2007 GMC SIERRA CLASSIC Owners Manual

Dual Stage Airbags
If your vehicle has frontal airbags with dual stage
deployment, the amount of restraint will adjust
according to crash severity. Your vehicle has
electronic frontal sensors which help the sensing
system distinguish between a moderate 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. 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 10 to 16 mph
(16 to 25 km/h), and the threshold level for a full
deployment is about 20 to 30 mph (32 to 48 km/h).
The threshold level can vary, however, with
specic vehicle design, so that it can be somewhat
above or below this range.Vehicle’s with dual stage airbags also have
special sensors which enable the sensing system
to monitor the position of both the driver and
passenger front seats. The seat position sensor
provides information which is used to determine if
the airbags should deploy at a reduced level or
at full deployment.
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 inside the steering wheel and in
the instrument panel in front of the right front
passenger.
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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. 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 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 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.
What Will You See After an Airbag
Inates?
After an 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 or the instrument panel for the right
front passenger’s bag — may be hot for a short
time. The parts of the airbag 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
out of the windshield or being able to steer
the vehicle, nor does it stop people from leaving
the vehicle.
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{CAUTION:
When an airbag inates, there may be
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.In many crashes severe enough to inate an
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 they inate, 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 has a crash sensing and
diagnostic module which records information
after a crash. SeeVehicle Data Collection and
Event Data Recorders on page 650.
Let only qualied technicians work on your
airbag system. Improper service can mean
that an airbag system will not work properly.
See your dealer for service.
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Airbag Off Switch
If your instrument panel has one of the switches
pictured in the following illustrations, your
vehicle has an airbag off switch that you can use
to manually turn off the right front passenger’s
airbag.This switch should only be turned to the off
position if the person in the right front passenger’s
position is a member of a passenger risk group
identied by the national government as follows:
Infant.An infant (less than 1 year old)
must ride in the front seat because:

my vehicle has no rear seat;
my vehicle has a rear seat too small to
accommodate a rear-facing infant seat; or
the infant has a medical condition which,
according to the infant’s physician, makes
it necessary for the infant to ride in the front
seat so that the driver can constantly
monitor the child’s condition.
United StatesCanada
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Child age 1 to 12.A child age 1 to 12 must
ride in the front seat because:

my vehicle has no rear seat;
although children ages 1 to 12 ride in the rear
seat(s) whenever possible, children
ages 1 to 12 sometimes must ride in the front
because no space is available in the rear
seat(s) of my vehicle; or
the child has a medical condition which,
according to the child’s physician, makes
it necessary for the child to ride in the front
seat so that the driver can constantly monitor
the child’s condition.
Medical Condition.A passenger has a
medical condition which, according to his or
her physician:

causes the passenger airbag to pose a
special risk for the passenger; and
makes the potential harm from the passenger
airbag in a crash greater than the potential
harm from turning off the airbag and allowing
the passenger, even if belted, to hit the
dashboard or windshield in a crash.
{CAUTION:
If the right front passenger’s airbag is
turned off for a person who is not in a risk
group identied by the national
government, that person will not have the
extra protection of an airbag. In a crash,
the airbag will not be able to inate and
help protect the person sitting there. Do
not turn off the passenger’s airbag unless
the person sitting there is in a risk group.
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To turn off the right front passenger’s airbag,
insert your ignition key into the switch, push in, and
move the switch to the off position.
The airbag off light will come on to let you know
that the right front passenger’s airbag is off.
The light will stay on to remind you that the airbag
is off. The right front passenger’s airbag will
remain off until you turn it back on.
{CAUTION:
If the airbag readiness light ever comes
on when you have turned off the airbag, it
means that something may be wrong with
the airbag system. The right front
passenger’s airbag could inate even
though the switch is off.
If your vehicle is a regular cab pickup or
an extended cab pickup and this ever
happens, do not let anyone whom the
national government has identied as a
member of a passenger airbag risk group
sit in the right front passenger’s position
(for example, do not secure a rear-facing
child restraint in your vehicle) until you
have your vehicle serviced. SeeAirbag
Readiness Light on page 247for
additional information.
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To turn the right front passenger’s airbag on
again, insert your ignition key into the switch, push
in, and move the switch to the on position.
Passenger Sensing System
If your rearview mirror has one of the indicators
pictured in the following illustrations, your
vehicle has a passenger sensing system. The
passenger airbag status indicator will be visible
when you turn your ignition key to RUN or START.The words ON and OFF or the symbol for on and
off, will be visible on the rearview mirror during
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 250. If your rearview mirror does not
have either of the indicators pictured below, then
your vehicle does not have the passenger
sensing system.
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United States
Canada
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The passenger sensing system will turn off the
right front passenger’s frontal airbag under certain
conditions. The driver’s airbag is not part of the
passenger sensing system.
The passenger sensing system works with
sensors that are part of the right front passenger’s
seat and safety belt. 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. We recommend 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 may have a label on your sun visor
that 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.
If you need to secure a forward-facing
child restraint in the right front seat,
always move the front passenger seat as
far back as it will go. It is better to secure
the child restraint in a rear seat.
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