Connector having a terminal engaging lance

A connector comprising:

• a housing lance (6), the housing lance (6) projecting in a direction in which terminals (3), (4) are inserted into or extracted from a connector housing (2), the terminals (3), (4) inserted into the connector housing (2) being held within the connector housing (2) while latched by a holding projection (7) of the housing lance (6);
• and
• a terminal drop preventing strip (12) for preventing said terminals (3), (4) from being removed, said preventing strip (12) being inserted from a front end side of the housing lance (6) into a lance flexion gap (16) arranged between the housing lance (6) and an inner wall of the connector housing (2) so as to prevent said housing lance from being deflected toward said inner wall, wherein
• a stepped portion (10) is formed on a front end of the housing lance (6), the stepped portion (10) having a holding surface (10a) facing a rear side of the housing lance (6);
• a projecting wall (11) on an inner surface of the connector housing (2) is arranged at a position substantially confronting the holding surface (10a) in the connector housing (2), the projecting wall (11) having a confronting holding surface (11a) abuttable against the holding surface (10a);
• and
• when a front end of the terminal drop preventing strip (12) has pushed the front end (8) of the housing lance (6), the holding surface (10a) abuts against the confronting holding surface (11a) to thereby regulate positioning of the respective front ends of the housing lance and the preventing strip.