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When Should an Airbag Inflate?
Frontal airbags are designed to inflate in moderate
to severe frontal or near-frontal crashes to help reduce
the potential for severe injuries mainly to the driver’s
or right front passenger’s head and chest. However,
they are only designed to inflate if the impact exceeds
a predetermined deployment threshold. Deployment
thresholds 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.
Frontal airbags may inflate at different crash speeds.
For example:
• If the vehicle hits a stationary object, the airbags
could inflate at a different crash speed than if the
vehicle hits a moving object.
• If the vehicle hits an object that deforms, the
airbags could inflate at a different crash speed than
if the vehicle hits an object that does not deform.
• If the vehicle hits a narrow object (like a pole), the
airbags could inflate at a different crash speed
than if the vehicle hits a wide object (like a wall).
• If the vehicle goes into an object at an angle, the
airbags could inflate at a different crash speed
than if the vehicle goes straight into the object.
Thresholds can also vary with specific vehicle design.
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