{CAUTION:
If something is between an occupant and
an airbag, the airbag might not inflate
properly or it might force the object into
that person causing severe injury or even
death. The path of an inflating airbag must
be kept clear. Do not put anything between
an occupant and an airbag, and do not
attach or put anything on the steering
wheel hub or on or near any other airbag
covering. Do not let seat covers block the
inflation path of a side impact airbag.
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.
If the front of your vehicle goes straight into a
wall that does not move or deform, the threshold
level is about 9 to 14 mph (14 to 23 km/h). 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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