise against attempts to start a car by putting it in gear and rolling it, then popping the clutch, warning of dangers to the catalytic converter. Why is this a problem (always wondered)? Some danger to the cat converter if a manual trans car is cranked in geatr??? Why? This sounds like it might be related to this thread somehow…
Could the requirement to depress the clutch (ensuring the car isn’t going to roll in gear as described above) have anything to do with saving the catalytic conveter in US automobiles?
There is debate about this.
The usual reason given is that push starting will cause some unburned fuel to be pumped into the catalytic converter, which is not good for it. However, it’s not good for it because it burns in there and overheats the converter. If you are bump starting a cold car, it doesn’t seem like this is a concern. And if the car just has a weak battery so that it starts right away when pushed, it doesn’t seem like much unburned fuel is going to get through anyway.
Rolling the car and poping the clutch would casue the engine to draw fuel from the carb through the engine unburned, and into the exhaust. When the car did start, the unbuned fuel in the exhaust would then combust from the heat in the exhaust. This external combustion in the exhaust could melt the converter.
Requiring the clutch to be pushed in has nothing to do wth this. The clutch switch prevents the starter from engaging until the clutch is depressed. When you pop the clutch you are not using the starter.
I thought it was because unburned fuel can poison the converter, rendering it unfixable and unuseable. When my (lemon) Subaru had it’s ignition coil start to go bad I kept driving it while waiting the three days for the part to come in. After all, it was only running rough. After day two, the check engine light came on and the Diagnostic code was for catalytic converter failure. THEN they told me that it was most likely killed by the unburned gas.
Gas by itself will not kill a converter. A missfire can kill a converter in very** short order as you found out. If you are dumping raw fuel and oxygen in the proper amounts to combust into a hot converter the gas will burn in the converter melting it. It’s not the gas but rather the temp of the gas burning that does the damage. A minor nit, but a nit none the less.