A recent thread, which contained discussion on airbags and what causes them to deploy, has encouraged me to make this post. Its come to my attention that there is belief that the front airbag sensor has to be hit, in order for the airbags to deploy, this is incorrect.

here is the description/operation of the front airbag system from the Cobalt.

A frontal collision of sufficient force will deploy the frontal air bags. The SDM contains a sensing device that converts vehicle velocity changes to an electrical signal. In the event of a frontal collision, the SDM receives a signal from the electronic frontal sensor which assists the SDM in determining the severity of the collision. The SDM compares these signals to a value stored in memory. When the generated signals exceed the stored value, the SDM will cause current to flow through the frontal deployment loops simultaneously deploying the frontal air bags. The SDM, I/P module, steering wheel module, steering wheel module coil, seat belt pretensioner and the connecting wires makeup the frontal deployment loops. The SDM continuously monitors the deployment loops for malfunctions and turns the AIR BAG indicator ON if a fault is detected.

I hope this will clear some confusion!