How Does An Airbag Restrain; What Will You See After An Airbag Inflates - Saturn VUE 2008 Owner's Manual

JOBNAME: 1st Edition PAGE: 61 SESS: 2 OUTPUT: Tue Jul 24 09:46:13 2007
door. For vehicles with roof-rail airbags, there are airbag
modules in the ceiling of the vehicle, near the side
windows that have occupant seating positions.

How Does an Airbag Restrain?

OIE-ID = 1847273 Owner = tackle01 LMD = 13-jul-2006 LMB = tackle01
In moderate to severe frontal or near frontal collisions,
even belted occupants can contact the steering wheel or
the instrument panel. In moderate to severe side
collisions, even belted occupants can contact the inside
of the vehicle.
Airbags supplement the protection provided by safety
belts. Frontal airbags distribute the force of the
impact more evenly over the occupant's upper body,
stopping the occupant more gradually. Seat-mounted
side impact and roof-rail airbags distribute the force
of the impact more evenly over the occupant's upper
body.
Rollover capable roof-rail airbags are designed to help
contain the head and chest of occupants in the
outboard seating positions in the first and second rows.
The rollover capable roof-rail airbags are designed to
help reduce the risk of full or partial ejection in rollover
events, although no system can prevent all such
ejections.
66
But airbags would not help in many types of collisions,
primarily because the occupant's motion is not
toward those airbags. See When Should an Airbag
Inflate? on page 64 for more information.
Airbags should never be regarded as anything more
than a supplement to safety belts.
What Will You See After an Airbag
Inflates?
OIE-ID = 1872367 Owner = tackle01 LMD = 14-nov-2006 LMB = tackle01
After the frontal airbags and seat-mounted side impact
airbags inflate, they quickly deflate, so quickly that
some people may not even realize an airbag inflated.
Roof-rail airbags may still be at least partially inflated for
some time after they deploy. Some components of
the airbag module may be hot for several minutes. For
location of the airbag modules, see What Makes an
Airbag Inflate? on page 65.
The parts of the airbag that come into contact with you
may be warm, but not too hot to touch. There may
be some smoke and dust coming from the vents in the
deflated airbags. Airbag inflation does not prevent
the driver from seeing out of the windshield or being
able to steer the vehicle, nor does it prevent people from
leaving the vehicle.
2008 - Saturn VUE Owner Manual (July 23, 2007)