What Causes an Airbag to Deploy?

August 3rd, 2018 by

Vehicles today have many built-in safety features to keep drivers and passengers as safe as they can be. With nearly all the newer vehicles offering safety technology to help detect potential hazards and avoid them, vehicles are safer now than ever! While there are new safety features being added to vehicles each year, there is one safety feature that remains in every vehicle – airbags. Airbags do a big part in protecting passengers in the case of an accident, but what actually causes them to deploy? If you want to learn more about how airbags keep you safe, keep reading below!

Reasons that Cause your Airbags to Deploy
Today’s vehicles are built with pressure and crash sensors that help to detect when a collision has occurred. When the sensors detect a collision, they trigger the deployment of the corresponding airbags (front, side or head curtain airbags). When the airbags deploy the do so very suddenly to reach full inflation before passengers come into contact with them.

Airbags are meant to prevent the head and upper body of passengers from striking the vehicle’s interior during a collision. Although they do help a lot and do save lives, they work better along with seat belts.

Other ways to Stay Safe in the Car
As we mentioned, airbags are just part of the safety features that are built into your car. There are also some things that you can do yourself to make sure that you are better protected in the case of an accident. Seat belts are always important to wear. They work along with the airbags to keep drivers and passengers safe. Another way that passengers can prevent injury in the case of a collision is to be seated upright. This will allow the seat belt work how it should. When traveling with children, make sure that their car seats are properly buckled in the back seat, so they stay secure in the case of a collision.

airbag deployed in steering wheel

Findlay Volkswagen wants to make sure that you stay safe on the road. We hope these tips helped to better inform you on how to stay safe while traveling in your car. Stop by Findlay Volkswagen today to learn about our Volkswagen models or contact us with any questions!