1993 Chevrolet Corvette Owner's Manual - Page 30

Q: How does an air bag restrain? Q: What wiu you see after an air bag A: In moderate to severe frontal or . : near=frontal collisions, even belted occupants can contact the steering wheel. The airbag supplements the protection provided by safety belts. Air bags distribute the force of the impact moreevenly over the occupant's upper body, stoppingthe occupant more gradually. But air bags would not provide protection in many types of collisions; including. rollovers and rear and side impacts, primarily becausean occupant's - motion is not toward the air bag. Air bags should neverbe regarded as anything morethan a supplement to safety belt protection in hoderate to severe frontaland near-frontal collisions. Mation? A: M e r the ar bag has inflated, it will i then quickly deffate. This occurs so quickly that some people may not even realizethat the air bag S a t e d . The airbag will not impede the driver's visionor ability to steer the vehicle, nor wit hinder the l i occupants from exiting the vehicle. There wlbe small amounts i l of smoke coming from vents in the deflated air bag. Some components of the a r bag modulein the steering i wheel hub may be hot for a short time, but the portion of the bag that comes into contactwith you will not be hot to the touch. The nitrogen gas used to inflate the air bag will have ventdinto the passenger compartment, and the bag will be deflated within seconds after the "collision. Nitrogen makes about up 80% of the air we breathe and is not hazardous. As the nitrogen vents from the bag, small particleswe also vented into the passenger compartment. 29