The First Modern GM Dual Airbag System

What was the first General Motors-made vehicle with dual airbags (excluding the 1970s ACRS system, which worked on a different principle)? 

Your first thought probably went to Cadillac, GM’s highest-end brand. But Cadillac would take the silver medal in the GM dual airbag race; the Fleetwood, Seville, and Eldorado all got dual airbags for the 1993 model year in fall 1992. These would be the first GM models with dual airbags standard model-wide, but not the first to offer them. 

Nor would it be Buick or Oldsmobile, the next rungs on the GM ladder. It would be fall 1993 before you could get dual airbags with either brand, when they made them standard on all of their full-size cars.

Nor would it be Chevrolet, GM’s highest volume brand, both then and now. They took third place, with the Camaro featuring standard dual airbags with its 1993 model redesign which debuted in January 1993. 

Surprisingly, it was Pontiac. With its 1992 model redesign, which went on sale in October 1991, the Pontiac Bonneville received standard dual airbags on its top-trim SSEi variant. The passenger bag would also be an option on the mid-level SSE trim; all 1992 Bonnevilles had a driver airbag standard. 

The Bonneville’s H-body stablemates, the Buick LeSabre and Oldsmobile 88, got a passenger airbag for the 1994 model year; the Bonneville made the passenger bag standard the same year. Like the Bonneville, the LeSabre and 88 had a driver airbag standard from their 1992 redesign. 

As for the first modern GM driver airbag, that also went to an H-body; the 1988 Oldsmobile 88 offered a driver airbag as an option. 

These timescales also show how quickly that front airbags spread, fueled by competition and impending federal standards. At the time, GM was the largest automaker in the world, yet it took them only six years to go from first offering dual airbags to making them standard on their entire lineup. Just three years after GM introduced dual airbags with $28,600 Pontiac Bonneville SSEi, they were standard on the $8,385 Geo Metro.