1–22 SEATS AND OCCUPANT PROTECTION SYSTEMS
NOTE
An air bag can also inflate in mod-
erate to severe non-collision situations
(e.g., slamming the undercarriage or
other solid component of the vehicle
in a dip in the driving surface) where
the crash sensors generate a signal
equivalent to a crash into a solid im-
movable barrier at 9 to 14 mph
(14.5 ~ 23 km/h)
or below the crash severity at which a
statistical risk of death begins for fron-
tal collisions.
In the real world, cars rarely crash
squarely into immovable walls; air bags
most often deploy when a vehicle col-
lides with another vehicle. The actual
speed at which the air bags will inflate
may be higher in the real world, be-
cause real-world accidents usually in-
volve more complicated multi-vehicle
impacts, angled impacts, and incom-
plete frontal impacts (e.g. sideswipes),
and because the object struck is usually
not immovable. Because another ve-
hicle soaks up some of the force of im-
pact, unlike an immovable wall, an 9 to
14 mph (14.5 ~ 23 km/h) crash into an
immovable wall is equivalent to a head-
on full frontal impact with a stationary
vehicle of equal size and weight, while
traveling at a speed of 16 to 28 mph (26
~ 45 km/h).
How air bags work
Air bags are designed to keep your
head, neck, and chest from slamming
into the instrument panel, steering wheel
or windshield in a front-end crash. They
are not designed to inflate in rear-end
or rollover crashes or in most side-im-
pact crashes. Your air bags are designed
to deploy in crashes that are equivalent
to, or exceed the force of a vehicle
traveling at a speed of 9 to 14 mph
(14.5 ~ 23 km/h) crashing into a solid
immovable wall.
This crash severity level at which the
air bag will deploy was selected to as-
sure inflation of air bags in vehicles at
S3W1202A
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