1994 Oldsmobile Silhouette Owner's Manual - Page 30

Seats & Restraint Systems slower. In addition, thisthreshold velocity will be considerably higher if the vehicle strikes an object such as a parked car which will move and deform on impact. The air bag is also not designed to inflate in rollovers, side impacts, or rear impacts where the inflation would provide no occupant protection benefit. In any particular crash, the determination of whether the air bag should have inflated cannot be based solely on thelevel of damage on the vehicle(s). Inflation is determined by the angle of the impact and the vehicle's deceleration, of which vehicle damage is only one indication.Repair cost is not a good indicator of whether anair bag should have deployed. What makes an air bag inflate? In a frontal impact of sufficient severity, the air bag sensing system detects that the vehicle is suddenly stopping as a result of a crash. Thesensing system triggers a chemical reaction of the sodium azide sealed in the inflator. The reaction produces nitrogen gas, which inflates the cloth bag. The inflator, cloth bag, and related hardware are all part of the air bag inflator module packed inside the steering wheel. How does an air bag restrain? In moderate to severe frontal or nearfrontal collisions, even belted occupants can contact thesteering wheel. The air bag supplements theprotection provided by safety belts. Air bags distribute theforce of the impact more evenly over the occupant's upperbody, stopping the occupant more gradually. But air bags would not provide protection in many types of collisions, including rollovers and rear and side impacts, primarily because an occupant's motion is not toward the air bag. Air bagsshould never be regarded as anythingmore than a supplement to safety belt protection in moderate to severe frontal andnear-frontal collisions. What will you see after an air bag inflation? After the air bag has inflated, it will then quickly deflate. This occurs so quicldy that some people may not even realize that theair bag inflated. Some components of the air bag module in How The Air Bag System Works Where is the air bag? The driver's air bag is in themiddle of the steering wheel. When is an air bagexpected to inflate? The air bag is designed to inflate in moderate to severe frontal or nearfrontal crashes. The airbag will only inflate if the velocity of the impact is above the designed threshold level. When impacting straight into awall that does not move or deform, the threshold level for most GM vehicles is between 9 and 15 mph (14 and 23 ltm/h). However, this velocity threshold depends on thevehicle design and may be several miles-per-hour faster or 28