The new iPhone 14 series and Apple Watch Series 8 and Ultra are equipped with a useful fault detection function. According to Apple, it is “designed to detect serious vehicle crashes such as front, side and rear collisions and rollovers involving sedans, minivans, SUVs, pickups and other passenger vehicles.” This is possible thanks to dual-core accelerometer devices that can detect a sudden change in speed that indicates an accident.

However, Crash Detection appears to be triggered not only by car crashes but also by roller coasters.

Sarah White, who boarded the Mystic Timbers roller coaster at Kings Island Amusement Park in Ohio in September, shared with the Wall Street Journal that the iPhone 14 Pro automatically dials 911 during the trip. The call included an automated voicemail that read, “The owner of this iPhone was in a serious car accident and is not answering their phone.”

During the conversation, the message was repeated seven times. The call also picked up background audio from the scene; in this case there was also music, people cheering and other amusement park sounds.

An ambulance was sent to the car, but no accident was detected. As soon as Mrs White realized what had happened (ironically while standing in line at a car dealership), she called 911 and said she was fine.

Responding to the emergency call, the Warren County Contact Center provided the WSJ with six separate Kings Island false alarm records regarding Apple’s error detection feature. Similar warnings were issued by the Joker roller coaster at Six Flags Great America near Chicago, according to the WSJ.

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A separate report also found that another amusement park in Tennessee is asking people not to bring phones and other devices into their cars. “Due to the dynamic movement you will experience during this journey, Apple Watches and similar devices may activate the emergency call function,” the statement said.

When collision detection is triggered, if it is a false alarm, the owner has 10 seconds to turn off the alert. However, if the phone is in a bag or pocket, the owner may not be aware of the notification, which may lead to an unnecessary phone call.

“Technology provides peace of mind and Apple will continue to improve it over time,” an Apple representative told the WSJ.

Currently, users can temporarily disable crash detection by enabling Airplane mode in the Settings app. Alternatively, iPhone 14 users can permanently disable this feature by going to the Settings app, Emergency SOS and tapping Turn off call after critical failure. Apple Watch users can follow the same steps, starting with the My Watch tab. However, we recommend not doing it unless you plan to do something that could accidentally trigger the crash detection feature. Source