1996 Buick Regal Owner's Manual - Page 35

Don't put anything on, attach anything to, the or steering wheel or instrument panel. Also, don't put anything (such as pets objects) between or or any occupant and the steering wheel instrument panel.If something is between an occupant andan air bag, it could affect the performance of the air bag or worse, it could cause injury. vehicle strikes somethingthat 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, becauseinflation would not help the occupant. 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 bag inflate? In a frontal or near-frontal impact of sufficient severity, the air bag sensing system detectsthat the vehicle is suddenly stopping as aresult of a crash. The sensing system triggers a chemical reactionof the sodium azide sealed in the inflator. The reaction produces nitrogen gas, which inflates the airbag. The inflator, air bag and related hardware are all part of the air bagmodules packed inside the steering wheel and in the instrument panel in front of the right front passenger. When should an air bag inflate? The air bag is designed to inflate in moderate to severe frontal or near-frontal crashes. The airbag will inflate 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 threshold level is about 9 to 15 mph (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 range. If your