Front Passenger airbags in a accident

[Dan]

I was wondering, do you know if the front passenger's airbag (and the side passenger airbag too) will pop out in a accident if their's no front passenger ? The car detect if there is someone or not so it may be wise that the passenger airbag don't pop when there is no need too!

[d_m_kolb]

Front passenger or not, both front air bags will deploy.

[csjrishere]

I know that the car can detect that the seat is occupied or not. I noticed this by my wife getting in...as soon as she sat down the passenger seatbelt light came on and I told her to get out it went back off. i don't know if that would activate the airbag or not!?!?!

[Fast Eddie]

Did you let your wife back in? Is she still speaking to you after you told her to get out? Seriously though, I think I read in one of the reviews that the Vibe doesn't have a sensor that deactivates the passenger air bag if it's unoccupied.

[VibeSalsa]

After a little search, I found something. As other members said, I'm sure that the two front airbags will inflate in a severe accident if there is a person in the passenger's seat or not. It's written in the owner's manual. But there is an exception explained there too. An extract says this:«It is possible that, in a crash involving the front of yourvehicle, only one of the two frontal air bags in yourvehicle will deploy. This is rare, but it can happen in acrash just severe enough to make a frontal air baginflate.»This can be found in http://www.mygmlink.com/pdf/go2content/ ... 03vibe.pdf at the page 1-27. Pour toi Dan et autres québécois, la référence dans le manuel en français est la page 1-28 en bas à droite.

[VibeSalsa]

Update There is an article found today on Canadian Driver that states a new air bag system for the passenger in the future 2004 Chevrolet Malibu:« GM says the 2004 Malibu sedan is designed to be among the safest mid-size passenger cars on the market. It is designed to achieve frontal and side impact ratings that are among the best of any cars in the mid-size segment. The Malibu has dual-stage air bags and is equipped with the first passenger car application of a capacitance-based Passenger Occupant Detection System (PODS) to suppress air-bag deployment if a child or small adult (5th percentile female) is in the front passenger seat. Optional side roof air bags are available. »