Black plate (24,1)Cadillac ATS Owner Manual (GMNA-Localizing-Europe-6441895) - 2014 -CRC - 8/7/133-24 Seats and Restraintsrear impacts. Both roof-rail airbagswill inflate when either side of thevehicle is struck or if the sensingsystem predicts that the vehicle isabout to roll over on its side, or in asevere frontal impact.In any particular crash, no one cansay whether an airbag should haveinflated simply because of thevehicle damage or repair costs.What Makes an AirbagInflate?In a deployment event, the sensingsystem sends an electrical signaltriggering a release of gas from theinflator. Gas from the inflator fills theairbag causing the bag to break outof the cover. The inflator, the airbag,and related hardware are all part ofthe airbag module.For airbag locations, see Where Arethe Airbags? on page 3-21.How Does an AirbagRestrain?In moderate to severe frontal ornear frontal collisions, even beltedoccupants can contact the steeringwheel or the instrument panel. Inmoderate to severe side collisions,even belted occupants can contactthe inside of the vehicle.Airbags supplement the protectionprovided by safety belts bydistributing the force of the impactmore evenly over theoccupant's body.Rollover capable roof-rail airbagsare designed to help contain thehead and chest of occupants in theoutboard seating positions in thefirst and second rows. The rollovercapable roof-rail airbags aredesigned to help reduce the risk offull or partial ejection in rolloverevents, although no system canprevent all such ejections.But airbags would not help in manytypes of collisions, primarilybecause the occupant's motion isnot toward those airbags. See WhenShould an Airbag Inflate? onpage 3-23.Airbags should never be regardedas anything more than a supplementto safety belts.What Will You See afteran Airbag Inflates?After the frontal airbags andseat-mounted side impact airbagsinflate, they quickly deflate, soquickly that some people may noteven realise an airbag inflated.Roof-rail airbags may still be at leastpartially inflated for some time afterdeployment. Some components ofthe airbag module may be hot forseveral minutes. For location of theairbags, see Where Are theAirbags? on page 3-21.The parts of the airbag that comeinto contact with you may be warm,but not too hot to touch. There may
