So I finally open the hood on my new car for the first time today to see the engine. I then tried to close it and for the life of me, no matter how hard I pushed, it would not lock down flush. I pushed so hard I could have put a dent in it. I then tried dropping it from a pretty good height and it still didn't close.

I drove gingerly to the nearest dealer and the service guy said you have to let it drop and lock. You can't push it down to lock. Anyway, he dropped it from about 18 inches high and sure enough it snapped shut. I swear I let it dropped from higher than that.

Anyway, no problem now and dropping the hood from 12 inches or so seems to snap it shut.

 

Amazing, the things you can learn by reading the owner's manual (page 276):

"When closing, remove the support rod, and stow it in the clamp, then gently lower the hood. Remove your hand at a height of approximately 12 inches (30 cm) and let the hood close."

Many years ago I learned the hard way that, to avoid denting the hood, you should never push down on it.

 

Ahh yes the owner's manual. I was surprised it was covered in there. Sorry, coming from a Camry and Honda CRV and not used to having to drop the hood down to completely latch it. I thought for sure the locking mechanism needed adjustment since I did drop it from a pretty good height and it did not lock. Of course as soon as I pulled into service, it had no problem closing with an 18 inch drop.

 

Aquaholik, you are not alone. I was also amazed at how much force was required to lock the hood. The dealer tech said my rdx did require a little more force but advised against trying to adjust anything. He did say not to try to latch it down by pressing down on the hood for fear of denting because the latch is set back from the edge. Just drop it from a higher height if needed. There is a lot of rubber seal around the front of the hood so this may be adding to the increased forced required.