When Should An Airbag Inflate - Chevrolet 2007 Avalanche Owner's Manual

CAUTION:
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If something is between an occupant
and an airbag, the bag might not inflate
properly or it might force the object into
that person causing severe injury or even
death. The path of an inflating airbag
must be kept clear. Do not put anything
between an occupant and an airbag,
and do not attach or put anything on the
steering wheel hub or on or near any
other airbag covering. And, if your vehicle
has roof-mounted side impact airbags,
never secure anything to the roof of your
vehicle by routing the rope or tie down
through any door or window opening.
If you do, the path of an inflating side
impact airbag will be blocked. The path
of an inflating airbag must be kept clear.
When Should an Airbag Inflate?
The driver's and right front 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.
I n f o r ma t i o n P r o v i d e d b y :
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