One of the touted features of the iPhone 14 was the addition of Crash Detection, which is meant to call emergency services if the phone detects that the user has been involved in a serious car accident. However, since the release of the phones, we’ve heard stories of false positive hotspots.
Each erroneous call imposes an excessive load on the local emergency services. In this latest incident, the Kita-Alps, Nagano Fire Department in Japan said it received 134 false calls between December 16 and January 23, “mostly” from the iPhone 14’s collision detection system triggering. incorrectly when their owners go down the ski slopes.
In total, the Japanese emergency services unit received a total of 919 calls during this month-long period, indicating that the ~100 false calls caused by the iPhone Crash Detection feature accounted for more than a tenth of their workload.
Reports of Crash Detection false positives during winter sports have also been reported in the United States. Another hot spot for false positive triggers has been roller coaster rides. This is likely because the high speed and impacts involved in these activities are easily confused with driving patterns and car crashes, by algorithms.
When the iPhone thinks a crash has occurred, a countdown begins on the user’s devices (with an audible warning siren) before the automated call to emergency services is placed, with an option for the user to skip the process. But during strenuous activities such as roller coasters or skiing, the user may not hear the siren and therefore is not aware that it is happening, and therefore does not cancel the call.
Apple is said to be in contact with local emergency services who regularly experience erroneous collision detection calls in an effort to further mitigate the issue.
In late December, the iOS 16.1.2 release notes said the company was including “collision detection optimizations on the iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Pro models.”
Of course, for every false positive report causing trouble, there are also many stories of collision detection working as intended and helping to save lives.
Just today, ABC News reported that the iPhone’s automated crash detection alerted emergency services to a car accident in Australia, allowing police to arrive at the scene in eight minutes following the accident.
Collision detection capability is available on iPhone 14, iPhone 14 Pro, Apple Watch Series 8, Apple Watch SE (2nd generation), and Apple Watch Ultra. Although the general recommendation is to leave the feature on, if you want to turn it off, go to Settings -> Emergency SOS -> and turn off the toggle for the “Call after severe accident” setting.
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