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When should an air bag inflate?
The air bag is designed to inflate
in
moderate to severe
frontal or near-frontal crashes. The
air
bag' will ififlate
only if the impact speed is above the system's designed
"threshold level." If your vehicle goes straight into
a
wall that doesn't move or deform, the thr&hold level is
about 9 to 15 rnph (14 to 24
km/h).
The threshold level
can vary, however, with specific vehicle design, so that
it can be somewhat above or below this rahge. If your
vehicle strikes something that will move or deform, such
as
a parked car, the threshold level will be higher. The
air bag is not designed to inflate
in
rollovers, side
impacts,
or
rear impacts, because inflation would not
help the
occupant.
It is possible that in
a
crash only one of the two air bags
in your
Pnzm
will deploy. This is rare, but can happen
in
a crash just severe enough to make
an
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.
Inflation is determined by the angle of the impact and
the vehicle's deceleration. Vehicle damage is only one
indication of this.
What makes an air bsg
M a t e ?
~ f l
a frontal
or
near-fronta-l.impact of sufficient severity,
the
air
bag sensing system detects that ,the vehicle is
suddenly stopping as a result of a crash. The sensing
system triggers a chemical reaction of the sodium azide
sealed
in
the inflator. The reaction produces nitrogen
gas, which inflates the
air
bag. The inflator, air bag, and
related hardware are all part of the air bag modules
packed inside the steering wheel and
in
the instrument
panel in front of the right front passenger.
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