Advanced technology -> Airbags for your BMW 5 Series 1995-2003

176nAirbags  
Radio reception  
The airbags located under the marked  
covers inflate and unfold in a matter of  
a few milliseconds. In this process, they  
tear through the designed breaking  
points of the upholstered covers or  
press them out.  
Because the inflation process must be  
virtually instantaneous, it is necessarily  
accompanied by a certain amount of  
ignition and inflation noise. The gas  
required to inflate the airbags is not  
dangerous, and the associated smoke  
then dissipates.  
Deceleration sensors continuously  
The AM frequency bands (medium-  
wave, long-wave and short-wave) make  
it possible to receive stations from a  
great distance, because the broadcast  
signals travel not only along the ground  
as surface waves, but also as waves  
bounced back to earth from the iono-  
sphere.  
monitor the physical forces acting upon  
the vehicle. If, as the result of a frontal  
collision, a deceleration is reached at  
which the protection of the safety belts  
alone is no longer adequate, the gas  
generators of the front airbag will be  
simultaneously ignited on both the  
driver and passenger sides. However,  
the front airbag on the passenger-side  
is only triggered if an additional sensor  
has recognized that the passenger seat  
is occupied.  
The entire process is completed within  
fractions of a second.  
Frequency-modulation (FM) provides  
substantially better sound quality than  
AM. However, because FM transmis-  
sions rely on line-of-sight broadcast  
waves, their effective reception range is  
limited.  
Depending on which side the vehicle is  
involved in a side collision, the head  
protection and side airbags in the front  
and rear* are triggered if necessary.