How Does An Airbag Restrain; What Will You See After An Airbag Inflates - GMC 2007 Envoy Denali Owner's Manual

How Does an Airbag Restrain?

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. Airbags distribute the force of the
impact more evenly over the occupant's upper
body, stopping the occupant more gradually.
But the frontal airbags would not help you in
many types of collisions, including rollovers, rear
impacts, and many side impacts, primarily because
an occupant's motion is not toward the airbag.
Roof-mounted rollover airbags would not help
you in many types of collisions, including many
frontal or near frontal collisions, and rear impacts.
Airbags should never be regarded as anything
more than a supplement to safety belts, and
then only in moderate to severe frontal or
near-frontal collisions for the driver's and right
front passenger's frontal airbags, and only
in moderate to severe side collisions or rollovers
for vehicles with roof-mounted rollover airbags.
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What Will You See After an Airbag
Inflates?
After a frontal airbag inflates, it quickly deflates, so
quickly that some people may not even realize
an airbag inflated. Roof-mounted rollover airbags
may still be at least partially inflated minutes
after the vehicle comes to rest. Some components
of the airbag module — the steering wheel hub
for the driver's airbag, the instrument panel for
the right front passenger's airbag, and the
area along the ceiling of the vehicle near the side
windows for vehicles with roof–mounted side
impact airbags — may be hot for a short time.
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.