Whoever wrote this story did a poor job of it and didnt place enough information in it for anyone to really know what happened.
The pickup stopped in front of her and then she passed him slamming on her brakes. The pickup started to move at that exact moment and both cars must have swerved at the same time causing the pickup truck to hit the car.
The passenger probably died from hitting his head on the dash during her sudden slammed stop. The air bags probably didn't work.
Let's see now, another way it could have happened is...
I guess there are a lot of ways it could have happened.
Fact is air bags dont work unless you are hit in front. No amount of braking will cause them to explode.
If the person in the car had a seat belt on they wouldnt have hit the dash.
The story is very poorly written.