When is the air bag typically deployed in a vehicle?

The deployment of an airbag is typically initiated when the airbag system detects a significant impact. This is a crucial safety feature designed to protect occupants in the event of a collision. Sensors within the vehicle constantly monitor the forces exerted on the car during a crash. When these sensors detect a force that exceeds a predetermined threshold, indicating a severe enough impact, the airbag is deployed.

This mechanism ensures that airbags are only activated when necessary, thus avoiding unnecessary deployment during minor bumps that wouldn’t benefit from such protection.

In contrast, deployment does not occur during normal driving conditions or simply when the driver accelerates quickly, as these scenarios do not involve the type of impact for which airbags are designed. Additionally, while airbags may deploy in high-speed accidents, they are also designed to activate in lower-speed collisions if the impact is significant, making it inaccurate to state they deploy only in high-speed crashes.