The crash detection function of the iPhone 14 did its thing again during a music festival in Tennessee. According to the Coffee County Rescue Center, there were 5 times more false 911 calls during the festival than average. Apple’s tool is the main culprit.
With the iPhone 14, Apple has introduced a rather handy new feature: collision detection. Thanks to this tool, the latest iPhones and Apple Watch series 8 are able to send an automated call to emergency services when the devices detect a sudden fall or a car accident.
In a test carried out in 2022, Youtuber TechRax proved the effectiveness of the device, which showed its reliability at both low and high speeds. However, it sometimes happens that functionality is overzealous.
As our colleagues from the American channel WKRN report, more than 80,000 people gathered in Coffee, Tennessee to attend the Bonnaroo music festival. On the program, prestigious headliners such as the Foo Fighters and Kendrick Lamar.
5 times more false calls to 911 during the festival
According to Scott LeDuc, director of the Coffee County Rescue Center, the 2023 edition of the festival saw approximately 5 times more fake 911 calls (the emergency number in the United States) than the average. After investigation, the main responsible for these false positives is none other than iPhone collision detection.
Indeed, the Apple tool has obviously taken the wild dance steps of the spectators for accidents or sudden falls. Result, thousands of 911 alerts were sent to local emergency services. To put an end to the multiplication of false positives, a notification was sent to iPhone 14 owners present at the event asking them to temporarily disable the feature on their device.
Emergency services ask to deactivate collision detection
In the process, Apple was contacted and offered to help, but in the end, the rescue center managed to manage the situation without the support of the Apple brand. The emergency services specify that they have taken precautionary measures, in particular by locating the position of each caller to confirm whether or not these were false positives.
“Our employees really stepped up, as first responders always do in the line of duty, and they did. There has not been a situation where we have not been able to help someone due to the number of calls”, assures Scott LeDuc.
Note that this isn’t the first time the iPhone 14’s collision detection has been responsible for false positives. The feature was triggered by mistake in roller coasters, while American ski resorts are overwhelmed by false calls because of Apple’s tool.
Source: WKRN