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{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.
In addition, your vehicle has “dual stage” frontal airbags,
which adjust the restraint according to crash severity.
For moderate frontal impacts, these airbags inflate at a
level less than full deployment. Your vehicle is
equipped with electronic frontal sensors, which help the
sensing system distinguish between a moderate
frontal impact and a more severe frontal impact. 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 12 to 18 mph
(19 to 29 km/h), and the threshold level for a full
deployment is about 18 to 25 mph (29 to 40.2 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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