Oh damn, I have both. I just had my car on the 3ton ones for 2 days while working on it.
This is why I always like to use the jack (also a HF purchase) as a 3rd brace... can't be too safe when it comes to stuff like that. If a wheel comes off it can also go under the car.
It isn't so much a design problem ( I have ac delcos from Walmart that look the same) as it was a tooling issue at the factory for these harbor freight ones.
This dude on reddit did a little experiment on the HF jacks where he painted the pawl and showed where it marks on the teeth. It is horrifying. I replicated the same thing with my Wal-mart brand AC Delcos and they faired much better.
Walmart on the left (blue) Defective HF jackstand (black) on the right: