1996 Buick LeSabre Owner's Manual - Page 31

~ ~ 1 Don't put anything on, or attach anything to, the steering wheel orinstrument panel. Also, don't put anything (such as pets or objects) between any occupant and the steering wheel or instrument panel. If something is between an occupant and an air bag, it could affect the performance of the air bag or worse, it could cause injury. If your vehicle strikes something that will move or deform, such as aparked car, the threshold level will be higher. The airbag is not designed to,inflate in rollovers, side impacts or rear impacts, because inflation would not help the occupant. In any particular crash,no one can say whether an air bag should have inflated simply because of the damage to avehicle 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 reaction of the sodium azide sealed in the inflator. The reaction produces nitrogen gas, which inflates the air bag.The inflator, air bag and related hardware are all part of the air bag 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 will inflate bag 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 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. 1-19