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When Should an Air Bag Inflate?
The driver’s and right front passenger’s frontal air bags
are designed to inflate in moderate to severe frontal
or near-frontal crashes. But they are designed to
inflate only if the impact speed is above the system’s
designed “threshold level.”
In addition, your vehicle has “dual stage” frontal air
bags, which adjust the amount of restraint according to
crash severity. For moderate frontal impacts, these
air bags inflate at a level less than full deployment.
For more severe frontal impacts, full deployment occurs.
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 16 to 20 mph
(26 to 32 km/h), and the threshold level for a full
deployment is 25 to 30 mph (40 to 48 hm/h).
The threshold level can vary, however, with specific
vehicle design, so that it can be somewhat above
or below this range. If your vehicle strikes something
that will move or deform, such as a parked car, the
threshold level with be higher.
The driver’s and right front passenger’s frontal air bags
are not designed to inflate in rollovers, rear impacts,
or in many side impacts because inflation would not help
the occupant.
The side impact air bags are designed to inflate in
moderate to severe side crashes. A side impact air bag
will inflate if the crash severity is above the system’s
designed “threshold level.” The threshold level can vary
with specific vehicle design. Side impact air bags are
not designed to inflate in frontal or near-frontal impacts,
rollovers or rear impacts, because inflation would not
help the occupant. A side impact air bag will only deploy
on the side of the vehicle that is struck.
It is possible that, in a crash involving the front of your
vehicle, only one of the two frontal air bags in your vehicle
will deploy. This is rare, but it can happen in a crash just
severe enough to make a frontal air bag inflate.
In any particular crash, no one can say whether an air
bag should have inflated simply because of the damage
to a vehicle or because of what the repair costs were.
For frontal air bags, inflation is determined by the angle
of the impact and how quickly the vehicle slows down
in frontal and near-frontal impacts. For side impact
air bags, inflation is determined by the location
and severity of the impact.
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