1994 Pontiac Bonneville Owner's Manual - Page 24

impacts where the inflation would provide packed inside the steering wheel and in the instrument panel in front of the no occupant protection benefit. passenger. It is possible thatin a crash, only one of How does an air bag restrain? the two air bags in your Bonneville will deploy. This is rare, but can happen in a In moderate to severe frontal or crash just severe enough to make an air near-frontal collisions, even belted bag inflate. occupants can contact the steering wheel In any particular crash, the determination or the instrument panel. The air bag supplements the protection provided by of whether the air bag should have safety belts. Air bags distribute the force inflated cannot be based solely on the of the impact more evenly over the level of damage on the vehicle(s). Inflation is determined by the angle of the occupant's upper body, stopping the occupant more gradually. But air bags impact and the vehicle's deceleration, of would not provide protection in many which vehicle damage isonly one types of collisions, including rollovers indication. Repair cost is not a good and rear and side impacts, primarily indicator of whether an air bag should because an occupant's motion is not have deployed. toward the air bag. Air bags should never What makes an air bag inflate? be regarded as anything more than a supplement to safety belt protection in In a frontal or near-frontal impact of moderate to severe frontal and sufficient severity, theair bag sensing system detects that the vehicle is suddenly near-frontal collisions. stopping as a result of a crash. The What will you see after an air bag sensing system triggers a chemical inflation? reaction of the sodium azide sealed in the After the air bag has inflated, it will then inflator. The reaction produces nitrogen quickly deflate. This occurs so quickly gas, which inflates a cloth bag. The that some people may not even realize inflator, clothbag, and related hardware are all part of the air bag inflator modules that the air bag inflated. Some components of the air bag module in the steering wheel hub for the driver's airbag or the instrument panel for the passenger's bag may be hot for a short time, but the portion of the bag that comes into contact with you will not be hot to the touch. There will be small amounts of smoke and dust coming from vents in the deflated air bags. The air bag will not impede the driver's vision or ability to steer the vehicle, nor will it hinder the occupants from exiting the vehicle. In many crashes severe enough to inflate an airbag, windshields are broken by vehicle deformation. Additional windshield breakage may occur in vehicles with passenger air bags because the windshield acts as a reac'lion surface for the inflating air bag. The air bags are designedto inflate only once. After they inflate, you'll need some new parts for your air bag system. If you don't get them, the air bag system won't be there to help protect you in anpther crash. A new system will include air bag modules and possibly other parts. The service manual has information about the need to replace other parts. C 23...