Chevrolet 2002 Prizm Owner's Manual page 33

When should an air bag inflate?
The driver's and right front passenger's frontal air bags
are designed to inflate in moderate to severe frontal or
-
near frontal crashes. But they are designed to inflate
only if the impact speed is above the system's designed
"threshold level."
If your vehicle strikes something that will move or
deform, such as a parked car, the threshold level will be
higher. The driver's and right front passenger's frontal
air bags are not designed to inflate in rollovers, rear
impacts, or in many side impacts because inflation
would not help the occupant.
The side impact air bags are designed to inflate in
moderate to severe side crashes. A side impact air bag
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 air bags are not
designed to inflate in frontal or near
rollovers or rear impacts, because inflation would not
help the occupant. A side impact air bag will only
deploy on the side of the vehicle that is struck.
It is possible that, in a crash involving the front of
your vehicle, only one of the two frontal air bags in
your vehicle will deploy. This is rare, but it can happen
in a crash just severe enough to make a frontal air
bag inflate.
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.
For frontal air bags, inflation is determined by the angle
of the impact and how quickly the vehicle slows down
in frontal and near
bags, inflation is determined by the location and severity
of the impact.
What makes an air bag inflate?
In an impact of sufficient severity, the air bag sensing
system detects that the vehicle is in a crash. For both
frontal and side impact air bags, the sensing system
-
frontal impacts,
triggers a release of gas from the inflator, which inflates
the air bag. The inflator, air bag and related hardware
are all part of the air bag modules inside the steering
wheel, instrument panel and the side of the front
seatbacks closest to the door.
-
frontal impacts. For side impact air
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