A method and a device for deploying a restraint system, which avoids false deployments at the least possible expense by using an acceleration sensor arrangement that includes two sensitivity axes oriented in different directions. An acceleration measured with respect to one of the two sensitivity axes is used for a plausibility check of a deployment decision, which is determined from an acceleration measured with respect to the other sensitivity axis. A trigger signal is only generated if a deployment decision signal and a plausibility signal are present at the inputs of an AND logic circuit at the same time.