One aspect of the invention provides a recoil starter including: a reel support shaft; a rope reel that is rotatably mounted on the reel support shaft; a ratchet member that is swingably mounted on the rope reel; a ratchet guide that is rotatably mounted on the reel support shaft with friction resistance. The ratchet guide includes: a guide portion and a swinging-prevention portion. When the rope reel rotates in an engine starting direction, the guide portion pushes out the ratchet member to an outer diameter direction. When the ratchet member does not contact the guide portion, the swinging-prevention portion prevents the ratchet member from swinging to the outer diameter direction.

Methods and systems are provided for starting a vehicle engine. In one example, an engine starter system for starting the vehicle engine may comprise a ring gear coupled to an engine crankshaft, and a pinion gear coupled to a starter motor, the pinion gear having rotatable rocker elements for engaging the ring gear. In this way, the pinion gear may be engaged with the ring gear to transmit torque from the starter motor to the engine crankshaft to quickly start the engine.