1996 Cadillac Seville Owner's Manual - Page 38

1A CAUTION: Don't put anything on, or attach anything to, the steering wheelor instrument 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. vehicle strikes something that willmove or deform, such as a parked car, the threshold levelwill be higher. The air bag 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 a vehicle or because of what the repair costs were. Inflation is determined by the angle ofthe impact and the vehicle's deceleration. Vehicle damage is only one indication of this. -- When shouldan air bag inflate? The air bag is designed to inflate in moderate to severe frontal or near-frontal crashes. The airbag will inflate only if the impact speedis 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, withspecific vehicle design, so that it can be somewhat aboveor below this range. If your 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 01 ;L 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 intlator. 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 fronl passenger. 1-23