2003 GMC Safari Owner's Manual - Page 73

When Should an Air Bag Inflate? An air bag is designed to inflate in a moderate to severe frontal, or near-frontal crash. 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 is about 9 to 16 mph (14 to 26 km/h). The threshold level can vary, however, with specific vehic!e design, so that it can be somewhat above or below this range. If your vehicle strikes something that will move or deform, such as a parked car, the threshold level will be higher. The air bag is not designed to infalte in rollovers, rear impacts, or in many side impacts because inflation would not help the occupant. In any particular crash, no one say can 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 how quickly the vehicle slows down in frontal or near-frontal impacts. 1-66