Pontiac 2005 Grand Am User Manual download pdf (Page 60)

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.

If your vehicle goes straight into a wall that does not

move or deform, the threshold level is about 9 to 14 mph

(14 to 23 km/h). (The threshold level can vary,

however, with speciﬁc vehicle design, so that it can be

somewhat above or below this range.)

Airbags may inﬂate at different crash speeds. For

example:

• If the vehicle hits a stationary object, the airbag

could inﬂate at a different crash speed than if

the object were moving.

• If the object deforms, the airbag could inﬂate at a

different crash speed than if the object does not

deform.

• If the vehicle hits a narrow object (like a pole) the

airbag 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

airbag could inﬂate at a different crash speed than if

the vehicle goes straight into the object.

The frontal airbags (driver and right front passenger) are

not intended to inﬂate during vehicle rollovers, rear

impacts, or in many side impacts because inﬂation

would not likely help the occupants.

In any particular crash, no one can say whether an

airbag 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 how quickly the vehicle slows down in frontal

and near-frontal impacts.

What Makes an Airbag Inﬂate?

In an impact of sufficient severity, the airbag sensing

system detects that the vehicle is in a crash. The

sensing system triggers a release of gas from the

inﬂator, which inﬂates the airbag. The inﬂator, airbag,

and related hardware are all part of the airbag modules

inside the steering wheel and in the instrument panel

in front of the right front passenger.

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Pontiac 2005 Grand Am User Manual Page 60

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