Owner's Manual
Don’t put anything on,
or
attach anything to,
the steering wheel
or
instrument panel. Also,
don’t put anything (such as pets or objects)
between any occupant and the steering wheel or
instrument panel. If something
is
between an
occupant and an air bag,
it
could affect the
performance of the air bag
--
or worse, it could
cause injury.
When should an air bag inflate?
The air bag is designed to inflate in moderate to severe
frontal or near-frontal crashes.
The
air bag will inflate
only
if
the
impact speed is above the system’s designed
“threshold level.”
If
your vehicle goes straight into
a
wall that doesn’t move or deform, the threshold level is
about
9
to
15
mph
(14
to
24
kmh).
The
threshold level
can vary, however, with
sneci.
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 will be higher. The
air
bag
is not designed to inflate in rollovers, side
impacts or rear impacts, because inflation would
not
help the occupant.
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.
Inflation is determined by
the
angle
of
the impact and
the vehicle’s deceleration. Vehicle damage is only one
indication of this.
What makes an air bag inflate?
In a frontal or near-frontal impact of sufficient severity,
the air bag sensing system detects that the vehicle is
suddenly stopping
as
a
result of
a
crash. The sensing
system triggers
a
chemical reaction of the sodium azide
sealed
in
the inflator. The reaction produces nitrogen
gas,
which inflates the air bag.
The
inflator, air bag and
related hardware are all part
of
the air bag modules
packed inside the steering wheel and
in
the instrument
panel
in
front
of
the right front passenger.