1994 Cadillac Seville Owner's Manual - Page 48

When is an air bag expected to inflate? The air bag is designed inflate in moderate to severe frontal or to near-frontal crashes. The air bag will only inflate if the velocity of the impact is above designed threshold level. When impacting straight the into a wallthat does not move or deform, the threshold level for most GM vehicles is between9 and 15 mph (14 and 23 km/h). However, this velocity threshold depends on thevehicle designand may be several miles-per-hour faster or slower. In addition, this threshold velocity willbe considerably higherif the vehicle strikes an object such as parked car a which will moveand deform on impact. The air bag is also not designed to inflate in rollovers, side impacts, or rearimpacts where the inflation would provideno occupant protection benefit. The air bag sensing system uses separate triggering paths to assure that sufficient electrical current is available to inflate both air bags. The air bags inflate in rapid succession. However,in crashes just above the air bag deploymentthreshold, it is possiblethat thetriggering signalmay only lastlong enough to deploy either thedriver or passenger air bag, but not both. Air bags are least needed in these crashes. In severe frontal and near-frontal crashes -- in whichair bags provide most benefit -- the the separate triggering paths help assure that both air bags alwaysinflate. In any particular crash, the determination of whether the air bag should have inflated cannot be based solely on thelevel of damage on thevehicle@). Inflation is determined by the angle of the impact and the vehicle's deceleration, of which vehicle damage is only indication. Repair cost is one not a goodindicator of whether an air bag should have deployed. 35