What Makes An Airbag Inflate; How Does An Airbag Restrain; What Will You See After An Airbag; Inflates - Chevrolet Bolt EUV 2022 Owner's Manual

What Makes an Airbag Inflate?

In a deployment event, the sensing system
sends an electrical signal triggering a release
of gas from the inflator. Gas from the
inflator fills the airbag causing the bag to
break out of the cover. The inflator, the
airbag, and related hardware are all part of
the airbag module.
For airbag locations, see Where Are the
Airbags? 0 44.

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 seat belts by distributing the force of the
impact more evenly over the
occupant's 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.
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?
0 46.
Airbags should never be regarded as
anything more than a supplement to seat
belts.
What Will You See after an
Airbag Inflates?
After the frontal, knee, and seat-mounted
side impact airbags inflate, they quickly
deflate, so quickly that some people may
not even realize the airbags inflated.
Roof-rail airbags may still be at least
partially inflated for some time after they
inflate. Some components of the airbag
module may be hot for several minutes. For
location of the airbags, see Where Are the
Airbags? 0 44.
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
Seats and Restraints
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.
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Warning
When an airbag inflates, there may be
dust in the air. This dust could cause
breathing problems for people with a
history of asthma or other breathing
trouble. To avoid this, everyone in the
vehicle should get out as soon as it is
safe to do so. If you have breathing
problems but cannot get out of the
vehicle after an airbag inflates, then get
fresh air by opening a window or a door.
If you experience breathing problems
following an airbag deployment, you
should seek medical attention.
The vehicle has a feature that may
automatically unlock the doors, turn on the
interior lamps and hazard warning flashers
after the airbags inflate. The feature may
also activate, without airbag inflation, after
an event that exceeds a predetermined
threshold. After turning the ignition off and
then on again, the doors can be locked, the
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