1995 Chevrolet S10 Pickup Owner's Manual - Page 27

When should an air bag inflate? The air bag is designed to inflate in moderate to severe frontal or near-frontal crashes. The air bag 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 isabout 14 to 18 mph (23 to 29 k d h ) . The threshold level can vary, however, with specific vehicle design, so that it can be somewhatabove or below this range. Ifyour vehicle strikes something that will move deform, such as a parked car, the or threshold level will be higher.The air bag is not designedto inflate in rollovers, side impacts, or rear impacts, because inflation would not help the occupant. In any particularcrash, no one can say whether anair bag should have inflated simply becauseof the damage to a vehicle or because of what the repair costs were. Inflation is determined by theangle of the impact and the vehicle's deceleration. Vehicledamage is only one indication of this. The air bag system is designed to work properly under a wide range of conditions, including off-road usage. Observe safe driving speeds, especially on rough terrain.As always, wear your safety belt.See "Off-Road Driving" in the Index for more tips on off-road driving. What makes an air bag inflate? In a frontal or near-frontal impact of sufficient severity, the air bag sensing system detects that the vehicleis suddenly stopping as a result of crash. a The sensing system triggers a chemical reaction the sodium azide sealed of in the inflator. The reaction produces nitrogen gas, which inflates theair bag. The inflator, air bag, and related hardwareare all part of the air bag module packed inside the steering wheel. 1-18