Chevrolet 2011 HHR Owner's Manual page 99

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 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, your vehicle has dual-stage frontal airbags.
Dual-stage airbags adjust the restraint according to
crash severity. Your vehicle has an electronic frontal
sensor, which helps 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.
Your vehicle may or may not have roof-rail airbags. See
Airbag System on page 2 60. Roof-rail airbags are
intended to inflate in moderate to severe side crashes.
In addition, these roof-rail airbags are intended to inflate
during a rollover. 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.
Roof-rail airbags are not intended to inflate in frontal
impacts, near-frontal impacts, or rear impacts.
A roof-rail airbag is intended to deploy on the side
of the vehicle that is struck or if the sensing system
predicts that the vehicle is about to roll over.
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 what the vehicle hits, the angle of
the impact, and how quickly the vehicle slows down.
I n f o r ma t i o n P r o v i d e d b y :
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