2006 PONTIAC G6 Owners Manual

If your vehicle has a seat-mounted side impact airbag
for the driver, it is in the side of the driver’s seatback
closest to the door.If your vehicle has a seat-mounted side impact airbag
for the right front passenger, it is in the side of the
passenger’s seatback closest to the door.
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If your vehicle has a roof-mounted side impact airbag
for the driver and the person seated directly behind the
driver, it is in the ceiling above the side windows.If your vehicle has a roof-mounted side impact airbag
for the right front passenger and the person seated
directly behind that passenger, it is in the ceiling above
the side windows.
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{CAUTION:
If something is between an occupant and an
airbag, the airbag might not inate properly or
it might force the object into that person
causing severe injury or even death. The path
of an inating airbag must be kept clear. Do
not put anything between an occupant and an
airbag, and do not attach or put anything on
the steering wheel hub or on or near any other
airbag covering. If your vehicle has
roof-mounted side impact airbags, never
secure anything to the roof of your vehicle by
routing the rope or tie-down through any door
or window opening. If you do, the path of an
inating airbag will be blocked. Do not let seat
covers block the ination path of a side impact
airbag. The path of an inating airbag must be
kept clear.
When Should an Airbag Inate?
The driver’s and right front passenger’s frontal airbags
are designed to inate in moderate to severe frontal
or near-frontal crashes. But they are designed to inate
only if the impact exceeds a predetermined deployment
threshold. Deployment thresholds take into account
a variety of desired deployment and non-deployment
events and are used to predict how severe a crash
is likely to be in time for the airbags to inate and help
restrain the occupants. Whether your frontal airbags
will or should deploy is not based on how fast your
vehicle is traveling. It depends largely on what you hit,
the direction of the impact and how quickly your
vehicle slows down.
In addition, your vehicle has “dual-stage” frontal airbags,
which adjust the restraint according to crash severity.
Your vehicle is equipped with electronic frontal sensors
which help the sensing system distinguish between a
moderate frontal impact and a more severe frontal
impact. For moderate frontal impacts, these airbags
inate at a level less than full deployment. For
more severe frontal impacts, full deployment occurs.
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If the front of your vehicle goes straight into a wall that
does not move or deform, the threshold level for the
reduced deployment is about 12 to 16 mph
(19 to 26 km/h), and the threshold level for a full
deployment is about 18 to 24 mph (29 to 38.5 km/h).
The threshold level can vary, however, with specic
vehicle design, so that it can be somewhat above
or below this range.
Frontal airbags may inate at different crash speeds.
For example:
If the vehicle hits a stationary object, the airbags
could inate at a different crash speed than if the
object were moving.
If the vehicle hits an object that deforms, the
airbags could inate at a different crash speed than
if the vehicle hits an object does not deform.
If the vehicle hits a narrow object (like a pole) the
airbags could inate at a different crash speed
than if the vehicle hits a wide object (like a wall).
If the vehicle goes into an object at an angle the
airbags could inate at a different crash speed
than if the vehicle goes straight into the object.Frontal airbags (driver and right front passenger) are not
intended to inate during vehicle rollovers, rear
impacts, or in many side impacts.
Your vehicle may or may not have side impact airbags.
SeeAirbag System on page 1-56. Side impact
airbags are intended to inate in moderate to severe
side crashes. A side impact airbag will inate if the crash
severity is above the system’s designed threshold
level. The threshold level can vary with specic vehicle
design. Side impact airbags are not intended to
inate in frontal or near-frontal impacts, rollovers or rear
impacts. A side impact airbag is intended to deploy
on the side of the vehicle that is struck.
In any particular crash, no one can say whether an
airbag should have inated simply because of the
damage to a vehicle or because of what the repair costs
were. For frontal airbags, ination is determined by
what the vehicle hits, the angle of the impact, and how
quickly the vehicle slows down. For side impact
airbags, ination is determined by the location and
severity of the impact.
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What Makes an Airbag Inate?
In an impact of sufficient severity, the airbag sensing
system detects that the vehicle is in a crash. The
sensing system triggers a release of gas from the
inator, which inates the airbag. The inator, airbag
and related hardware are all part of the airbag modules.
Frontal airbag modules are located inside the steering
wheel and the instrument panel. For vehicles with
seat-mounted side impact airbags, there are also airbag
modules in the side of the front seatbacks closest to
the door. For vehicles with roof-mounted side impact
airbags, there are also airbag modules in the ceiling of
the vehicle, near the side window.
How Does an Airbag Restrain?
