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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.
Frontal airbags may inflate at different crash speeds.
For example:
• If the vehicle hits a stationary object, the airbags
could inflate at a different crash speed than if the
vehicle hits a moving object.
• If the vehicle hits an object that deforms, the
airbags could inflate at a different crash speed than
if the vehicle hits an object that does not deform.
• If the vehicle hits a narrow object (like a pole) the
airbags could inflate at a different crash speed
than if the vehicle hits a wide object (like a wall).
• If the vehicle goes into an object at an angle the
airbags could inflate at a different crash speed
than if the vehicle goes straight into the object.
The frontal airbags (driver and right front passenger) are
not intended to inflate during vehicle rollovers, rear
impacts, or in many side impacts.
In any particular crash, no one can say whether an
airbag should have inflated simply because of the
damage to a vehicle or because of what the repair costs
were. Inflation is determined by what the vehicle hits,
the angle of the impact, and how quickly the vehicle
slows down.
The airbag system is designed to work properly under a
wide range of conditions, including off-road usage.
Observe safe driving speeds, especially on rough
terrain. As always, wear your safety belt. See Off-Road
Driving on page 4-17 for more tips on off-road driving.
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