iPhone 14's Crash Detection Mistaking Roller Coaster Rides for Car Crashes

[retinaimac]

Crash dummies enjoy roller coaster rides also, not just car crashes. Its a shame apple didnt think of that. But until then, just turn the thing off while riding and find something more meaningful in life to gripe about.

 

[MajorFubar]

nobody is expecting a rollercoaster ride to trigger their phone's car crash detection.

Maybe it's the programmer in me but I can understand exactly why it would, and during they keynote it was one of the first things I thought of: I wonder how it will know that things like rollercoasters, bungee jumping and skydiving aren't a car accident? And here's the answer. Through no fault of the device itself, it doesn't.
But I'd be sensible enough to turn it off before doing any of those things.
There's never going to be a time certainly in the near future when tech won't need some kind of manual override to handle 'exceptions'.
The problem currently is we're complaining that a dumb device, that's been programmed to be triggered by certain actions, is triggered when those actions actually happen, irrespective of whether they're a false positive. This is why you have a brain, folks.

 

[Duncan-UK]

They should have sent the immaculately coiffed Craig onto a mega roller coaster to test this. Maybe one with an infinite loop the loop?

 

[derekamoss]

if you read the article, it wasn't in her pocket. It was in her fanny pack.

 

[laptech]

An MR member mentioned about a 'loose item' policy. I don't go on rollercoasters personally but many of my family members do and on rollercoasters they have been on (Europe) they have always requested that loose items be removed (wallets, mobile phones, keys, loose change) because such items could fall out and hit other people. Maybe not every rollercoaster in every country has this safety policy in place hence why people with iphone 14 have the crash detection going off.

 

[Expos of 1969]

Who takes their iPhone on a roller coaster in the first place?

The day is still young in some parts of the world but this is a prime candidate for the stupidest question of the day. Next time, have your coffee before starting work Sami.

 

[PsykX]

Apple should use the gps to see they’re at a theme park.
Surely a software update would fix it.

Just what I thought. This is a very easy fix.

 

[PsykX]

Who takes their iPhone on a roller coaster in the first place?

Some parks probably let you put it in a locker, but the Six Flags one I go to usually doesn't have this. Always had to bring it with me basically.

 

[WiiDSmoker]

The day is still young in some parts of the world but this is a prime candidate for the stupidest question of the day. Next time, have your coffee before starting work Sami.

Some people on here literally will defend their daddy Apple whenever they can despite how illogical it truly is. It’s wild

 

[itfmac]

Who takes their iPhone on a roller coaster in the first place?

Barring the three or so coasters in Orlando that force you to put it in a locker (Velocicoaster for example) pretty much everyone visiting the Florida parks? And even then you don't have to take your apple watch (with same tech) off.

 

[CarlJ]

In response to the false alarms, an Apple spokesperson said Apple tested the feature with over a million hours of car crash data and real-world driving analysis.

Apple, tell me you totally forgot to test on rollercoasters without telling me you totally forgot to test on rollercoasters.

Seems like something that someone should have come up with in a brainstorming session somewhere early on in the design process.

 

[citysnaps]

As a software developer, you should always think about edge cases when developing a new feature. And rollercoasters should have been an obvious one. I guess that the last 3 remaining smart devs at Apple were all working on the dynamic island.

This is a pointless feature that I will disable as soon as I get my 14 pro. Most likely when you’re having an accident, other drivers will see you and dial 911. Like it already happens.

"As a software developer, you should always think about edge cases..."

Hardly a pointless feature.

Perhaps you should be thinking of edge cases where having an accident in some areas will not always be in an area where there are other drivers.

I will be leaving that feature enabled on my phone.

 

[cliveren13]

Hey anyone know that rollercoaster remade by red hot chillipeppers?

 

[assb10yr]

People call 911 to order pizza, so there’s that.

 

[ChineseBots]

I always feared that I might drop the phone accidentally during roller coaster ride and luckily the theme parks I went all equipped lockers so...

 

[schneeland]

There's never going to be a time certainly in the near future when tech won't need some kind of manual override to handle 'exceptions'.

I'd argue that they could check for movement after the initial crash detection. That should help to rule out a number of more common edge cases.

 

[ApplesAreSweet&Sour]

Who takes their iPhone on a roller coaster in the first place?

So you don’t bring your phone to the amusement park or always have someone nearby to hold your devices? Or there’s a safety deposit area at every single amusement park in the World because guests don’t want to take photos on their $999+ smartphones after spending hundreds on admission, souvenirs and food?

What a load of b.s.

Besides, all the 2022 Apple Watches feature the exact same Crash Detection feature as iPhones 14 -I’m now supposed to remove my smart watch at amusement parks?

No.

Obviously, Apple just had to put a quick toggle in Control Center that disables the feature for a while and then toggles back on automatically.

But I guess it’s hard to think about these features that any pleb like me can come up with during the ten seconds it took to write this reply.

iOS 16 once again proves to be buggy and not sufficiently tested for the new features and hardware exclusive to iPhones 14.

 

[DENZIE]

What if you crash your car on the theme park parking lot or into the theme park?

Haha rushing to get the last free park..

 

[User 6502]

I am 100% sure theme parks would not allow guests to bring their phones onto the rollercoasters.

You’re 100% wrong as it’s indeed common for that to happen.

 

[mike090910]

Dropping the iPhone from an airplane might also work.

 

[User 6502]

As long as you have time to respond to the auto-dialler, it doesn’t seem like an issue. How often do you go on a high intensity roller coaster that, by sheer chance, happens to trigger this feature?

You definitely won’t have time to respond, as you won’t be able (nor should) take your phone from the pocket to fiddle with it in the middle of a rollercoaster ride.

 

[CarlJ]

I am 100% sure theme parks would not allow guests to bring their phones onto the rollercoasters.

Scenario: you arrive at the theme park with a large group of friends, but decide to split up into several sub-groups, to go to different attractions first. How do you expect them to coordinate meeting back up later on? Mobile phones. So... what, do you expect them to designate one person to skip the ride and wait at the ride's exit to hold the phones for everyone?

 

[Apple Knowledge Navigator]

You definitely won’t have time to respond, as you won’t be able (nor should) take your phone from the pocket to fiddle with it in the middle of a rollercoaster ride.

Good point 👍🏻

 

[User 6502]

iPhone 14 and watch 8 suddenly became even more pathetic. The single new feature available to all those who don’t live in the us and do not ovulate is actually unreliable (not triggered in some car crashes and triggered in events that are not car crashes). An unreliable safety feature is way worse than not having the feature at all, as this risks triggering false alarms and wasting emergency services time, possibly delaying response to actual emergencies. Apple needs to change course as the current one is looking really really bad.

 

[ApplesAreSweet&Sour]

Some people on here literally will defend their daddy Apple whenever they can despite how illogical it truly is. It’s wild

Consumerism has bred some sorry boot lickers.

The brand, Apple, is their identity. Sad.

And on a less dramatic note -Apple is still run by humans. Why can we not be open to the possibility that they mess up or forget certain obvious features?

It’s not like anyone is accusing Apple of a crime here.

It’s just users and emergency services pointing out that the features is not thought completely through.