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How Does an Airbag Restrain?
In moderate to severe frontal or near frontal
collisions, even belted occupants can contact the
steering wheel or the instrument panel. In moderate
to severe side collisions, even belted occupants
can contact the inside of the vehicle. Airbags
supplement the protection provided by safety belts.
Airbags distribute the force of the impact more
evenly over the occupant’s upper body, stopping
the occupant more gradually. But the frontal airbags
would not help you in many types of collisions,
including rollovers, rear impacts, and many side
impacts, primarily because an occupant’s motion
is not toward the airbag. Roof-mounted rollover
airbags would not help you in many types of
collisions, including many frontal or near frontal
collisions, and rear impacts.
Airbags should never be regarded as anything
more than a supplement to safety belts, and then
only in moderate to severe frontal or near-frontal
collisions for the driver’s and right front
passenger’s frontal airbags, and only in moderate
to severe side collisions or rollovers for vehicles
with roof-mounted rollover airbags.
What Will You See After an
Airbag Inflates?
After a frontal airbag inflates, it quickly deflates, so
quickly that some people may not even realize an
airbag inflated. Roof-mounted rollover airbags may
still be at least partially inflated minutes after the
vehicle comes to rest. Some components of the
airbag module — the steering wheel hub for the
driver’s airbag, the instrument panel for the right
front passenger’s airbag, and the area along the
ceiling of the vehicle near the side windows for
vehicles with roof–mounted side impact
airbags — may be hot for a short time. The parts
of the airbag that come into contact with you may
be warm, but not too hot to touch. There may be
some smoke and dust coming from the vents in the
deflated airbags. Airbag inflation does not prevent
the driver from seeing out of the windshield or being
able to steer the vehicle, nor does it prevent people
from leaving the vehicle.
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