How Does An Airbag Restrain; What Will You See After An Airbag Inflates - Hummer H2 2009 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. Frontal airbags distribute the force of the impact
more evenly over the occupant's upper body, stopping
the occupant more gradually. Roof-rail airbags distribute
the force of the impact more evenly over the occupant's
upper 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, second, and third
rows, if equipped with a third row seat. 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? on page 1-72 for more information.
Airbags should never be regarded as anything more
than a supplement to safety belts.
1-74
What Will You See After an Airbag
Inflates?
After the frontal airbags inflate, they quickly deflate,
so quickly that some people may not even realize
an airbag inflated. Roof-rail airbags may still be at
least partially inflated for some time after they deploy.
Some components of the airbag module may be hot for
several minutes. For location of the airbag modules, see
What Makes an Airbag Inflate? on page 1-73.
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.