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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.
Frontal airbags distribute the force of the impact
more evenly over the occupant’s upper body,
stopping the occupant more gradually.
Seat-mounted side impact and roof-rail airbags
distribute the force of the impact more evenly over
the occupant’s upper body.
Rollover capable roof-rail airbags are designed to
help contain the head and chest of occupants
in the outboard seating positions in the first,
second, and third rows. The rollover capable
roof-rail airbags are designed to help reduce the
risk of full or partial ejection in rollover events,
although no system can prevent all such ejections.
But airbags would not help in many types of
collisions, primarily because the occupant’s motion
is not toward those airbags. See When Should
an Airbag Inflate? on page 82 for more information.
Airbags should never be regarded as anything
more than a supplement to safety belts.
What Will You See After an Airbag
Inflates?
After the frontal airbags and seat-mounted side
impact airbags inflate, they quickly deflate,
so quickly that some people may not even realize
an airbag inflated. Roof-rail airbags may still be
at least partially inflated for some time after
they deploy. Some components of the airbag
module may be hot for several minutes. For
location of the airbag modules, see What Makes
an Airbag Inflate? on page 83.
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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