How does an
air
bag restrain?
In
moderate to severe frontal or near-frontal collisions,
even
belted
occupants can contact the steering wheel or
the instrument panel. The air bag supplements the
protection provided by safety belts.
Air
bags distribute
the force
of
the impact more evenly over the occupant’s
upper body, stopping the occupant more gradually. But
air bags would not help you in many types of collisions,
including rollovers, rear impacts and side impacts,
primarily because
an
occupant’s motion
is
not toward the
air bag.
Air
bags should never be regarded as anything
more
than
a supplement to
safety
belts,
and
then
only
in
moderate to severe frontal or near-frontal colli.sions.
What will you see after
an
air bag inflates?
After the air bag inflates,
it
quickly deflates. This occurs
so
quickly that some people may not even realize the air
bag inflated. Some components
of
the
air
bag module in
the steering wheel hub for the driver’s air bag,
or
the
instrument panel for
the
right front passenger’s bag,
will
be hot for a short time. The part
of
the bag that
comes
into contact with you may be warm, but it will never be
too hot
to
touch. There will be some smoke and dust
coming
from
vents in the deflated air
bags.
Air
bag
inflation
will
not prevent the driver from seeing or
from
being able
to
steer
the
vehicle, nor will
it
stop people
from leaving the vehicle.
When
an
air
bag
inflates, there
is
dust
in the air.
This dust could cause breathing-problems for
people with a history
of
asthma or other
breathing trouble.
To
avoid this, everyone in the
vehicle should get
out
as soon as it
is
safe to do
so.
If
you
have breathing problems
but
can’t get out
of the vehicle after an air bag inflates, then get
fresh
air
by
opening
a
window or
door.
In
many crashes severe enough to inflate
;in
air bag,
windshields
are
broken by vehicle deformation.
Additional windshield breakage
may
also occur from the
right front passenger air
bag.
The
air
bags
are designed to inflate only
once.
After
they inflate, you’ll need some new parts for your air
bag system.
If
you
don’t get them, the air bag system
won’t be there to help protect you
in
‘another crash.
A
new system will include air bag modules and
possibly other
parts.
The service manual for your
vehicle covers the need to replace other
parts.
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