1996 Buick Roadmaster Owner's Manual - Page 37

' A CAUTION: PDon't put anything on, or attach anything to, the steering wheel or instrument panel. Also, don't put anything (such as pets or objects) between any occupant and the steering wheel or instrument panel. If something is between an occupant and an air bag, it could affect the performance of the air bag or worse, it could cause injury. 9- vehicle strikes something that will move or deform, such as a parked car, threshold level willbe higher. The the air bagis not designedto inflate in rollovers, side impacts or rear impacts, because inflation would not help the occupant. In any particular crash, no can say whether an air one bag should have inflated simply because the damage of 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 sufficient severity, of the air bag sensing system detects that the vehicle is suddenly stopping as a result a crash. The sensing of system triggers a chemical reaction of the sodium azide sealed in the inflator.The reaction produces nitrogen gas, which inflates the air bag. inflator, air bag and The related hardware are all partof the air bag modules packed inside the steering wheel and the instrument in panel infront 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 speedis above the system's designed "threshold level."If your vehicle goes straight a into wall that doesn't move deform, the threshold or level is about 9 to 15 mph (14 to 24 km/h). The threshold level can vary, however, with specific vehicle design, that so it can be somewhat above below this range. If your or 1-23