One of the most interesting innovations that come with the iPhone 14, Apple Watch Series 8, Apple Watch Ultra and Apple Watch SE is found in crash detection, a feature that combines data from a gyroscope unit and an accelerometer capable of accurately detecting movements with a very high G load to detect in real time if we have suffered any type of collision. Crash Detection is able to detect frontal, rear and side collisions, as well as when we have rolled over, and in this case it will trigger an emergency protocol.

Due to the risk of a false positive result, the system will first display a 10-second countdown and at the end automatically contacts the emergency services and if we have them configured, it will also notify our emergency contacts of what happened (well, what its sensors interpreted). For some time now, and especially with the Apple Watch, those at Cupertino have been focusing on how they can affect their devices with mobile connectivity in emergency situations, and Crash Detection is the next step, and quite a long one at that.

The approach is good, the idea makes sense and after commissioningcan mean the difference between notifying the emergency services immediately after an accidentor the loss of time, which may be vital in many circumstances of this type. In first aid and medical care for accident victims, the first sixty minutes and the care provided to them during the accident are of paramount importance to the outcome of the accident.

So as a starting point, this first generation Crash Detection is a good idea. Now we are talking about complex development and as such hopefully it will evolve for the better in future versions. Apple claims to have tested the feature with more than a million hours of real-world traffic accident and driving analysis data, but it doesn’t appear to have completed the tests taking other circumstances into account, and that would have translated into an unexpected effect.

And as we can read in The Wall Street Journal, Crash detection on multiple iPhones 14 would identify the use of the roller coaster as a traffic accident. And as a result, of course, it would cause false alarms for both the emergency services and the emergency contacts of the people affected by the problem. And it just so happens that under these circumstances it seems quite likely that you will not notice the warning message and the countdown.

Is this a criticism of Crash Detection? Not really. Yes, it is true that it is inconsiderate when using the devices in question, but it is true none the less We are talking about unusual circumstances.. Let’s hope that Apple steps in to fix this and users of the latest generation of iPhone 14 and Apple Watch pay attention to their devices while riding a roller coaster (or bumper and such) and that the second generation, or perhaps an update of the first, is able to distinguish this type entertainment from road collision.