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When Should an Airbag Inflate?
The driver’s and right front passenger’s frontal
airbags are designed to inflate in moderate to
severe frontal or near-frontal crashes. But they are
designed to inflate only if the impact exceeds a
predetermined deployment threshold. Deployment
thresholds take into account a variety of desired
deployment and non-deployment events and are
used to predict how severe a crash is likely to be in
time for the airbags to inflate and help restrain the
occupants. Whether your frontal airbags will or
should deploy is not based on how fast your vehicle
is traveling. It depends largely on what you hit, the
direction of the impact, and how quickly your
vehicle slows down.
Your vehicle has a “dual stage” driver airbag,
which adjusts the restraint according to crash
severity using electronic frontal sensor(s) which
help the sensing system distinguish between
a moderate frontal impact and a more severe
frontal impact. The “dual stage” driver airbag
inflates to a level less than full deployment for
moderate frontal impacts and to a full deployment
for more severe frontal impacts.
Your vehicle has a “dual depth” passenger airbag
that adjusts the restraint according to crash
severity, seat location, and safety belt status
using electronic frontal sensor(s) and other special
sensors which enable the sensing system to
monitor the status of the front passenger safety
belt and the position of the front passenger seat.
The passenger airbag inflates to a reduced depth
when the passenger seat is in a forward position.
For more rearward front seating positions, the
passenger airbag may inflate to an increased depth
(a full deployment), based on safety belt status and
the crash severity measured early in the event.
Always wear your safety belt, even with frontal
airbags.
If the front of your vehicle goes straight into a wall
that does not move or deform, the threshold level
for the reduced deployment is about 12 to 16 mph
(19 to 26 km/h), and the threshold level for a full
deployment is about 17 to 23 mph (27 to 37 km/h)
if the other sensors do not over-ride this. The
threshold level can vary, however, with specific
vehicle design, so that it can be somewhat above
or below this range.
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