Apple Collecting Feedback From Dispatchers Receiving False 911 Calls From Skiers

[MacRumors]

Emergency dispatch centers continue to complain about Apple's new Crash Detection feature triggering an influx of false 911 calls from skiers and snowboarders.

A report today from the New York Post notes that New York's Greene County and Pennsylvania's Carbon County have experienced a burdensome increase in false 911 calls from local ski resorts due to Crash Detection. The feature allows the latest iPhone and Apple Watch models to detect a severe car crash and automatically call emergency services if the user is unresponsive, but it is also activating when some skiers and snowboarders take a tumble.

Given that emergency dispatchers respond to all calls out of an abundance of caution, the influx in false alarms has put a strain on some call centers and could divert personnel and resources away from real emergencies. There have been several reports about the issue in other popular ski resort areas like Colorado, Minnesota, Utah, and British Columbia, Canada since Apple introduced the feature last year.

In response to the report, an Apple spokesperson told the Post that the company was collecting feedback from emergency call centers that have experienced an increase in automated 911 calls due to the feature, but declined to comment further.

Crash Detection is enabled by default on all iPhone 14 models and the latest Apple Watch models, including the Series 8, Ultra, and second-generation SE. When a crash is detected, the iPhone or Apple Watch displays an alert, which users have 10 seconds to act on. If the user is unresponsive, the device begins another 10-second countdown while sounding an alarm and vibrating/tapping, and then calls emergency services. Due to loud surroundings and thick outerwear, however, some users may be unaware that the feature was triggered.

Apple says the feature relies on sensors like the accelerometer and gyroscope in the iPhone and Apple Watch, along with "advanced Apple-designed motion algorithms trained with over a million hours of real-world driving and crash record data" for increased accuracy. As with rollercoasters, the iPhone and Apple Watch may be mistaking the abrupt movement of skiing and snowboarding as a car crash in some situations.

Apple released iOS 16.1.2 in late November with unspecified Crash Detection optimizations for iPhone 14 models, followed by watchOS 9.2 in mid-December with Apple Watch optimizations. It's unclear if these optimizations have led to a reduction in false 911 calls from skiers and snowboarders; in any case, it will likely take some time before all users update their iPhone or Apple Watch to the latest software versions.

Despite this issue, there have already been several reports about the life-saving feature alerting first responders to actual car crashes.

Article Link: Apple Collecting Feedback From Dispatchers Receiving False 911 Calls From Skiers

 

[CraigJDuffy]

This is such a half baked 'feature' and is doing real harm by wasting dispatchers time.

 

[Wildkraut]

Banana Hardware/Software mature at customer‘s site, if it ever mature.

They should sue Apple for wasting limited life saving resources.

 

[Pezimak]

So much for Apples in depth testing they claimed to have done. Not good at all and quite literally could be costing people their lives.

 

[TheYayAreaLiving 🎗️]

How about giving users an option to disable it?

Imagine being on a 5-minute roller coaster 🎢 ride and SOS gets activated while you are roller coasting. That can be terrifying! The emergency dispatcher might assume it's a Domestic Violence case.

 

[SpotOnT]

How about give users an option to disable it?

You can disable it.

Settings > Emergency SOS and disable Call After Severe Crash.

 

[TheYayAreaLiving 🎗️]

You can disable it.

But Apple doesn’t market that very well. They emphasize on it too much. Not many people out there know you can disable it unless you really look into it.

Also, why am I disabling a feature that’s not going to work properly in the first place?

 

[_Spinn_]

Crash detection sounds good in theory but this is just an embarrassing disaster for Apple. Hopefully they can get this figured out and they don’t have to disable it.

I don’t remember seeing stories like this for fall detection on the Apple Watch. Seems like that should be easier to accidentally set off. Still I’m paranoid about false alerts so I have fall detection turned off.

 

[SpotOnT]

I’m not exactly sure what these dispatchers can possibly tell Apple…..

 

[jwardell]

You don't need to "take a tumble" it will activate if you just come to a stop in the normal course of skiing, still standing. Mine has also activated while I was just playing with my dogs. I don't want to disable this because it has the potential to be life saving but apple seriously needs to reduce the false positives

 

[SpotOnT]

But Apple doesn’t market that very well. They emphasize on it too much. Not many people out there know you can disable it unless you really look into it.

