1995 Pontiac Bonneville Owner's Manual - Page 27

How does an air bag restrain? In modmate to severe frontal or near-frontal collisions, even beltedoccupants can contact the steering wheel or the instrument panel. Theair bag supplements the protection provided by safety belts. Air bags distribute the force of the impactmore evenly over theoccupant's upper body, stopping the occupant more gradually. But air bags would not help you in many types of collisions, including rollovers and rear and side impacts, primarily because an occupant's motion isnot toward.the air bag. Air bags should never be regarded as anything more than a supplement to safety belts, and then onlyin moderate to severe frontal ornear-frontal collisions. When an air bag inflates, th This dust could cause breathing problems for people witha history of asthma or other breathing trouble.To avoid this, everyon vehicle should get as soon as it is safe todo out If you have breathing problems can't get but of the vehicle after air bag inflates, an fresh air by opening a What will you see after an air bag inflates? After the air bag inflates, it quickly deflates. This occurs so quickly that some people may not even realize theair bag inflated. Some components of the air bag module in the steering wheel hub for the driver's bag, orthe air instrument panel for theright front passenger's bag, will be hot for a short time, but the part of the bag that comes into contact with you will not be hot to the touch. There will be somesmoke and dust coming from vents in the deflated air bags. Air bag inflation will not prevent the driver from seeing or frombeing able to steer the vehicle, nor willit stop people from leaving the vehicle. In many crashes severe enough to inflate air bag, an windshields are broken by vehicle deformation. Additional windshield breakage may also occur f r m the right Eront passenger air bag. The a r bags are designed to inflate only once. After i they inflate; you'll need some new parts for your a r i hag.system. If you Bon't get them, the bag system air won't be there to help protect you another crash. in A new sys- wiIl include a r bag modulesand i possibly other parts. The service m for your d vehicle cov'ersthe need to replace otherparts. 1-20