Although technology can be a good thing. It can also cause problems.
With crash detection built into the new iPhone 14, the phone recognized that a skier speeding downhill had been in a serious car crash, triggering a 911 call.
The Walworth County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release issued this week that it has received several of these calls.
The sheriff’s office has issued information to prevent these bogus 911 calls, warning the public how to turn off the notification system.
According to the release, the iPhone 14 (and Apple Watch Series 8, SE, and Ultra) have built-in crash detection that automatically calls 911 if it suddenly freezes.
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The technology is intended to detect serious car crashes. But Walworth County’s 911 dispatch center has collision detection related to sudden stops and wipeouts while skiing and sledding in Grand Geneva, just outside Troy’s Alpine Valley and Lake Geneva. There was a phone call several times.
Here’s how it works: This new feature has sensors trained on impacts experienced in simulated car crashes. If the sensors determine that you’ve been in an accident, iPhone vibrates and alerts you with an audible alert. If you don’t close it within 20 seconds, call 911. When you call 911, a voice message will be played, alerting authorities to your location and that you have been in a crash.
With this release, if your iPhone has this collision detection feature, we recommend that you put your phone in airplane mode when engaging in high-speed activities such as skiing, sledding, or operating an ATV/UTV at high speeds. To do.
Alternatively, you can disable the crash detection feature on your iPhone by following these steps:
- Open the Settings app.
- Tap Emergency SOS.
- Turn off calls after a severe crash.
However, if the feature is not turned off and an emergency notification is made, the Walworth County Sheriff’s Office will “assume an emergency unless human contact confirms that there is no problem, and We will dispatch appropriate resources, including notifying Ski Patrol.”
