Chevrolet Silverado: Airbag System / How Does an Airbag Restrain?

Chevrolet Silverado 2019-2025 Owners Manual / Seats and Restraints / Airbag System / How Does an Airbag Restrain?

In moderate to severe frontal or near frontal collisions, even belted occupants can contact the steering wheel or the instrument panel. In moderate to severe side collisions, even belted occupants can contact the inside of the vehicle.

Airbags supplement the protection provided by seat belts by distributing the force of the impact more evenly over the occupant's body.

Rollover capable roof-rail airbags are designed to help contain the head and chest of occupants in the outboard seating positions in the first and second rows. The rollover capable roof-rail airbags are designed to help reduce the risk of full or partial ejection in rollover events, although no system can prevent all such ejections.

But airbags would not help in many types of collisions, primarily because the occupant's motion is not toward those airbags. See When Should an Airbag Inflate?

Airbags should never be regarded as anything more than a supplement to seat belts.

What Makes an Airbag Inflate?

In a deployment event, the sensing system sends an electrical signal triggering a release of gas from the inflator. Gas from the inflator fills the airbag causing the bag to break out of the cover...

What Will You See after an Airbag Inflates?

After frontal and seat-mounted side impact airbags inflate, they quickly deflate, so quickly that some people may not even realize the airbags inflated...

Other information:

Chevrolet Silverado 2019-2025 Owners Manual: Lockout Protection

If equipped, the ignition is on or in ACC/ACCESSORY and the power door lock switch is pressed with the driver door open, all the doors will lock and only the driver door will unlock. If the vehicle is off and locking is requested while a door is open, when all doors are closed the vehicle will check to the Keyless Access function (if equipped)...

Chevrolet Silverado 2019-2025 Owners Manual: Securing Child Restraints (With the Seat Belt in the Front Passenger Seat)

This vehicle has airbags. A rear seat is a safer place to secure a forward-facing child restraint. See Where to Put the Restraint. In addition, the vehicle has a passenger sensing system which is designed to turn off the front outboard passenger frontal airbag under certain conditions...