Airbag device for a motor vehicle

An airbag device for a motor vehicle has an airbag (1) that is deployed upon inflation with a gas from a folded state into the vehicle interior. An inflation device (2) supplies gas for inflating the airbag. A sensing device (3) senses deployment of the airbag to the effect that the temporal and spatial sequence involved in opening the folds of the airbag is detected. A control device (4) controls the inflation process as a function of deployment sensing.