I like the stacked glove compartments in front of the passenger in our '05 Prius, but the upper one seems to occupy the region whence the passenger's front airbag would deploy. All other cars I've owned have had a clearly defined panel that would be blown aside by the inflating bag. No such panel is evident on the Prius.
As best I can determine, the bag must displace the entire upper dash panel during deploymemt. That upper dash panel extends the full width from left to right and the partial depth from the base of the windscreen to the seam immediately forward of the dash's silver accent trim. That would include the forward portion of the display hood. To avoid the risk of ejecting that large panel into the faces of the people it's designed to protect, the panel could be hinged at the base of the windscreen, I suppose.
Can that be right? It seems like a lot of mass to displace in one heck of a hurry.
Ummm... I've already decided against the obvious experiment, so please let's just stipulate it and move on the real answer, OK? :-)
Brent "Consistency requires you to be as ignorant today as you were a year ago." -- Bernard Berenson