2009 Malibu Automobile Owner's Manual

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 the 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.
Frontal airbags are not intended to inflate during vehicle
rollovers, rear impacts, or in many side impacts.
In addition, the vehicle has dual-stage frontal airbags.
Dual-stage airbags adjust the restraint according to crash
severity. The vehicle has electronic frontal sensors, which
help the sensing system distinguish between a moderate
frontal impact and a more severe frontal impact. For
moderate frontal impacts, dual-stage airbags inflate at a
level less than full deployment. For more severe frontal
impacts, full deployment occurs.
The vehicle has seat-mounted side impact and
roof-rail airbags. See Airbag System on page 1-58.
Seat-mounted side impact and roof-rail airbags are
intended to inflate in moderate to severe side crashes.
Seat-mounted side impact and roof-rail airbags will inflate
if the crash severity is above the system’s designed
threshold level. The threshold level can vary with specific
vehicle design.
Seat-mounted side impact and roof-rail airbags are
not intended to inflate in frontal impacts, near-frontal
impacts, rollovers, or rear impacts. A seat-mounted side
impact airbag is intended to deploy on the side of the
vehicle that is struck. A roof-rail airbag is intended
to deploy on the side of the vehicle that is struck.
In any particular crash, no one can say whether an airbag
should have inflated simply because of the damage to
a vehicle or because of what the repair costs were.
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