1996 Pontiac Sunfire Owner's Manual - Page 29

A CAUTION: Don't put anything on, orattach anything to, the steering wheel or instrument panel. Also, don't put anything(such as pets or objects) between any occupantand the steering wheel or instrument panel.If something is between an occupant andan air bag, it could affect the performance of the air bag or worse, it could cause injury. vehicle strikes something that will move or deform, such as a parked car, thethreshold level will be higher. The air bag is not designed to inflate in rollovers, side impacts or rearimpacts, because inflation would not help the occupant. In any particular crash, no one can say whether an air bag should have inflated simply becauseof the damage to a vehicle or because of what the repair costs were. Inflation is determined by the angleof 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 of sufficient severity, the air bag sensing system detects that the vehicle is suddenly stopping as a result of a crash. The sensing system triggers a chemical reactionof the sodium azide sealed in the inflator. The reactionproduces nitrogen gas, which inflates the air bag. The inflator, air bag and related hardware are all part of the airbag modules packed inside the steering wheel and in the instrument panel in front 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 air bag will inflate only if the impactspeed is above the system's designed "threshold level."If your vehicle goes straight into a wall that doesn'tmove or deform, the threshold level is about 9 to 15 mph ( 14 to 24 km/h). The threshold level can vary, however,with specific vehicle design, so that it can be somewhat above or below this range. If your