In moderate to severe frontal or near frontal collisions,
even belted occupants can contact the steering wheel or
the instrument panel. In moderate to severe side
collisions, even belted occupants can contact the inside
of the vehicle. The airbag supplements the protection
provided by safety belts. Airbags distribute the force of
the impact more evenly over the occupant’s upper
body, stopping the occupant more gradually. But the
frontal airbags would not help you in many types
of collisions, including rollovers, rear impacts, and many
side impacts, primarily because an occupant’s motion
is not toward the airbag. Side impact airbags would not
help you in many types of collisions, including many
frontal or near frontal collisions, rollovers, and rear
impacts, primarily because an occupant’s motion is not
toward those airbags. Airbags should never be
regarded as anything more than a supplement to safety
belts, and then only in moderate to severe frontal or
near-frontal collisions for the driver’s and right front
passenger’s frontal airbags, and only in moderate to
severe side collisions for side impact airbags.
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What Will You See After an Airbag
Inates?
After the airbag inates, it quickly deates, so quickly
that some people may not even realize the airbag
inated. Some components of the airbag module — the
steering wheel hub for the driver’s airbag, the
instrument panel for the right front passenger’s bag, the
side of the seatback closest to the door for the
seat-mounted side impact airbags (if equipped) and the
area along the ceiling of your vehicle near the side
windows for the roof–mounted side impact airbags
(if equipped) — will be hot for a short time. The parts of
the bag that come into contact with you may be
warm, but not too hot to touch. There will be some
smoke and dust coming from the vents in the deated
airbags. Airbag ination does not prevent the driver from
seeing or being able to steer the vehicle, nor does it
stop people from leaving the vehicle.
{CAUTION:
When an airbag inates, 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
cannot get out of the vehicle after an airbag
inates, then get fresh air by opening a
window or a door. If you experience breathing
problems following an airbag deployment, you
should seek medical attention.
Your vehicle may have a feature that will automatically
unlock the doors, turn the interior lamps on, turn the
hazard warning ashers on, and turn off the HVAC,
when the airbags inate (if battery power is available).
You can lock the doors, turn the interior lamps off,
turn the hazard warning ashers off and turn the HVAC
on by using the controls for those features.
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In many crashes severe enough to inate the airbag,
windshields are broken by vehicle deformation.
Additional windshield breakage may also occur from the
right front passenger airbag.
Airbags are designed to inate only once. After an
airbag inates, you will need some new parts for
your airbag system. If you do not get them,
the airbag system will not be there to help protect
you in another crash. A new system will include
airbag modules and possibly other parts. The
service manual for your vehicle covers the need to
replace other parts.
Your vehicle is equipped with a crash sensing and
diagnostic module which records information after
a crash. SeeVehicle Data Collection and Event
Data Recorders on page 7-9
Let only qualied technicians work on your airbag
system. Improper service can mean that the
airbag system will not work properly. See your
dealer for service.
Passenger Sensing System
Your vehicle has a passenger sensing system. The
passenger airbag status indicator on the instrument
panel will be visible when you turn your ignition key to
ON or START. The words ON and OFF or the
symbol for on and off, will be visible during the system
check. If you use remote start to start your vehicle
from a distance, if equipped, you may not see the
system check. When the system check is complete,
either the word ON or the word OFF, or the symbol for
on or the symbol for off will be visible. SeePassenger
Airbag Status Indicator on page 3-34.
The passenger sensing system will turn off the right
front passenger’s frontal airbag under certain conditions.
The driver’s airbag and the side airbags are not part
of the passenger sensing system.Passenger Airbag
Status Indicator –
United States
Passenger Airbag
Status Indicator –
Canada
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The passenger sensing system works with sensors that
are part of the right front passenger’s seat. The
sensors are designed to detect the presence of a
properly-seated occupant and determine if the
passenger’s frontal airbag should be enabled (may
inate) or not.
Accident statistics show that children are safer if they
are restrained in the rear rather than the front seat.
General Motors recommends that child restraints
be secured in a rear seat, including an infant riding in a
rear-facing infant seat, a child riding in a forward-facing
child seat and an older child riding in a booster seat.
Your vehicle has a rear seat that will accommodate
a rear-facing child restraint. A label on your sun visor
says, “Never put a rear-facing child seat in the
front.” This is because the risk to the rear-facing child is
so great, if the airbag deploys.
{CAUTION:
A child in a rear-facing child restraint can be
seriously injured or killed if the right front
passenger’s airbag inates. This is because
the back of the rear-facing child restraint
would be very close to the inating airbag.
Even though the passenger sensing system is
designed to turn off the passenger’s frontal
airbag if the system detects a rear-facing child
restraint, no system is fail-safe, and no one
can guarantee that an airbag will not deploy
under some unusual circumstance, even
though it is turned off. We recommend that
rear-facing child restraints be secured in the
rear seat, even if the airbag is off.
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