Chevrolet Spark Owners Manual: 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.
Airbags supplement the protection provided by safety belts by distributing the force of the impact more evenly over the occupant's body.
Rollover capable roof-rail airbags are designed to help contain the head and chest of occupants in the outboard seating positions in the first and second rows. The rollover capable roof-rail airbags are designed to help reduce the risk of full or partial ejection in rollover events, although no system can prevent all such ejections.
But airbags would not help in many types of collisions, primarily because the occupant's motion is not toward those airbags. See When Should an Airbag Inflate? on page 3-22.
Airbags should never be regarded as anything more than a supplement to safety belts.
What Makes an Airbag Inflate?
In a deployment event, the sensing system sends an electrical signal triggering
a release of gas from the inflator. Gas from the inflator fills the airbag causing
the bag to break out of the cover ...
What Will You See after an Airbag Inflates?
After the frontal airbags and seat-mounted side impact airbags inflate, they
quickly deflate, so quickly that some people may not even realize an airbag inflated.
Roof-rail airbags may still be at ...
Other materials:
When Should an Airbag Inflate?
This vehicle is equipped with airbags. See Airbag System on page 3-19. Airbags
are designed to inflate if the impact exceeds the specific airbag system's deployment
threshold. Deployment thresholds are used to predict how severe a crash is likely
to be in time for the airbags to inflate an ...
Tire Chains
Warning
Do not use tire chains. There is not enough clearance. Tire chains
used on a vehicle without the proper amount of clearance can cause damage to the
brakes, suspension, or other vehicle parts. The area damaged by the tire chains
could cause loss of control and a crash.
Use another typ ...
California Fuel Requirements
If the vehicle is certified to meet California Emissions Standards, it is designed
to operate on fuels that meet California specifications. See the underhood emission
control label. If this fuel is not available in states adopting California Emissions
Standards, the vehicle will operate satisf ...
