When a user is on a roller coaster, skiing, or doing other physical activities, the Car Crash Detection feature on the iPhone 14 mistakenly calls the emergency services.
The Car Crash Detection feature uses an array of sensors on the device to call for help if it thinks a user has been involved in a car crash. In the United States, there has been an increase in calls from the new phones that accidentally triggered Car Crash Detection, even though there have been no accidents.
Amid reports of false calls, Apple released a new version of its operating system in November, but didn't specify what the new features were. The issue continues to be a problem despite the update's improvements. According to a report by The Colorado Sun, dispatch centers in the state have seen an increase in calls from skiers after their phones misinterpreted ski falls as car crashes.
Last weekend the dispatchers at the Summit County 911 Center fielded 71 automated crash notifications from skiers' iPhones and Apple watches at the county's four ski areas. None of them involved an emergency.
Dispatch operators in Grand, Eagle, Pitkin, Routt and Summit counties — home to 12 very busy ski hills — are fielding record numbers of the automated calls from skiers' Apple phones and watches, tying up emergency response resources. When a 911 call comes in, each call is handled in the order it arrives, so an automated call from a skier's phone could delay response to a 911 caller with a real emergency.
The interim director of the Summit County dispatch center said that even accidental calls caused by the phone's feature have to be dealt with. There's a lot of resources involved in these calls. I don't believe we have ever had an emergency event.
Since the calls are taken in order and after each other, emergency centers have to reallocate resources away from real emergencies. Dummer said that essential resources were being diverted away from people who needed it. The director of Pitkin County said the center is getting up to 20 accidental calls a day because of the car crash detection feature on the phone.
The Pitkin County 911 Center gets about 15 to 20 of these automated calls a day from the county's four ski areas. Dispatchers try to return every call, but oftentimes a call to a skier with their phone deep in their pockets goes unanswered, said Brett Loeb, the director of the Pitkin County 911 Center.
Loeb usually has one or two operators taking 911 calls and existing emergency calls can be put on hold to field incoming calls from iPhones. While his team has helped fallen hikers and residents whose watches have notified emergency services when they have fallen and need help, so far there have not been any real emergencies from the automated calls coming from the ski slopes.
The director of the public safety communications center in Vail, Colorado said that the Car Crash Detection feature on the phone could potentially save lives.
The director of Summit County said that the update did not address the issue. The numbers have not changed. "It's a tremendous drain on our resources when we see as many as 20 a day."
According to FitzSimons, he has shared his concerns with Apple, but more needs to be done. It feels like we're trying to turn a battleship in a bathtub by communicating with Apple.
The Apple Watch Series 8, Apple Watch Ultra, and second- generation Apple watch have car crash detection.
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