Last year, Apple launched the iPhone 14 series which comes with a new car crash detection feature. This feature works with the latest iPhone 14 series and Apple Watch S8. According to reports, this function can combine sensors such as barometers, GPS acceleration, and microphones to detect whether a user has a car accident in real-time. If the feature detects a car crash and there is no response from the user within 10 seconds, the system will notify emergency contacts. However, this feature has not gotten the positive reviews that Apple is expecting. Since the launch of this feature, there have been several false positives leading to a waste of resources. These false positives are very common in areas with roller coasters and skiing activities.
In response to this issue, an Apple official said in a report that the company is on top of the issue. The official claims that Apple is currently collecting relevant feedback from emergency call centers. Apple will work with this report to curb the problem of false positives in the "car crash detection" feature. However, the official did not make any comment on the feature whether or not it will upgrade the feature anytime soon.
According to info from Pat Eliasen, the sheriff of Cook County, Minnesota, in 2022, the number of false alarms caused by traffic accident responders to waste recourses. The false alarms now exceed 700 which is a serious cause for concern. When emergency services have to respond, they may have to dispatch choppers and other cost-intensive resources. When they find out it's just a farce, that resource and time are lost.
For this reason, some emergency personnel appeal to users to turn off the car crash detection feature. The advice is not for users to turn off this feature totally. However, when the user is in a park doing extreme sports, it is good to turn off this feature. This is to avoid waste of resources.