The recline pedal is a famous problem area on the Purepower, it always has been, and very often, becuase its so stiff against heavy spring pressure, people dont press it hard enough, and create a clicking sound as they force the cleaner to recline. Over time this wears away the plastic engaging hook, or simply snaps it off, and then the unit wont stand up on its own. The fact that HooverCandy have never altered this in the 17 years that the Purepower has been going , suggests they do it deliberately as a kind of planned obsolescence - ie, they do it deliberately to try to ensure that this part breaks, and the user then dashes out and buys a new Purepower, thus increasing profits for the board of directors.
Deliberately designing in weak points, or failure points in an appliance is very common - it ensures more repeat sales of new machines.
On a washing machine, one of the most common failure points, especially in American front loaders, is the drum support spider, which corrodes though and fractures, usually just after the warranty expires, or in the case of UK Hotpoint/Indesit machines, drum bearing failure is the usual method of planned obolescence.
