Your vehicle has seat-mounted side impact androof-rail airbags. See Airbag System on page 1-51.Seat-mounted side impact and roof-rail airbagsare intended to inflate in moderate to severe sidecrashes. Seat-mounted side impact and roof-rail airbagswill inflate if the crash severity is above the system’sdesigned threshold level. The threshold level canvary with specific vehicle design.Seat-mounted side impact and roof-rail airbags are notintended to inflate in frontal impacts, near-frontalimpacts, rollovers, or rear impacts. A seat-mounted sideimpact airbag is intended to deploy on the side of thevehicle that is struck. A roof-rail airbag is intendedto deploy on the side of the vehicle that is struck.In any particular crash, no one can say whether anairbag should have inflated simply because of thedamage to a vehicle or because of what the repair costswere. For frontal airbags, inflation is determined bywhat the vehicle hits, the angle of the impact, and howquickly the vehicle slows down. For seat-mounted sideimpact and roof-rail airbags, deployment is determined bythe location and severity of the side impact.What Makes an Airbag Inflate?In a deployment event, the sensing system sends anelectrical signal triggering a release of gas fromthe inflator. Gas from the inflator fills the airbagcausing the bag to break out of the cover and deploy.The inflator, the airbag, and related hardware are allpart of the airbag module.Frontal airbag modules are located inside the steeringwheel and instrument panel. For vehicles withseat-mounted side impact airbags, there are airbagmodules in the side of the front seatbacks closest to thedoor. For vehicles with roof-rail airbags, there areairbag modules in the ceiling of the vehicle, near theside windows that have occupant seating positions.1-57
