I was just reviewing this thread and remembered a minor point.
Several people have mentioned that when you are closing, you just step in the loop and the shell comes down and latches. Well, maybe. On my 2002 TM, the loop was too narrow to get my fat foot into. I could just barely get my toe in, and sometimes it would slip out. We talked about this problem on the forum, and voila, TM started using a wider loop! By the time I got my 2006 TM, the change had been made. Yes, TM reads this forum.
This is just a minor point, but if your TM has a too-narrow foot loop, and it annoys you, it is easy to remove the loops, get wider ones at a hardware store, drill one new hole at each loop, and install the bigger one.
Just a random memory. I do that more and more as I get older.
Bill