The driver's and right front passenger's frontal airbags are designed to inflate in moderate to severe frontal or near-frontal crashes. But they are designed to inflate only if the impact speed is above the system's designed "threshold level".

If the front of your vehicle goes straight into a wall that does not move or deform, the threshold level is about 11 to 17 mph (18 to 28 km/h). The threshold level can vary, however, with specific vehicle design, so that it can be somewhat above or below this range. If your vehicle strikes something that will move or deform, such as a parked car, the threshold level will be higher.

The driver's and right front passenger's frontal airbags are not designed to inflate in rollovers, rear impacts, or in many side impacts because inflation would not help the occupant.

In any particular crash, no one can say whether an airbag should have inflated simply because of the damage to a vehicle or because of what the repair costs were. Inflation is determined by the angle of the impact and how quickly the vehicle slows down in frontal and near-frontal impacts.