If I'm unconscious in an accident I hope it doesn't wait until I tell it to call ...
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iPhone 14's Car Crash Detection Still Triggering False 911 Calls, Forcing Dispatchers to Reallocate Resources Away From Real Emergencies
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To be fair, being paired to a car's bluetooth isn't a great solution. It rules out those who are passengers involved in a crash. Also it may be the case the car's bluetooth cuts out during the crash or you mistakenly had bluetooth switched off on your phone rendering you unable to rely on the feature.
They could hack together a bunch of conditions to prevent it from going off. For example, if a workout is running then they can suppress notification and ask. If the altitude is changing a lot then they can suppress the warning.
Unfortunately to do this they'll have to test/understand the conditions under which they'll trigger a false negative, which will be time consuming.
Unfortunately to do this they'll have to test/understand the conditions under which they'll trigger a false negative, which will be time consuming.
I don’t think that many people have CarPlay. Limiting a potentially lifesaving feature like this to certain car models makes no sense as regulations at least in Europe already require most newer cars that may or may not have CarPlay to have a system that calls emergency services in a crash.
It’s a crime for a human to make a false call and only intentionally and knowingly.
Can’t they program the feature to only work if the phone is connected to a vehicle either via Bluetooth or plugged in?
Seems to be yet another feature not tested in the real world.
Tim will install a ski slope inside Cupertino next month!
Seems to be yet another feature not tested in the real world.
Tim will install a ski slope inside Cupertino next month!
They should rename it, Virtue Signal. Because good intentions matter more than reality.
Regardless, precious emergency resources are occupied for these calls, intentional or not.
Fine the living pizzazz out of their azimuths at the state level and let’s see how quickly the battleship can turn around in the bathtub. It can be done so gently that they move the rubber duck away by helicopter on a bed of feathers.
This is an instance where the thought definitely doesn’t count by Apple doing far more harm than good. It’s a miraculous moment in the making when the 911 center writes a letter to the state’s senator and discovers that the ol’ rusty door does actually still open wide! Problem solved!
This is an instance where the thought definitely doesn’t count by Apple doing far more harm than good. It’s a miraculous moment in the making when the 911 center writes a letter to the state’s senator and discovers that the ol’ rusty door does actually still open wide! Problem solved!
The watch or phone already detect when you are driving in a car. Just limit the 911 calls to when you are driving, or in the least, have a "I'm skiing" or "i'm at an amusement part" focus that will turn that notification off.
As airplane mode turns features off. They should add a skiing mode that turns off crash detection 
It definitely needs a trigger from the car. If the car does not trigger the feature ON, then it should remain OFF. Apple cannot expect software programmers to get this correct, they need good engineering on a different level than just programming. Another poster mentioned requiring the iPhone be paired with the cars BT in order to be activated to watch for a crash. But they still would need to consider other methods of crash detection for scenarios other than being in a car. What if a car strikes you when you are a pedestrian, for example. Or what if a tree branch breaks off and crushes you to the ground. Apple clearly has done another half-a$$ed job of fully thinking this through.
We've known about these false calls for quite some time now. Apple and iPhone 14 owners have been warned.
There has not even been one life saved with this feature but how many lives lost.
It didn't even detect the crash in the canyon incident.
Agree, if you fall out of a roller coaster or crash at a ski slope someone is probably going to notice, you don't need your phone to call. Maybe some stats on how many people seriously injure themselves at ski slopes and aren't noticed for hours.
Knowing the cost of a false alarm which would trigger emergency team (ambulance + crew + emergency doctor, around 1000.- CHF - which is quite similar to 1000.- USD) even when at short distance from the main hospital, this can be a real issue for iPhone users.
The headline makes it sound like this is a huge issue. But, without more information, here’s what I would have to guess:
It’s not very frequent, not all that wide spread (in areas that don’t have skiing or theme parks) and it’s not keeping lines so bogged down that someone died who otherwise would not have died had 1 false crash detection call not been made 🤷🏻♂️
It’s not very frequent, not all that wide spread (in areas that don’t have skiing or theme parks) and it’s not keeping lines so bogged down that someone died who otherwise would not have died had 1 false crash detection call not been made 🤷🏻♂️
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No technology is perfect, and this has shown to have actually saved lives, so there is clearly a benefit to it. The algorithm just needs to be refined further for these situations.
I like this idea. Maybe they could even dial back the sensitivity a lot when at these locations, but maybe it would be best to turn the feature off in these situations as you suggested. I would email Apple about this idea.
Another thought would be to force a prompt when it detects that you are at either a ski slope or amusement park. This way the user would have to acknowledge that they are in trouble.
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They should probably make it more sensitive then, even at the cost of a few more false positives.
It does the same thing on crash detection. I had my phone go off when I had to slam on the breaks and the phone slid onto the floor. The alarm on my watch started making a horrid loud sound. I pulled over. I hit the, "Don't call 911" button and everything stopped. I am not sure how long of a delay you get, but the call is not instant. You do get a very loud warning first.
That’s interesting — so how could someone riding a roller coaster or on a ski slope not notice this sound? Even if the person didn’t pay attention to it, someone around them would. Could they be purposely ignoring it just for kicks?