2006 Saturn Ion Owner's Manual - Page 65

When Should an Airbag Inflate? The driver's and right front passenger's frontal airbags are designed to inflate in moderate to severe frontal or near-frontal crashes. But they are designed to inflate only if the impact exceeds a predetermined deployment threshold. Deployment thresholds take into account a variety of desired deployment and non-deployment events and are used to predict how severe a crash is likely to be in time for the airbags to inflate and help restrain the occupants. Whether your frontal airbags will or should deploy is not based on how fast your vehicle is traveling. It depends largely on what you hit, the direction of the impact and how quickly your vehicle slows down. In addition, your vehicle has "dual stage" frontal airbags, which adjust the restraint according to crash severity. Your vehicle has an electronic frontal sensor which help the sensing system distinguish between a moderate frontal impact and a more severe frontal impact. For moderate frontal impacts, the airbags inflate at a level less than full deployment. For more severe frontal impacts, full deployment occurs. If the front of your vehicle goes straight into a wall that does not move or deform, the threshold level for the reduced deployment is about 16 to 20 mph (26 to 32 km/h), and the threshold level for a full deployment is 25 to 30 mph (40 to 48 km/h). The threshold level can vary, however, with specific vehicle design, so that it can be somewhat above or below this range. Frontal airbags may inflate at different crash speeds. For example: • If the vehicle hits a stationary object, the airbags could inflate at a different crash speed than if the vehicle hits a moving object. • If the vehicle hits an object that deforms, the airbags could inflate at a different crash speed than if the vehicle hits an object that does not deform. • If the vehicle hits a narrow object (like a pole), the airbags could inflate at a different crash speed than if the vehicle hits a wide object (like a wall). • If the vehicle goes into an object at an angle, the airbags could inflate at a different crash speed than if the vehicle goes straight into the object. Frontal airbags (driver and right front passenger) are not intended to inflate during vehicle rollovers, rear impacts, or in many side impacts. Your vehicle may or may not have roof-mounted side impact airbags. See Airbag System on page 1-54. Roof-mounted side impact airbags are intended to inflate in moderate to severe side crashes. A roof-mounted side impact airbag will inflate if the crash severity is above the system's designed "threshold level." The threshold level can vary with specific vehicle design. Roof-mounted side impact airbags are not intended to inflate in frontal or near-frontal impacts, rollovers or rear impacts. A roof-mounted side impact airbag is intended to deploy on the side of the vehicle that is struck. 1-59