Chevrolet 2005 When Should an Airbag Inate?

When Should an Airbag Inﬂate?

The driver’s and 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.

If your vehicle goes straight into a wall that does not

move or deform, the threshold level is about 9 to 15mph

(14 to 24km/h). (The threshold level can vary,

however, with speciﬁc vehicle design, so that it can be

somewhat above or below this range.)

Airbags may inﬂate at different crash speeds.

For example:

•If the vehicle hits a stationary object, the airbag

could inﬂate at a different crash speed than if

the object were moving.

•If the object deforms, the airbag could inﬂate

at a different crash speed than if the object does

not deform.

•If the vehicle hits a narrow object (like a pole) the

airbag 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

airbag could inﬂate at a different crash speed

than if the vehicle goes straight into the object.

The frontal airbags (driver and passenger) are not

intended to inﬂate during vehicle rollovers, rear impacts,

or in many side impacts because inﬂation would not

likely help the occupants.

Side impact airbags are designed to inﬂate in moderate

to severe side crashes. A side impact airbag will

inﬂate if the crash severity is above the system’s

designed “threshold level.” The threshold level can vary

with speciﬁc vehicle design. Side impact airbags are

not designed to inﬂate in frontal or near-frontal impacts,

rollovers or rear impacts, because inﬂation would not

likely help the occupant. A side impact airbag will

only 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. For frontal airbags, inﬂation is determined by

the angle of the impact and how quickly the vehicle

slows down in frontal and near-frontal impacts. For side

impact airbags, inﬂation is determined by the location

and severity of the impact.

1-45