When Should An Airbag Inflate - Chevrolet Corvette Owner's Manual

When Should an Airbag Inflate?
The driver's and passenger's frontal airbags are
designed to inflate in moderate to severe frontal or
near-frontal crashes. But they are designed to
inflate only if the impact exceeds a predetermined
deployment threshold. Deployment thresholds
take into account a variety of desired deployment
and non-deployment events and 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.
In addition, your vehicle has "dual-stage" frontal
airbags, which adjust the restraint according
to crash severity. Your vehicle has electronic
frontal sensors which help the sensing system
distinguish between a moderate frontal impact and
a more severe frontal impact. For moderate
frontal impacts, these airbags inflate at a level less
than full deployment. For more severe frontal
impacts, full deployment occurs.
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If the front of your vehicle goes straight into a
wall that does not move or deform, the threshold
level for the reduced deployment is about
10 to 12 mph (16 to 19.3 km/h), and the
threshold level for a full deployment is about
18 to 21 mph (28.9 to 33.8 km/h). The threshold
level can vary, however, with specific vehicle
design, so that it can be somewhat above or below
this range.
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 that
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.
I n f o r ma t i o n P r o v i d e d b y :