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 the front of your vehicle goes straight into a wall that does not move or deform, the threshold level is about 9 to 15 mph (14 to 24 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 something that will move or deform, such as a parked car, the threshold level will be higher.)
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.
Side impact airbags are designed to inflate in moderate to severe side crashes. A 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. Side impact airbags are not designed to inflate in frontal or near-frontal impacts, rollovers or rear impacts, because inflation would not likely help the occupant. A side impact airbag will only deploy on the side of the vehicle that is struck.
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. For frontal airbags, inflation is determined by the angle of the impact and how quickly the vehicle slows down in frontal and near-frontal impacts. For side impact airbags, inflation is determined by the location and severity of the impact.
