Apple's Crash Detection Feature Repeatedly Mistakes Rollercoaster Rides For Car Crashes: Report

Apple's latest Crash Detection feature on iPhone 14 and Apple Watch is supposed to alert authorities when it detects a severe car accident. However now, the feature is getting accidentally triggered by devices on rollercoasters, causing law enforcement to be sent to amusement parks in the United States, as per a report by The Wall Street Journal. 

39-year-old Sara White was on a rollercoaster ride with her family when her two-day-old iPhone 14 Pro detected the situation as a crash and automatically dialled 911. As per the outlet, the call to law enforcement featured an automated voice message from Ms White's iPhone. 

"The owner of this iPhone was in a severe car crash and is not responding to their phone," the voice note said. 

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The WSJ reported that this message was repeated seven times during the call. As the phone made the call and played the automated message, it even picked up the background noise from the scene, which included music, cheers and other amusement park sounds. 

This emergency call prompted officials to send a team to the amusement park. But when Ms White realised what happened, she called back the number and told them she was ok. 

As per the outlet, the authorities said that they have received around six iPhone crash-detection calls from people enjoying rides at amusement parks since the new iPhone 14 models went on sale in September. 

Separately, as per BBC, a few drivers have also described instances where the crash detection system was triggered because phones were dropped while their vehicle was moving. 

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However, Apple told WSJ that the technology is intended to provide "peace of mind" and will continue to improve over time. An Apple spokesman also added that the feature is "extremely accurate in detecting severe crashes" and that the company optimized it for getting users to help while minimizing false positives. 

Notably, the crash detection works on iPhone 14 and iPhone 4 Pro models with the latest version of iOS, Apple Watch Series 8, Apple Watch SE (2nd generation), and Apple Watch Ultra with the latest version of watchOS.