1996 Oldsmobile Achieva Owner's Manual - Page 30

as a parked car, the threshold level will be higher. The air bag is not designed toinflate in rollovers, side Don't put anythingon, or attach anything to, the steering wheel or instrument panel. Also, don't put anything (such pets or objects) between as any occupant and the steering wheel or instrument panel.If something is between an occupant andan air bag, it could affect the performance of theair bag or worse, it could cause injury. impacts, or rear impacts, because inflation would not help the occupant. In any particular crash, no one can say whether an air bag should have inflated simply because of the damage to a vehicleor because of whatthe repair costs were. Inflation is determined by theangle of the impact and the vehicle's deceleration. Vehicle damage is only one indication of this. -- What makes anair bag inflate? In a frontal or near-frontal impact of sufficient severity, the air bag sensing systemdetects that the vehicle is suddenly stopping as aresult of a crash. The sensing system triggers a chemical reaction of the sodium azide sealed in the inflator. The reaction produces nitrogen gas, which inflates the airbag. The inflator, air bag and related hardware are all part of the air bag modules packed inside the steering wheel and in the instrument panel in front of the rightfront passenger. When should anair bag inflate? The air bag is designed toinflate in moderate to severe frontal or near-frontal crashes. The air bag will inflate only if the impact speed is above the system's designed "threshold level." If your vehicle goes straight into a wall that doesn't move or deform, the threshold level is about 9 to 16 mph ( 14 to 26 km/h). The threshold level can vary, however, with specific vehicle design, so that it can be somewhat aboveor below this range.If your vehicle strikes something that will move deform, such or