Airbags are designed to protect the head, neck, and chest from hitting the dashboard, steering wheel, or windshield in a frontal collision.
They do not work on rear impacts, rollovers, and most side impacts. The airbags are designed to inflate in a G-force collision equivalent to or greater than a vehicle impact speed between 15 km/h and 23 km/h against a non-deformable, immovable wall.
The airbag system is deployed either in severe frontal collisions or when the angle of impact does not deviate more than 30°from a straight line.
The g-force level for vehicles at which the airbag deploys ensures that the g-force deployment is no higher than the level at which the risk of death in a frontal collision has been statistically established.
In practice, vehicles rarely collide with fixed walls. Airbags in most cases are deployed when cars collide with each other. The actual speed at which airbags deploy may be higher in practice, as real crashes typically involve more complex multi-vehicle collisions, at angles and not fully frontal, and the collision objects are usually not stationary.
The airbags will deploy if the sensor detects a frontal collision with sufficient G-force to deploy the airbags. In this case, the deceleration sensor initiates the airbag deployment signal. The combustible composition ignites and quickly burns inside the airbag module, releasing enough nitrogen to inflate the airbag. This chemical process and nitrogen gas are harmless to people in the car. Within 0.045 seconds of a collision being detected, airbag inflation pressure ruptures the module's plastic panel, which in turn exposes the steering wheel hub pad or passenger side instrument panel.
The airbag fully deploys to form a surface that stops the forward movement of the head and upper torso.
When a person comes into contact with the airbag, the gas exits the airbag through the holes in the base, absorbing the impact of the load from the movement of the person.
The whole process, from initial contact, then inflation and release of gas, takes about 0.2 seconds - you won't have time to blink an eye. The collision lasts a fraction of a second, and the colliding cars do not finally stop until a few seconds after the initial contact. Therefore, in order to protect the driver and passengers, the additional passive safety system must register a collision and deploy airbags almost instantly.
Deactivating the front passenger airbag (option)
The airbag switch is located in the glove box. To deactivate the airbag, insert the ignition key and turn the switch to the OFF position. This will illuminate the airbag deactivation indicator light located near the clock on the instrument panel.
To turn on the airbag, turn the switch to the ON position.
Side airbags (option)
The side airbag modules are located in the backs of the front seats on the door side.
Side airbags are designed to protect the head, neck, arms and shoulders from hitting the front door or door window in a side collision.
The side airbags will deploy if the sensor detects a side collision with sufficient g-force to deploy the side airbags. The side airbags are designed to deploy in side collisions with g-forces equivalent to or greater than those of a deformable obstacle moving at a speed of 15 to 25 km/h with a vehicle. If the side airbags did not deploy when your vehicle crashed, this is not necessarily a sign of a defective side airbag. The side airbags are designed to inflate in a side impact and will not deploy in a frontal, rear-end, and rollover collision unless there is sufficient side impact to inflate the side airbags.