Also, why am I disabling a feature that’s not going to people's work properly in the first place?

Oh I agree, it is a dumb feature. I am just saying you absolutely can disable it. It is right there in system settings.

 

[Wildkraut]

In the EU the iPhone crash detection is redundant, newer cars iirc since 2020 must have (per law) crash detection build-in with auto emergency call, anyway.

 

[ytk]

I had this happen. I took a spill coming off a chairlift and landed on my phone, and the next thing I know my watch is freaking out about being in a car accident and counting down to call 911. I would have stopped it in time, except my watch also decided to put itself in water lock for some reason, and before I could unlock it the 911 call had started. I just shouted into my watch that I was snowboarding and I was fine, that my watch had made the call, and the dispatcher said "Okay" and disconnected.

Next thing I know, I'm getting calls from my parents and my girlfriend, who had been notified by text message that I was in a car crash and emergency services were called. After calming *them* down, I discovered that my phone continued to update them with my location by text message for the next several hours, with no apparent way to shut it off. Even rebooting the phone didn't help. I finally had to look online and figure out that you have to do something really unintuitive like disabling Messages access to Location Services to completely shut it the hell up.

Really a half-baked "feature", honestly.

 

[goonie4life9]

This is what happens when you put secrecy first, PR second, and how the product actually works third. This could be a great idea, but Apple refused to test it in the real world because “secrecy,” and then went all-in on promoting it.

 

[Wildkraut]

This is what happens when you put secrecy first, PR second, and how the product actually works third. This could be a great idea, but Apple refused to test it in the real world because “secrecy,” and then went all-in on promoting it.

With their $‘s they should have at least 50k trained internal employees or contractors testing their stuff, and not just a hand full.

Personally i stopped reporting bugs a long time ago, they don’t care anyway. Their bug reporting portal is a black hole.

 

[citysnaps]

Chum in the water from all the experts.

 

[now i see it]

would it be too presumptuous to assume that iPhone Crash Detection was rushed to market without sufficient testing?

 

[TheYayAreaLiving 🎗️]

would it be too presumptuous to assume that iPhone Crash Detection was rushed to market without sufficient testing?

Yes, due to not being properly researched in the real world.

 

[citysnaps]

would it be too presumptuous to assume that iPhone Crash Detection was rushed to market without sufficient testing?

I suspect many here will assume that because it's another day and another opportunity to smack Apple. People here live for that, and the perceived power it gives them, while feeling good in the process.

 

[Wildkraut]

would it be too presumptuous to assume that iPhone Crash Detection was rushed to market without sufficient testing?

Their product testing and quality started to degrade long time ago. These kind of issues you find in all their products since steve jobs died.

 

[randomando]

So much for Apples in depth testing they claimed to have done. Not good at all and quite literally could be costing people their lives.

Or you could look at the lives that it has saved and stop bringing up hypothetical situations. Just because resources were momentarily used doesn't mean that it cost lives and I'm not even sure how you would measure that impact considering a department isn't usually just responding to one thing at a time.

 

[randomando]

This is what happens when you put secrecy first, PR second, and how the product actually works third. This could be a great idea, but Apple refused to test it in the real world because “secrecy,” and then went all-in on promoting it.

You don't know if they did test it in the real world or not. It would be pretty easy for them to make an app that records diagnostics and would tell the user when a hypothetical crash occurred. Just so happens not enough testing went in to rollercoasters and ski resorts. Go figure.

 

[mebehere]

Here’s what I haven’t been able to understand. Apple’s commercials show an iPhone flying within a car. Sure, I can see the trigger there.

But what if it’s just in your pocket. I had a friend who got hit by another car. He got spun around three times and his car was totally messed up. No crash detection set off.

I don’t think Apple put all its brains into this feature regarding all the variables.

 

[The Mad Kiwi]

They should only make it detect crashes when connected to CarPlay.

 

[randomando]

I’m not exactly sure what these dispatchers can possibly tell Apple…..

Info from the reports they take. So basically what activity was happening during the false positive. Number of occurrences, location (so they could potentially reproduce for testing), etc...