Although the newly released iPhone 14 has come up with a variety of advanced and sophisticated features, there are some functions that are performing more than anticipated. Recently, it has been revealed by The Wall Street Journal that the “Crash Detection” feature embedded in the variants of the iPhone 14 is causing trouble for law enforcement authorities. This crash detection feature continuously notifies the authorities via 911 when the user is on a rollercoaster ride. Although the system has been designed to detect severe car crashes and is programmed to automatically notify the relevant authorities, it seems that there might be some loophole left in its programming.
Coupled with this, law enforcement agencies reported that they have been constantly receiving emergency audio messages from iPhone users who recently took a ride at an amusement park. An incident of a similar kind has recently been reported by the Senior Personal Technology Columnist at The Wall Street Journal, Joanna Stern, in Ohio on September 18, 2022, when an iPhone 14 Pro user took a ride on the Mystic Timbers roller coaster at Kings Island amusement park. What happened next is not hidden from us as the feature automatically called the law enforcement agency reporting:
“The owner of this iPhone was in a severe car crash and is not responding to their phone. The emergency location is at latitude 39.3411, longitude -84.2689, with an estimated search radius of 6 meters. This message will repeat in 5 seconds. ” This sounds funny and creepy at the same time and you would be amazed to know that this type of call had been constantly received by the agency for a few weeks.
In addition to this, Jonna Stern took the matter to Twitter and stated, “My time on the crash-detection beat has proven that the feature can absolutely save a life. There’s already proof of it helping in real crashes. But there are situations where it works and it shouldn’t, and others where it doesn’t work and it should. Such is the story of technology!” It should be noted that the feature is activated on the iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Pro models.
To that end, the primary crash detection function is programmed to perceive crashes related to cars like sedans, minivans, SUVs, pickup trucks, and other passenger cars. But this recent case might force the manufacturers to make some amendments to the feature.
