A lawn care device may include an engine to selectively power the lawn care device, a frame supporting the engine of the lawn care device, an ignition system for selectively powering the lawn care device based at least in part on operation of an ignition interface controlled by a processor (310), an optical isolator (320) which detect the operational presence of the processor (310) and a shutdown circuit (300) which is able to ground out the ignition coil (360) as a function of the conductive state of the optical isolator (320); the shutdown circuit being powered by an ignition coil (360) of the ignition system to generate a failsafe condition in response to failure or loss of the processor (310).