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Safety system of your vehicle
• Air bag deployment depends on a
number of factors including vehicle
speed, angles of impact and the densi-
ty and stiffness of the vehicles or
objects which your vehicle impacts
during a collision. The determining fac-
tors are not limited to those mentioned
above.
• The front air bags will completely
inflate and deflate in an instant. It is vir-
tually impossible for you to see the air
bags inflate during an accident. It is
much more likely that you will simply
see the deflated air bags hanging out
of their storage compartments after the
collision.
• To help provide protection, the air bags
must inflate rapidly. The speed of air
bag inflation is a consequence of
extremely short time in which to inflate
the air bag between the occupant and
the vehicle structures before the occu-
pant impacts those structures. This
speed of inflation reduces the risk of
serious or life-threatening injuries and
is thus a necessary part of air bag
design.
However, the rapid air bag inflation can
also cause injuries which can include
facial abrasions, bruises and broken
bones because the inflation speed also
causes the air bags to expand with a
great deal of force.• There are even circumstances under
which contact with the air bag can
cause fatal injuries, especially if the
occupant is positioned excessively
close to the air bag.
You can take steps to reduce the risk of
being injured by an inflating air bag. The
greatest risk is sitting too close to the air
bag. An air bag needs about 25 cm (10
inches) of space to inflate. It is recom-
mended that drivers allow at least 25 cm
(10 inches) between the center of the
steering wheel and the chest.
When the SRSCM detects a sufficiently
severe impact to the front of the vehicle,
it will automatically deploy the front air
bags.
OLMB033054
■Driver’s front air bag (1)
