1996 Oldsmobile Aurora Owner's Manual - Page 29

1 Don't putanything 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 wheelor 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. as a parked car, the threshold level will 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 anair 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 of the impact and the vehicle's deceleration. Vehicle damage is only one indication of this. -- What makesan 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 aresult 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 frontof the rightfront passenger. When should an air bag inflate? The airbag is designed to inflate in moderate to severe frontal or near-frontal crashes. The air bag will inflate only if the impact speed is abovethe system's designed "threshold level." If your vehicle goes straight into a wall that doesn't move ordeform, the threshold level is about 8 to 11 mph (13 to 18 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 vehicle strikes somethine that will move or deform, such