iPhone Car Crash Feature Makes Bogus 911 Calls

An iPhone safety feature has backfired in embarrassing fashion. 911 dispatchers say they've had multiple false alerts of car crashes involving people who were actually on a rollercoaster.

The iPhone 14, the latest model, has a crash detection feature. It's triggered by the built-in accelerometer and other sensors that are normally used for features such as automatically rotating the display when a user turns the phone to landscape mode.

When triggered, the phone will eventually call 911 and play an automatically generated message saying "The owner of this iPhone was in a severe car crash and is not responding to their phone." It will also pass on the precise location. The feature can also send a text message to emergency contacts. (Source: wsj.com)

Apple had tried to find a balance between avoiding false alerts and not being quick enough in a genuine emergency. When the crash detection is triggered, the device shows an on-screen warning for 10 seconds, then plays an alarm for a 10-second countdown. Only then does it make the emergency call. (Source: theregister.com)

The company also says it has carried out thousand of hours of testing to correctly identify crashes without being triggered by other events.

Fanny Pack Foiled Alert

Unfortunately that didn't do the trick for one visitor to an amusement park. Not only did a rollercoaster cause an alert, but the owner had placed the phone in a fanny pack to keep it safe during the ride. That meant they didn't see or hear the alert.

Another iPhone user in a similar incident said they did spot the alert but had no safe way to retrieve the phone and cancel it given they were on a rollercoaster. Local dispatchers say they've had six such alerts from one theme park alone.

Rollercoaster aren't the only cause of false alarms. One motorcyclist with a handlebar mount for his iPhone saw the device fly off at high speed and decided there was no realistic prospect of finding it. They only found out later that the phone had sent out an alert to his friends before presumably being destroyed on impact.

Alert Too Certain

It looks like the false alert problem will need a range of implementation, technological and user solutions. Apple is investigating how it can better distinguish between a car crash and a rollercoaster, particularly on rides which feature an intentional sudden slowdown.

Dispatchers have pointed to the wording of the alert and said it could be more accurate to say the user "may" have been in a crash. And the theme park has reminded users that it advises them to leave phones behind when riding a rollercoaster.

What's Your Opinion?

Should Apple have foreseen this risk? Is the feature itself worthwhile? Should Apple warn users to switch their phones off before riding rollercoasters?