With new phones come new features. One of the new features of the iPhone 14, Crash Detection, is supposed to call 911 in the event you are involved in a major automobile collision and can’t call them yourself. While the feature does appear to work well in testing and the real world, it also appears to be triggered by roller coaster rides.
According to an article in the Wall Street Journal, 911 was dispatched to Kings Island amusement park near Cincinnati at least six times when they received emergency 911 calls. As the calls start out with “The owner of this iPhone was in a severe car crash…” they often result in emergency services being dispatched to check it out. Emergency services in other locations, like Six Flags in New Jersey, were also dispatched when they received these calls.
While many parks recommend not taking your device on the ride, many riders do, storing them in a fanny pack or their pockets. Of course, if the jolting and sudden stops of the rollercoaster trigger the iPhone 14 Crash Detection feature, the user can’t do anything about it until the ride is over — assuming they’re even aware that emergency services have been dispatched.
New technology features often suffer from oversensitivity or bugs, which usually get updated and refined with software fixes as time goes on. However, in this case, these false detections are wasting time for both 911 operators and first responders.
Apple did respond to the WSJ article, stating that the feature underwent “over a million hours of crash data” and “is extremely accurate in detecting severe crashes.” They also mentioned that the feature will improve over time.
In the meantime, if you are planning on hitting a rollercoaster, you’ll want to either leave your iPhone (or any smartphone with a crash detection feature) with someone on the ground or, at the very least, temporarily put it in Airplane Mode so it doesn’t trigger Crash Detection and call emergency services needlessly on your behalf.
What do you think about rollercoasters triggering some iPhone 14s Crash Detection feature and calling 911 while on a rollercoaster? Have you had it happen to you? Let us know on social media by using the buttons below.
