[smallmancontrov]

Those molex clones were out of spec.

Both male and female terminals are supposed to be retained in the plastic housing by little wings (locking tangs) that are very strong. The metal bits can wiggle in the plastic housing (feature not a bug -- something has to absorb the tolerances) but not retract, not without an extractor tool or an extreme amount of force sufficient to tear apart or fold the metal contact. Anyone who has tried to extract one of the terminals without the correct extractor tool can attest to just how much force this is. It's a lot, and the specs are also such that you should never get a metal pin tip meeting a metal edge if the plastic bits are engaged.

Of course, shitty out-of-spec molex clones abound. I have no doubt you saw what you saw, I'm coming to the defense of the specified design, which is ingenious and works extremely well at extremely low cost and loose tolerances when implemented correctly.

[ssl-3]

The specs, as they exist in the PC space, tend to specify things like very specific Molex(tm) or Amphenol(tm) parts.

Anything else -- even a very precise and astutely-manufactured clone (including a Molex clone of an Amphenol part, or vice-versa) -- is out of spec.

(Which means that we're all running out-of-spec parts somewhere. I promise it.)